Sierra Leone Journalist Mahmud Tim Kargbo Charged Over Police Reporting

Abuja — Sierra Leone authorities should immediately drop all charges against journalist Mahmud Tim Kargbo and allow him to work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

On December 4, a magistrate court in the capital, Freetown, charged Kargbo with sharing "insulting" and "scurrilous" information via Facebook and WhatsApp about the country's assistant inspector-general of police, which allegedly caused the official's "annoyance," according to Kargbo, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview, and a copy of the charge sheet, which CPJ reviewed. Authorities held Kargbo in the Pademba Road Prison for about two hours after he was arraigned on those charges and then released him on bail, he said.

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