IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
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ACTION ALERT - MALI

5 November 2003

CPJ concerned about jailing of three journalists

SOURCE: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), New York

(CPJ/IFEX) - The following is a CPJ letter to President Amadou Toumani Toure:

November 5, 2003

His Excellency Amadou Toumani Toure
President of the Republic of Mali
Présidence
Koulouba, Bamako
Mali

By facsimile: 011-223-223-0043

Your Excellency:

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is disturbed by the continued
imprisonment of three journalists working for privately owned Sido radio
station. According to local sources, police in Ségou, a city in southern Mali,
arrested program host Chériff Haïdara; radio director Mamoutou Traoré; and
reporter and program host Gata Ba on October 20, 24, and 26, respectively.

In early October, the station aired a report criticizing a court ruling made in
Ségou against a nearby village association that had been in dispute with a local
bank. The court ruled that livestock should be confiscated from villagers to
settle the association's debt to the bank. The radio broadcast interviews with
angry villagers, who criticized debt-collectors for confiscating the animals.
On October 14, after the report aired, several debt-collectors entered the radio
station and confiscated broadcasting equipment, a computer, cassette decks, and
mixers, among other materials, said local sources. With the help of Moussa
Kéita, the president of Mali's High Council on Communications, the equipment was
returned the same day. According to Kéita, the debt-collectors' confiscation of
the equipment was in reprisal for the station's reporting.

The debt-collectors then accused the journalists of criminal defamation, leading
to their subsequent arrest, the sources said. At a hearing yesterday, the
journalists were refused bail. Their next hearing is scheduled for November 18.

The imprisonment of these journalists is an alarming development in a country
that is considered a press freedom model in Africa. It also marks the first time
that journalists have been imprisoned in Mali for their work since Your
Excellency took office in 2002.

As an independent organization of journalists dedicated to defending our
colleagues worldwide, CPJ condemns the incarceration of Chériff Haïdara,
Mamoutou Traoré and Gata Ba, and calls for their immediate and unconditional
release.

We urge Your Excellency to do everything within your power to see that Malian
journalists can practice their profession freely, without fear of criminal
punishment.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter. We await your response.

Sincerely,

Ann K. Cooper
Executive Director

CC:
Abdoulaye Diop, Malian Ambassador to the United States
Moussa Kéita, President of the High Council on Communications

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Similar appeals can be sent to:

His Excellency Amadou Toumani Toure
President of the Republic of Mali
Présidence
Koulouba, Bamako
Mali
Fax: +223 223 0043

Please copy appeals to the source if possible.

For further information, contact Africa Program Coordinator Julia Crawford or
Research Associate Adam Posluns at CPJ, 330 Seventh Ave., New York, NY 10001,
U.S.A., tel: +1 212 465 1004, fax: +1 212 465 9568, e-mail: [email protected],
[email protected], Internet: http://www.cpj.org/

The information contained in this action alert is the sole responsibility of
CPJ. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit CPJ.
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