Download - English PEN

14
On trial
*Jerome IMEIME: editor of the privately-owned weekly Events, based in
Uyo in south-eastern Nigeria, was arrested by the State Security Service
on 10 October 2007. His arrest is thought to have been linked to
Imeime’s critical reporting on a local state governor, specifically the
alleged potential for him to use treasury resources for the electoral
campaign, as well as alleged corruption in the awarding of contracts for
road construction. Imeime was held for over two weeks and charged with
sedition on 16 October. After numerous adjournments, the hearing has
been set for 5 February 2008. PEN monitoring.
RWANDA
Disappeared
Bonaventure BIZUMUREMYI: editor of the independent weekly
Umuco, reportedly disappeared following a police summons and official
criticism of articles printed in his newspaper in August 2006. It was
reported that Bizumuremyi went into hiding 24 hours after police
appeared at his newspaper to arrest him on 4 August 2006. On the
previous day, Bizumuremyi had appeared before the High Council of the
Press on charges of publishing “sensationalist” articles “violating the
privacy of certain political leaders”; the council reportedly ruled that
several articles were “unethical” and needed correcting. It appears that
the articles in question were highly critical of President Kagame and of
Rwanda’s judicial system, referring particularly to the trial of Colonel
Patrick Karegeya, a former spy chief now in prison. Following a police
summons to which Bizumuremyi reportedly didn’t respond, and the
appearance of the police at the Umuco offices, it is believed that the journalist
tried without success to find a lawyer to defend him. He disappeared
on 5 August and friends and family have been unable to contact
him. Bizumuremyi had reportedly received a warning in January 2006 to
stop writing articles criticising the government and subsequently went
into hiding for a period of time. New information: On April 5 2007,
Afrique Libération was indefinitely suspended by the Ministry of
Information until the lawsuit against Bizumuremyi is completed. No
news as of 31 December 2007; PEN is seeking an update.
Investigation
*Gerald MANZI: editor of the privately-owned weekly Umuseso, was
arrested at a bus station in Kigali on 22 August 2007, along with an
unidentified young girl, and was charged with her rape the following day.
The police alleged that Manzi had spent the day with the girl, whom they
said is a member of his family. Manzi denied the charges. He said that he
had spent the afternoon covering a football match, and had seen the girl
for the first time that night, when he found her alone at the bus station
moments before his arrest. The girl had by then been released and police
claimed they had no way of contacting her. Manzi was held for a week
before being provisionally released on probation on 29 August, after his
lawyer submitted signed statements by witnesses supporting his alibi. As
of November 2007, Manzi was still reporting to the prosecution on a
weekly basis. Some press freedom groups suspect the charges were
trumped-up. Umuseso is one of the few independent publications in
Rwanda and is known for being outspoken. The newspaper’s publisher,
the Rwanda Independent Media Group, has been subject to repeated
harassment by the authorities in the form of threats and lawsuits (see
entry below), and some of its journalists have reportedly been forced into
exile.
Harassment
*Rwanda Independent Media Group: publishers of Newsline, Umuseso
and Rwanda Championi, announced that it would suspend its publications
for at least two weeks, starting on 23 October 2007, in protest at
government harassment. The managing director of the group said that the
decision was taken in response to accusations made by the Rwandan
Minister of Internal Security and the Minister of Finance on state TV and
radio on 9 September. The ministers reportedly accused the media group
or working with negative forces. A similar accusation had been made by
the President on 15 October, yet neither the ministers nor the President
have substantiated their accusations. The group has also suffered other
forms of harassment, notably via lawsuits. The group’s deputy director,
Furaha Mugisha, was due to appear in court on 7 November 2007 on
various charges, including not being a Rwandan national; managing
director Charles Kabonero and Newsline editor Didas Gasana were
due to answer libel charges on 13 November ; while Umuseso editor
Gerald Manzi has been accused of rape, which are thought to be
trumped-up (see above). PEN is seeking an update.
Released
Agnès NKUSI-UWIMANA (f): director of the Ligali-based bi-monthly
journal Unurabyo, was sentenced on 20 April 2007 to one year in prison
on charges connected to her publication of a letter which criticised the
government. Nkusi-Uwimana was convicted of divisionism, sectarianism
and libel after publishing an unsigned letter in January 2007 comparing
ethnic killings during President Paul Kagame’s Tutsi-dominated administration
to those of the previous Hutu regime. She had been imprisoned
on these charges since 12 January. She was also ordered to pay 400,000
Rwandan francs (US$760) in damages. Nkusi-Uwimana, who reportedly
pleaded guilty in exchange for a reduction of her sentence from five years
to one, reportedly intended to appeal the decision. She was released on
19 January 2008 on completion of her sentence.
SENEGAL
Brief detention
*El Malick SECK: editor and publisher of the news website Rewmi.com,
El Malick Seck, was arrested on 7 November 2007, and detained for 24
hours on criminal defamation and insult charges. The reason for his
arrest was not clear, but one source suggested it may have been related to
comments posted by Rewmi.com users in reaction to a reprint of a
L’Observateur article reporting the arrival of President Abdoulaye
Wade’s new limousine during a time of alleged economic crisis in
Senegal. Seck was released the same day.
Threatened
*Jean Meïssa DIOP and Pape Sambaré NDOUR: director and reporter
respectively of the private daily Walf Grand-Place, received a telephone
call from the Senegalese Transport Minister, Farba Senghor on 7 August
2007. in which Ndor was insulted and Diop threatened with violence.
The call was taken on speakerphone. Newspaper staff recorded the
exchange and later published a transcript. The threats are thought to have
been linked to an article of Ndour’s which alleged that Senghor had lied
about having obtained a diploma from a management school in Italy. The
next day Walf Grand-Place published a letter to the editor by Senghor.
The newspaper Walf Grand-Place reportedly intended to charge Senghor
with making violent threats via the Senegalese press union. Earlier in the