In response to the persistent trend of legal harassment against journalists and civic activists in West Africa, the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has put together a network of defence lawyers to provide timely and effective legal assistance to victims. A total of 14 lawyers from 11 West African countries are now available on call to defend and protect journalists and activists who come under harassment over their work.
Known as the West Africa Network of Activists and Media Defense Lawyers (WANAMDEL), the group was officially inaugurated in Accra, on Wednesday, October 9, 2024, with 12 out of the 14 lawyers in attendance. In all, the network has lawyers from Senegal, Togo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Cote d'Ivoire, Benin, The Gambia and Ghana. participating as pro bono legal beagles.
The 12 lawyers present at the inauguration are Moussa Sarr (Senegal), Thérèse Donu (Togo), Sarnyenneh M. Dickson (Liberia), Paul Kamara (Sierra Leone), Salifou Béavogui (Guinea) Mojirayo Oluwatoyin Ogulano and Gloria Mabeian Ballason (both from Nigeria). The rest are Dogbemin Kone (Côte d'Ivoire), Houssou Brice (Bénin) Nenneh M.C. Cham (The Gambia) and Samson Lardy Anyenini and Zakaria Tanko (l both from Ghana). A third Ghanaian and a member of the Network, Martin Kpebu, was however unable to attend the inaugural ceremony.
These lawyers, who are already on the ground defending journalists and activists in their various countries, will now provide their legal services in a coordinated manner with financial and material support from the MFWA.
The inauguration of WANAMDEL was done as part of a forum that was held under the theme: Countering Legal Obstacles to Media Freedom, Civic Expression and the fight against Impunity: Challenges and Prospects.
The Forum served as a platform for some 150 stakeholders, including activists, civil society representatives, journalists and legal experts to deliberate on the ongoing constriction of the civic space in West Africa and strategise on effective mechanisms to counter the repression. The participants highlighted the worsening legal harassment of journalists and activists as a major threat to inclusive, accountable and democratic governance in West Africa.
The forum was chaired by Dr. Joseph Whittal, Commissioner of Ghana's Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice. It featured addresses and a presentation by leading experts in human rights, democracy and law.
No more legal intimidation shall be countenanced
Opening the forum, The Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) Mr. Sulemana Braimah, emphasised that the decision to form WANAMDEL was motivated by the incessant, unrelenting and worsening trend of legal harassment against journalists and activists. The inauguration of the network, he said, should therefore be a sign to the powerful who brandish the law to bully and harass critical journalists that such intimidation will no longer be countenanced.
"With the presence of this network and their activities, let those who seek to exploit the inability of journalists to hire the services of lawyers for their defense to be well-informed that from now on things have changed. Let it be clear that from today, if journalists and activists are arbitrarily abused, as has been the case all the time, the legal response shall be swift and robust," Mr Braimah said.
He added, "Let it also be known, that from today, if the powerful in society seek to intimidate journalists and activists with empty legal threats, just to cow people into submission as they have always been doing, we will collectively respond by saying, "see you in court."
Mr Braimah lamented the escalation of the repression to targeted those who are fighting to reverse environmental degradation. "At a time when combatting climate change and environmental conservation has become a global priority, we are witnessing increasing violence, repression and intimidation against environmental journalists in particular and other environmental activists in our region. These developments do not just undermine democracy they impede progress towards sustainable peace and development and worsen the plight of the marginalized in society."
Worsening legal harassment consequence of democratic backslide
He lamented that the legal harassment against journalists and activists is a consequence of ongoing democratic recession in West Africa, which has been underlined by the plunge of Mali, Niger, Burkin Faso and Guinea Bissau back into military rule. He said there is a rise in authoritarianism, with even countries that hitherto were beacons of democracy (such as Ghana, Senegal and Benin) also slipping into despotism.
"At the heart of the democratic backsliding in West Africa is the growing repression of civic voices, shrinking civic spaces, suppression of media freedoms, violence against journalists and impunity for crimes against journalists. We are also witnessing an increasing resort to SLAPP suits where big corporates and the powerful in society who can easily resort to the services of lawyers will just resort to judicial mechanisms to intimidate and sometimes harass activists and journalists."
"If left unchecked, the ongoing repression of civic spaces, repression against journalists and activists, and the growing impunity for crimes against activists and journalists will not only worsen the ongoing democratic relapse in West Africa but also jeopardize our collective progress and potentially take all of us and our countries back to military rule," Mr. Braimahsaid.
