Journalists denounce plans for new “gag law”

Angolan journalists have strongly criticised a government proposal for a new press law, saying it is an attempt to create a legal tool for silencing the media, news reports said on Friday. The government “wants to replace the current law, which in terms of freedom is absolutely outdated, with a real gag law,” Avelino Miguel, leader of the Angolan Journalists’ Union was quoted as saying. Rafael Marques, who was jailed for four months and then convicted of defaming President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos, said: “He (President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos) is creating the necessary conditions to legally eliminate an already incipient press freedom.” The proposed new law incorporates articles included in the notorious State Security Law, which forbids any attempt to destabilize the country. The government has used this bill to censor coverage of Angola’s civil war. The new legislation also bans defendants facing charges from presenting evidence to support their claims. “To the citizens who want effective press freedom, they have responded with clauses that reinforce the repression of journalists,” said William Tonet, editor of the biweekly ‘Folha 8’ who was detained last year.