At Court No.1 in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on 27 May, Magistrate Sam Margai charged managing editor Sydney B. Pratt and reporter Dennis Jones of the independent weekly Trumpet with seditious libel.
After pleading not guilty to the charges, Pratt and Jones were released on bail of approximately US $16,000. The two journalists are to return to court on 3 June.
Pratt and Jones were apparently arrested on the orders of Attorney General and Minister of Justice, his Honour Frederick M. Carew. They were held for 48 hours in police custody and released on 26 May.
The charges are related to a 23 May front-page article titled, "Kabbah Mad over Carew's Bribe Scandal," Citing an unnamed source, the article said that President Kabbah was angry at reports that Carew had accepted bribes.
This is not the first time the seditious libel laws have been applied against journalists. On 5 October 2004, Paul Kamara, editor of the independent newspaper For Di People, was found guilty on two counts of seditious libel and sentenced to two years' imprisonment on each count, to run concurrently. Kamara continues to remain in prison despite attempts by the international community to obtain his release.
Speaking of the arrests, Director of IPI, Johann P. Fritz said, "Seditious libel laws are increasingly becoming the weapon of choice for the Sierra Leonean government in its attempts to silence independent media. By using this legislation, President Kabbah's government risks undoing the improvements seen since the end of the civil war in January 2002."
"The paper has now retracted the story and said it was untrue. As a result, there is no need to prosecute the journalists. The application of this law sends an unfortunate signal to the media in the country that any attempt to hold the government to account will lead to arrest, prosecution and, eventually, jail."
"I would call for the charges against Pratt and Jones to be dropped, and for Paul Kamara, who is also imprisoned under these laws, to be released.
Finally, there is a need for fresh legal guidelines to be drafted on the use of this law to ensure that journalists are not caught in its nets when expressing criticism," Fritz said.
