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"We are writing on behalf of the International Press Institute (IPI) and the World Association of Newspapers (WAN), to call for the repeal of Sierra Leone's seditious libel law under which Paul Kamara, editor of For Di People, is currently imprisoned. In October 2004, Mr Kamara, editor and publisher of the independent daily For Di People, was convicted on two counts of seditious libel for articles that appeared in his newspaper focusing on a 1967 Commission of Inquiry, which reportedly implicated you in the embezzlement of public funds."

The following is a 1 July 2005 joint IPI and WAN letter to President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah:

His Excellency Ahmad Tejan Kabbah
Office of the President
State House
15 Siaka Steven Street
Freetown, Sierra Leone
Fax: +232 22 225 615

1 July 2005

Your Excellency,

We are writing on behalf of the International Press Institute (IPI) and the World Association of Newspapers (WAN), to call for the repeal of Sierra Leone's seditious libel law under which Paul Kamara, editor of For Di People, is currently imprisoned.

In October 2004, Mr Kamara, editor and publisher of the independent daily For Di People, was convicted on two counts of seditious libel for articles that appeared in his newspaper focusing on a 1967 Commission of Inquiry, which reportedly implicated you in the embezzlement of public funds. He was sentenced to two concurrent prison terms, of two years each, and has spent much of his sentence in solitary confinement.

Since Mr Kamara's conviction, his lawyer, Joseph Cole, has encountered repeated obstacles in trying to file an appeal and securing bail for his client. Despite filing the relevant documents with the Appeals Court on 22 October 2004, Mr Cole is still awaiting a response and no date has been set for a hearing.

We are seriously concerned at what appears to be a concerted effort by the state to deny Mr Kamara due process of law.

We respectfully remind you that prosecution for seditious libel under the 1965 Public Order Act is in clear breach of section 25(1) of the 1991 Sierra Leone Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression. It is only through the inclusion of a second provision unnecessarily limiting this freedom that prosecution for seditious libel is possible.

In addition, the Truth & Reconciliation Commission has described the Public Order Act as unconstitutional and calls for its repeal or amendment. Its seditious libel provisions are also inconsistent with your government's obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

We respectfully call on you to do everything possible to ensure that Mr Kamara is immediately released from jail and that all criminal charges against him are dropped.

We urge you to take all necessary steps to ensure that the seditious libel provisions are repealed and that in future your country fully observes international standards of freedom of expression.

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Timothy Balding
Director General
World Association of Newspapers
Johann P. Fritz
Director
International Press Institute

cc :
Mr Kofi Annan, Secretary-General, United Nations
Mr Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General, UNESCO

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Send appeals to the president:
- calling on him to do everything possible to ensure that Kamara is immediately released from jail and that all criminal charges against him are dropped
- urging him to take all necessary steps to ensure that the seditious libel provisions are repealed and that in future Sierra Leone fully observes international standards of freedom of expression

APPEALS TO:

His Excellency Ahmad Tejan Kabbah
Office of the President
State House
15 Siaka Steven Street
Freetown, Sierra Leone
Fax: +232 22 225 615

Please copy appeals to the source if possible.

MORE INFORMATION:

For further information, contact Larry Kilman at WAN, 7, rue Geoffroy St. Hilaire, 75005 Paris, France, tel: +33 1 47 42 85 00, fax: +33 1 47 42 49 48, e-mail: [email protected], Internet: http://www.wan-press.org; or contact IPI at Spiegelgasse 2/29, A-1010 Vienna, Austria, tel: +43 1 512 90 11, fax: +43 1 512 90 14, e-mail: Michael Kudlak at [email protected], Diana Orlova at [email protected], or David Dadge at [email protected], Internet site: http://www.freemedia.at