Caselist - PEN International

10GAMBIAImprisoned: main case“Chief” Ebrimah MANNEH: reporter and sub-editor with the progovernmentDaily Observer, was reportedly arrested by two NationalIntelligence Agency (NIA) officers on 7 July 2006 and has held been inincommunicado detention by the NIA at various sites ever since, seeminglywithout having been charged with any offence. The NIA has repeatedlydenied that they have the journalist in their custody; the governmentalso denies any knowledge of his case. It is believed that the reason forManneh’s arrest is that he is alleged to have had contact with a foreignjournalist before the July 2006 African Union Summit held in the Gambiancapital Banjul. Manneh apparently gave this journalist informationdeemed by the Gambian government to have been damaging to the country’simage. According to a former colleague, Ousman Darboe, Mannehreprinted a BBC story critical of President Yahya Jammeh’s democraticcredentials; his decision was later overruled by editors and the relevantissue of the Observer withdrawn. Manneh has reportedly been movedaround the country throughout his detention and although the local mediahas reported seeing him on several occasions, the government remainedsilent on the subject until April 2009 (see below). Last sighting: Mannehwas reportedly seen on 26 July 2007 at Gambia’s main hospital wherehe was receiving treatment for high blood pressure. He was said to bevery weak and was accompanied by members of the Police InterventionUnit (PIU), a paramilitary wing of the Gambian Police Force and PrisonService. Prior to the sighting Manneh had apparently been detained atMile Two Central prison on the outskirts of Banjul, before being brieflyadmitted to Gamtel Ward Hospital and then being transferred to a militaryclinic in Banjul. ECOWAS ruling: On 5 June 2008, the CommunityCourt of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS) in Nigeria declared Manneh’s arrest and detention illegal andordered the Gambian authorities to release him. The court also awardedManneh US$100,000 in compensation from the Gambian government.The government refused to cooperate throughout the court proceedingsand has yet to comply with the ruling. Official position: On 6 April 2009,the Gambian authorities finally broke their silence with regards to Manneh’sdisappearance when the Attorney General and Minister of Justicepublicly stated that the journalist was not in police custody and rejectedthe ECOWAS ruling. UN ruling: In November 2009, the United NationsWorking Group on Arbitrary Detention issued an opinion stating thatthe Gambian government’s arrest and continued detention of Mannehare without legal justification and in violation of international law, andcalled for Manneh to be released immediately. Reported death in custody:On 15 April 2009 a report by Agence France-Presse quoted an unnamedpolice source as saying that Manneh had been removed from Mile Twoprison in the middle of the night some time in 2008, and speculating thatthe journalist was dead. However, on 27 April 2009 it was reported thatcredible sources had said that Manneh was still alive. New information:According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), in a 16 March2011 meeting with the Gambian media that was broadcast on state television,President Jammeh suggested that Manneh may have died. “Let memake it very clear that the government has nothing to do with the deathof Chief Manneh or Deyda Hydara or the disappearances of so manypeople,” said the President. He also suggested that Manneh may havedisappeared after attempting to illegally migrate to Europe or the UnitedStates. On 6 July 2011, a Gambian National Police spokesman told CPJthat the police have no information about Manneh. Update: Manneh’swhereabouts remain unknown, though in an interview on 6 October 2011with the Daily News, Gambia’s justice minister, Edward Gomez, deniedManneh was in state custody and declared that he is alive.GHANADeath threat*Fred Tettey ALARTI-AMOAKO: the Brong Ahafo regional correspondentfor the Accra-based privately-owned Daily Guide newspaper,said he received death threats following an article he wrote on 11 October2011, which carried the headline: “Chief beats Queen Mother in Public.”The newspaper alleged that Chief Nana Bosomprah had been foundguilty and fined by an investigating committee for denigrating his crownby fighting in public. The journalist said that he received death threatsfrom the chief’s men afterwards. In an email to the Media Foundation forWest Africa (MFWA) on October 14, 2011, the journalist said: ‘The Chiefand his aides called me after the publication and threatened to kill me.Although I have lodged an official complaint with the police, I am stillliving in a state of fear because I do not know when they will strike.’ Onan Accra-based radio station, Nana Bosomprah said it was his followerswho attacked the queen mother and that he was accepting responsibilityfor their actions.Attacked*Ameenu SHARDOW: sports journalist with GHANAsoccernet websitewas violently assaulted on 24 July 2011 by police officers for demandingan explanation from the police as to why journalists were being deniedaccess to a football stadium in which a cup final was to be held (journalistshad reportedly been accredited to enter any part of the stadium.)Shardow told the Media Foundation for West Africa that he was dragged,punched and electrocuted. He said that he was saved after the interventionof the Vice-president of the Ghana Football Association.GUINEADetained* Albassirou DIALLO (aka El Bechir Diallo): journalist, was abducted andheld incommunicado and without charge at a military camp in Conakryon 11 August 2011. He was released on August 13, 2011. The journalistsaid that his arrest was in connection with his cousin, Commander AlphaOumar, who was among forty civilians and soldiers who were arrestedand held over their alleged role in the assassination attempt on PresidentCondé on July 19. Diallo had reportedly received a telephone call froman unknown person who asked him to come and pick up a bag of rice andmoney for Ramadan; he was met by CID officers who then arrested him.IVORY COASTKilled: official investigation ongoingGuy-André KIEFFER: writer and independent reporter with joint Frenchand Canadian nationality, disappeared on 16 April 2004 and is assumedto have been killed. According to Reporters without Borders, he was “abductedfrom the car park of an Abidjan supermarket on 16 April 2004 afterfalling into a trap set for him by a member of [former] President LaurentGbagbo’s entourage”. Background: Kieffer was the Abidjan correspondentfor the French publication La Lettre du Continent and had writtenfor French business publication La Tribune and other publications. Healso reportedly wrote for the Ivorian press under a pseudonym and wascollaborating on a book with Louis-André Dacoury-Tabley, foreign affairscoordinator for the Patriotic Movement of the Cote d’Ivoire (Mouvementpatriotique de Cote d’Ivoire – MPCI). In addition to his workas a journalist and writer, Kieffer has also worked as a cocoa and coffeetrade expert for a firm of consultants and had conducted numerous investigationsinto the coffee and cocoa sectors, some of which have exposedcorruption. Investigation: The investigation into Kieffer’s disappearance,led by French judge Patrick Ramaël, has dragged on since 2004 with noconclusion. Key suspects have included Michel Legré, the brother-in-lawof former President Gbagbo’s wife, Simone Gbagbo. Legré was chargedwith ‘accessory to kidnapping’, ‘unlawful confinement’ and murder andheld in an Abidjan detention centre for a year and a half before beinggranted provisional release in October 2005. Jean-Tony Oulaï, an Ivorianarmy captain who claims to have belonged to the Ivorian special services,was detained for two and a half years from 2007 on suspicion of kidnappingand illegally detaining Kieffer before being provisionally releasedin April 2010. Judge Ramaël has reportedly faced constant obstruction bythe Ivorian authorities, although they have denied this. In October 2009,it was reported that a man claiming to be a soldier in the Ivorian army saidthat Kieffer had been killed by members of Simone Gbagbo’s entourage,without her knowledge, during a botched interrogation within the presidentialcompound. However, in apparent response to the new testimony,the Ivorian state prosecutor Raymond Tchimou stated that Kieffer hadbeen taken out of the country and is still alive. Tchimou offered no otherexplanations or details on the journalist’s purported whereabouts. Newinformation: On 14 April 2011, Kieffer’s wife and daughter met with theIvorian ambassador in Paris to ask what possibilities there were of furtherinvestigation into Kieffer’s case following the departure of former presidentLaurent Gbagbo. After the meeting the ambassador reportedly statedthat the “whole truth” would be revealed about Kieffer’s disappearanceand that he would speak to the minister of justice about the matter thesame day. He added that President Ouattara wanted to put an end to impunityand establish the rule of law in Côte d’Ivoire. Kieffer’s wife notedthat President Ouattara had backed the family since from the time thejournalist disappeared. No further information as of 31 December 2011.Acquitted*César ETOU, Boga SIVORI, Didier DÉPRY: publisher, political deskchief, administrator for Notre Voie were arrested on 24 November 2011for allegedly publishing false information about President AlassaneOuattara. A 21 November article claimed that President Ouattara hadacquired luxury Mercedes Benz cars for himself and