Newspapers go on strike to protest journalist arrest

Three quarters of Senegalese newspapers were missing from kiosks on Monday in a protest against last week's jailing of the publications director of independent newspaper Le Quotidien, which they described as "a vain attempt to muzzle the press". Le Quotidien's Madiambal Diagne was arrested on Friday, charged with publishing confidential documents, spreading false information and acts which compromise public security. "We are united against .... injustice and the vain attempt to muzzle the press," read the joint editorial "Everyone Against the Monster" that blared from the front pages of the weekend editions of 10 newspapers. They also reprinted the two articles that led to Diagne's arrest -- one from 23 June which included a letter from the Economy Minister about a corruption inquiry into the customs service and another from 5 July which said judicial nominees of President Abdoulaye Wade were accepted despite opposition from magistrates. On Monday 12 out of 16 newspapers did not roll off the presses and most private radio stations followed the print media's lead and chose not to broadcast their usual programmes. Instead they played freedom songs, as well as extracts of interviews given by Diagne, who is now in Dakar's Central Prison. Senegalese authorities dismissed accusations of press muzzling, saying Diagne's arrest was legitimate. "Journalists are not above the law... Those who have chosen to disobey the law will see the law being applied," Prime Minister Macky Sall told the Monday edition of pro-government daily Le Soleil. That paper was one of four that did not take part in the media strike, joined by pro-government papers Scoop and Messager as well as independent paper Wal Fadjiri, whose editor said it backed the protest but preferred to wait for the government’s response. "Our only concern is the immediate and unconditional release of Madiambal Diagne but we believe people should have waited to see the reaction of the state after the initiatives taken on Friday and Saturday," editor Sidy Lamine Niasse said. The non-governmental organisation Reporters Sans Frontieres slammed Diagne's arrest, calling it arbitrary. "This imprisonment is new proof of the hardening of the State towards the Senegalese press," the media watchdog said in a statement on its website. "For several months the government of Abdoulaye Wade has turned to the judiciary..... to neutralise journalists," the RSF statement added. RSF says Senegal, traditionally cited as an example of freedom of expression, "took a disturbing turn in 2003". Last summer journalist Abdou Latif Coulibaly received death threats after writing a book which denounced the Wade family's interference in national affairs. And last October, the Dakar correspondent of Radio France Internationale (RFI) was expelled from Senegal after the government complained about her coverage of the rebels in the southern region of Casamance. In the wake of the latest arrest, Diagne's newspaper was standing firm. "It's well known, breaking the thermometer doesn't get rid of the fever," the staff said in a statement.