RSF protests against jailing of journalist

The international media watchdog Reporters sans frontieres (RSF) has protested to the Guinean authorities against the arrest and detention of journalist Tibou Camara, editor of ‘l’Observateur’, a private weekly. RSF said on Wednesday that it had sent a letter to Minister of Communication and Culture Mamady Conde asking him to take steps to have Camara released. RSF said that according to information it had received, Camara was beaten and arrested by riot police on Tuesday in front of the newspaper’s office and taken to the central prison in Conakry. He had been sentenced on 24 April to six months in prison and the equivalent of about 590 euros for defamation against the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Tourism. Five journalists from ‘l’Observateur’ who had been charged with Camara are still at large. RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard said it was the second time this year that a journalist had been sent to prison in Guinea. Aboubacar Sakho of the ‘Nouvel Observateur’ was jailed on 14 February for an article criticising the government for sacking magistrates, RSF said. He was released one month after his arrest. [For more information see www.rsf.fr]