2 October 2008

Alert

Minister sues jailed newspaper editor for defamation


Incident details

El Malick Seck

editor(s)

legal action

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(MFWA/IFEX) - El Malick Seck, jailed editor-in-chief of the privately-owned newspaper "24 Heures Chrono", will appear in a Dakar court on 28 October 2008 to answer defamation charges brought against him by the country's Minister of the Interior, Sheikh Tidiane Sy.

According to a Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) correspondent, the suit follows an article published in "24 Heures Chrono" on 14 July which said that although Sy has denied having links with the Diané brothers who were reported to have murdered a French judge in Djibouti, a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) document confirmed that Sy had worked for assassins in Washington.

Seck is serving a three-year prison sentence for linking President Abdoulaye Wade and his son to a money laundering case in Côte d'Ivoire. "24 Heures Chrono" has also been banned for three months for the same offence. The ban expires on 12 December.

For further information on Seck's previous sentence, see: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/96959


Source

Media Foundation for West Africa
PO Box LG 730
30 Duade Street, Kokomlemle
Legon, Accra
Ghana
alerts (@) mediafound.org
Phone: +233 21 242470
Fax: +233 21 221084

More on this case

Journalist El Malick Seck pardoned 29 April 2009 Journalist El Malick Seck loses appeal, faces three-year sentence for defaming president and his son 2 March 2009 Jailed editor El Malick Seck again convicted of defaming top Senegalese officials 27 January 2009 Court refuses bail for jailed editor 4 December 2008 Following appeal, court exonerates journalist of two offences, but he still faces possible prison term 16 September 2008 Dakar newspaper editor gets three years in prison for libelling president, newspaper suspended for three months 12 September 2008 Jailed editor denied bail 10 September 2008 Police raid and seal "24 Heures Chrono", seize edition, arrest editor; cabinet minister's nephew among those arrested for ransacking two newspapers 2 September 2008

Senegal

Two journalists sentenced to three months' imprisonment, publisher exonerated 25 June 2009 Court seizes magazine, suspends distribution 10 June 2009 Journalist El Malick Seck pardoned 29 April 2009 Oxy Jeunes, Afia FM and Djoloff FM community radio stations suspended for broadcasting political programmes 17 March 2009 Journalist El Malick Seck loses appeal, faces three-year sentence for defaming president and his son 2 March 2009

West Africa

NIGERIA: RSF urges president to take action following recent attacks on media 2 July 2009 MAURITANIA: Detained website editor faces up to five years in prison 2 July 2009 NIGERIA: CPJ urges inspector general to probe police harassment, assault 1 July 2009 THE GAMBIA: Detained journalist granted bail 29 June 2009 THE GAMBIA: Court convicts newspaper editor for "publishing false information" 26 June 2009