> The Right Honourable Amos Wako
> Attorney-General
> Nairobi, Kenya
> C/o Permanent Representative to UN
> Email: [email protected]
>
> 29 July 2002
>
> Dear Mr Wako,
>
> We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and the
> World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 100 countries,
> to express our serious concern at the imprisonment of journalist
Christopher
> Mwoki Kyandi.
>
> According to reports, Mr Mwoki Kyandi, journalist and editor of the
scandal
> magazine The Truth, was sentenced to nine months in prison on 24 July for
> publishing 'false news'. The charges, to which Mr Mwoki Kyandi pleaded
> guilty, arose from a salacious article published earlier this month.
>
> Without endorsing the publication of such articles, we respectfully remind
> you that the jailing of Mr Mwoki Kyandi is a disproportionate response to
> his actions. Furthermore, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights
> considers that 'detention, as punishment for the peaceful expression of an
> opinion, is one of the most reprehensible ways to enjoin silence and, as a
> consequence, a grave violation of human rights'.
>
> We respectfully call on you to do everything possible to ensure that Mr
> Mwoki Kyandi is immediately released and that the threat of imprisonment
is
> removed.
>
> We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.
>
> Yours sincerely,
>
> Seok Hyun Hong
> President
> World Association of Newspapers
>
> Gloria Brown Anderson
> President
> World Editors Forum
>
> **The information contained in this autolist item is the sole
responsibility
> of WAN**