members of hiscabinet. The article said: “Whilst Ivoirians are dying of hunger anddisease, Ouattara has offered himself 40 Mercedes at a cost of 1.4 billionCFA francs (1.6 million Euros).” Dépry, was held over remarks he allegedlymade in the same edition of the paper that the country’s currencywould be devalued, despite denials by the Central Banks for West andCentral Africa. Acquitted: On 6 December 2011 the case dismissed byjudge due to lack of evidence; all freed.Case ClosedTraore MEDANDJE: reporter for the daily newspaper L’Intelligentd’Abidjan, was sentenced to a one-year jail sentence and a fine of 5 millionCFA (approx 7,600 Euros) by the Abidjan Criminal court on 26 July2010 on charges of defamation and attempted blackmail of a former healthministry official. The case was prompted by a 4 September 2009 article inwhich Medandje accused the then departmental director of health of gettingrich by setting up unauthorised private clinics in the Vavoua region.Medandje remained free pending the outcome of his appeal. A hearingwas set for October 2010. Case closed due to lack of information.Patrice POHE: journalist and communications advisor to the state prosecutor,was arrested and detained on the orders of his employer on 21 July2010 for allegedly leaking a report about embezzlement in the cocoa andcoffee sector to the privately-owned newspaper Le Nouveau. It was reportedthat his arrest followed the interrogation of Allan Alliali, managingeditor of privately-owned newspaper Le Quotidien. Both journalistswere interrogated separately before being interrogated face-to-face in thepresence of the secretary of the state prosecutor. At a hearing on 23 July,Pohe’s case was adjourned to 26 July 2010; no reason was given. CaseClosed due to lack of information.KENYAKilled: official investigation ongoingFrancis NYARURI: journalist for the independent newspaper WeeklyCitizen (under the pen name Mong’are Mokua), disappeared on 15 January2009 and was subsequently found murdered. Nyaruri left his residencein Nyamira, western Kenya, on the morning of 15 January and travelled30km to Kisii to purchase construction materials. His wife spoke to himlater that morning; that was the last time he was heard from. His familyreported his disappearance to the Nyamira police but it is understood thatno missing person’s report was circulated to other police stations or to theprovincial headquarters. Nyaruri was found decapitated two weeks later,on 29 January 2009, with his hands bound and with marks on his bodyin Kodere Forest near Nyamira. Prior to his disappearance, Nyaruri hadwritten a series of articles exposing financial and other malpractice by thelocal police department. The last article he wrote, which appeared twodays before he disappeared, implicated local police in a public transportracket. He had reportedly received threats from police officers in the areaas a result of the articles and had reportedly told friends and colleaguesthat he feared for his life. A team of senior police officers was reportedlysent to Nyamira to investigate the murder. Investigation: On 8 June 2009it was reported that two key witnesses, Nyaruri’s family lawyer and apoliceman, had had gone into hiding after receiving death threats. Thelawyer had been pushing for the arrest of Nyaruri’s suspected killers;the policeman had been providing protection to the lawyer and had beeninstrumental in the arrest of two key suspects. The threats warned themto drop the case. It is suspected that senior policemen from Nyamira mayhave masterminded the murder and be responsible for attempting to stallthe investigation. The police officers in charge of investigating the murderhad also received repeated threats; one of them reportedly filed a complaintto the police commissioner but this apparently caused the threatsto intensify. As of 21 September 2009, one suspect, a member of a localgang, was reportedly facing murder charges, but the other, a taxi driver,had been released without explanation and had not been seen since. On24 February 2010, it was reported that a suspect had been arrested in Kisiiand transferred to Kisumu, where the case is being handled. Police saidthe suspect, a member of the Sungu Sungu group which is suspected tohave been hired to kill the journalist, had been identified shortly after thekilling but had gone into hiding. Recent information: The murder trialwas reportedly postponed again on 4 November 2010. The judge investigatingthe case disqualified himself from the trial of the two suspects,stating that it was his last day hearing criminal cases and he could not initiatea new case despite the presence of five witnesses in court, includinga key former police investigator into the murder, Robert Natwoli, who arrestedthe suspects. Despite being a crucial witness, Natwoli has not been 11