RSF protests closure of radio station

The government of Chad has closed down the community radio station FM Liberte for criticising President Idriss Deby, the media watch-dog Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) said. The radio station was taken off the air indefinitely by the Public Security Ministry on Tuesday for "illegal operation and deviant behaviour," it added. RSF said the radio station was closed after airing a broadcast that compared Deby to his brutal predecessor, Hissene Habre, whom he overthrew in 1990. The radio station had also accused Deby of bringing into Chad "predators, destroyers of the economy and professional killers who hold the power of life and death over other citizens". Condemning the closure of FM Liberte, RSF secretary general Robert Menard said: "The evolution of freedom of expression in Chad had been relatively positive in recent years. Unfortunately, we are compelled to note that certain subjects remain taboo, especially when the president and his entourage are involved." He said two journalists of the radio station had spent two months in prison after criticising the President's mother-in-law a few months back. "This is not the first time that the country's authorities have attacked FM-Liberte, which is known to have close ties to human rights organisations," Menard added. On 17 October, the radio station's editor-in-chief, Dobian Assinge,r was officially cautioned on the orders of Communication Minister Moctar Wawa Dahab, RSF said. FM-Liberte has been subject to government pressure in the past, it noted. During the 2001 presidential election, the station was ordered to stop broadcasting political debates. And in February 2002, it was taken of the air for three weeks for disrupting public order after reporting on a student demonstration in Cameroon.