RSF protests against editor's arrest

Reporters sans frontières (RSF) has protested against the arrest on Tuesday of the managing editor of the weekly 'La Tribune du Peuple', Siliadin Kodjo. Kodjo was arrested in the late afternoon by six plainclothes police officers and taken to Lome police station, the media watchdog said. He was accused of publishing an article, one month earlier, that denounced the suppression of an opposition demonstration by security forces. "Once again, the Togolese authorities have opted to use the most repressive means to silence a journalist. The government, and especially President Gnassingbé Eyadéma, do not tolerate any criticism and systematically attack the independent and opposition press," RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard said. RSF asked the government to intervene with the relevant authorities to release the journalist without delay. "According to sources from the 'La Tribune du Peuple' newsroom, several journalists have also received anonymous threatening telephone calls since the article's publication," RSF added. In September, the Togolese parliament passed a new media bill despite concern among lobby groups on media freedom that it would stifle the media in the West African country. The new bill modified several aspects of the existing press code. The new bill increased the penalty for "insulting the Head of State" from six months' imprisonment to a "one to five-year jail term with no parole and a fine of one to five million CFA francs (about US $1,480 to $7,400)". It introduced penalties of three months to two years in jail for those found guilty of "insulting the National Assembly speaker, the prime minister, parliamentarians, government members and constitutional institutions"; and a three-year jail term for defamation of courts, tribunals, the armed forces, security forces, constituent bodies, and the public administration.