Detained journalists end hunger strike

Three Togolese journalists who have been in detention in the capital, Lome, for over a month for "publishing false information and disturbing public order" ended a hunger strike on Tuesday after two of them fell sick. The managing director of the weekly L'Evénment, Philipe Evégnon and Editor Dimas Djokodo, and Jean de Dieu Colombo Kpakpabia, a reporter with the Nouvel Echo weekly, were arrested in June. They appeared before court last week where Djikodo denied the charges. The three were all however remanded in custody. They had launched a 48-our hunger strike on Monday to call attention from Togolese authorities on their case, and threatened to launch an indefinite strike if their plea was ignored. Sources said on Thursday that Djokodo had developed swollen feet and back pain, while Kpakpabia fell ill with malaria. The two were arrested on 14 June while scanning pictures of alleged victims of police brutality during opposition demonstrations in Agou, in the plateaux region of Togo, following the disputed 1 June presidential elections that returned President Eyadema into power for another seven-year after 36 years in power. Evégnon was picked up the following day. Opposition politicians including Gilchrist Olympio who was barred from contesting because he resides outside the country, said the polls were unfair but observers from the African Union expressed satisfaction with the outcome. A new cabinet has yet to be named. The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) said on Monday that the three journalists were detained for 11 days at the police criminal investigation department (CID) in Lomé, where they were physically tortured before being transferred to a civilian prison. A week after they were arrested, Dzikodo and Avégnon were shown to the media but without Kpakpabia. MFWA said the CID Commissioner, Têko Koudouovoh Mawuli, refused to answer questions from journalists regarding Kpakpabia. The police later issued a statement saying that the pictures the journalist were scanning were those of road accident victims. "By publishing [pictures] as proof of an alleged repression of a demonstration, the accused were distorting the truth, misinforming public opinion and inciting communities to revolt and vengeance," the statement said. The Ghana-based MFWA appealed to the Togolese authorities to either try the journalists or release them.