Cybercrime laws now weaponized against activists
Former President of the West Africa Bar Association (WABA) Mr. Femi Falana delivered the keynote address in which he highlighted the new worrying trend whereby authorities in West African countries are weaponizing cybercrime laws against journalists and activists. He said, this trend presents a new front for ongoing attack on democracy and must be fought.
In an address that he gave through a Zoom broadcast, he likened the current tendency for governments to use criminal prosecutions to harass journalists and civic activists to a return to an old colonial tactic in which colonial masters of African countries extensively used sedition to repress dissenting voices.
Mr Falana said the current wave of repression must be fought by collaborative efforts just like past anti-colonial heroes banded together to fight colonialism, adding that the fight cannot be left to NGOs and civil society organizations alone.
Other addresses came from Ghana's Minister of Information Fatimatu Abubakar, who reassured in a speech read on her behalf that the Ghana government is committed to safeguarding human rights and promoting an open civic space, saying this is demonstrated by the fact that the government is upholding the repeal of the criminal libel law.
Also, in a speech read on her behalf, Ghana's Deputy Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Diana Asonaba Dapaah, who was the special guest of honour, reiterated the government's commitment to media freedom. While observing that while conflict between the media and other institutions and individuals arises from unethical journalism, the Deputy Minister also admitted that in many cases, the response to media offences by state agencies and other entities has been excessive and arbitrary. She therefore pledged her outfit's commitment to collaborating with the police and the judiciary to ensure more effective protection of journalists. She also urged the media and activists to be responsible and law-abiding in their work.
Rampant FOE violations amidst free expression guarantees
A key highlight of the forum was a presentation on recent trends in West Africa's freedom of expression landscape based on the MFWA's monitoring. Making the presentation, Mr Muheeb Saeed, Manager of the MFWA's Freedom of Expression (FOE) programme, revealed that a total of 257 incidents of violations were recorded in the Region between January 2023 - June 2024. Nigeria, Guinea, Senegal and Burkina Faso were the leading perpetrators of violations.
The presentation also highlighted the findings of six country reports on The Legal Obstacles to Fighting Impunity in West Africa. The reports showed that despite providing constitutional safeguards and subscribing to various international and regional protocols upholding freedom of expression, governments are adopting and manipulating other laws to repress critical opinions in the media and civil society.
The report established that in all the six countries, the law on false publication likely to cause fear and panic is commonly used to attack the media and restrict the civic space. Ghana and Nigeria lead the pack in the exploitation of this law to silence dissent. Nigeria's cybercrime, criminal defamation under the criminal code and penal code have been used to devastating effect. Defamation and false publication laws have been weaponised also in Togo while the digital code is the nightmare of journalists and activists in Benin.
Cote d'Ivoire's media regulator, l'Autorite nationale de la presse (l'ANP), is often accused of being a tool for government repression of dissent. It often issues sanctions against media organisations, often for offences against the head of State. In Guinea Bissau, extensive intimidation has led to widespread self-censorship, while the government is exploiting excessive licensing fees to keep the media "obedient. "
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It added that the police have played a leading role in the violations, arresting and detaining journalists and activists arbitrarily, often on the orders of powerful persons.
Another important activity at the forum was a panel discussion in which participants, including some of the lawyers of WANAMDEL, deliberated on the deterioration in free expression in the subregion.
Out of the discussion, the following recommendations were made to specific stakeholders:
Governments
- Decriminalise defamation in favour of civil remedies to prevent the imprisonment of journalists.
- Align press laws with international standards, including provisions for judicial oversight of surveillance on suspected activists. The government of Nigeria in particular should take further steps to review the Cybercrime Law
- Strengthen the independence of media regulators to ensure fair and unbiased oversight.
- Provide tax incentives and financial support to ease financial pressure on the media
- Ensure that security officers who violate press freedom are held to account
- Liaise with the courts to ensure fair and expeditious adjudication of cases of violation against the media
- Set up independent Security Agencies Professional Standards Complaint body to receive and deal with complaints against the security agents
Journalists/Media Organisations
- Observe the highest professional standards and ensure quality and impactful output
- Establish and observe safety protocols and undergo regular training on the legal frameworks, particularly the criminal code, national security, defamation and public order laws
Media Defence organisations
- Increase advocacy for improved environment for media and civil society work
- Campaign for the introduction of stronger oversight on government deployment of surveillance technology to protect journalists and activists from abuse by the state
- Provide legal support and training on media laws to journalists and activists
