IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
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ALERT UPDATE - NIGERIA

2 September 2003

MFWA and MISA condemn journalist's arrest and detention

SOURCE: Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), Windhoek

**Update to IFEX alert of 29 August 2003**

**MISA and the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), as a joint activity,
will henceforth issue alerts, statements and appeals to highlight media freedom
and wider human rights violations in West Africa. See www.misa.org and
www.mediafoundationwa.org for more information**

(MISA/IFEX) - The following is a joint MISA-MFWA alert:

On 22 August 2003, Lawson Heyford, the Port Harcourt bureau chief of "The
Source" magazine, was arrested by police officers and detained at the Force
Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) in Lagos.

According to MFWA-Nigeria sources, the police gave no reason for Heyford's
arrest, but information gathered suggests the police action was informed by
articles the journalist wrote on an intra-tribal conflict in southern Nigeria.

Ataba village, in the Andoni Local Government Area of Rivers State, southern
Nigeria, had been caught up in a chieftaincy dispute that claimed several lives
and left many houses destroyed. Heyford, a native of Ataba, is reported to have
lost his family home during the conflict. He had written extensively on the
conflict and mentioned the names of people he believed were masterminding the
destruction in Ataba.

MFWA-Nigeria believes that the individuals Heyford accused in his articles used
their influence over Sunday Aghedo, assistant inspector general of the police in
charge of Zone 6, to harass the journalist, without the knowledge of the Rivers
State Police Command, responsible for investigating matters in the area.

Sylvester Araba, the command's police commissioner, confirmed Heyford's arrest
and claimed the journalist has a criminal case to answer in connection with the
Andoni problem. However, Araba could not say what role the journalist had played
in the conflict.

Brige Heyford, the detained journalist's wife, spoke of the hardship she is
encountering with their five children since her husband's arrest and detention.
"They should be kind enough to explain to us the offence my husband committed to
warrant his arrest," she said.

The MFWA and MISA condemn the arrest and detention of the journalist without a
charge. They urge police authorities to hand over Heyford to the court if they
are convinced he broke the law.

For further information, contact Zoe Titus, Program Coordinator, Media Freedom
Monitoring, MISA, Street Address: 21 Johann Albrecht Street, Mailing Address;
Private Bag 13386 Windhoek, Namibia, tel: +264 61 232 975, fax: +264 61 248 016,
e-mail: [email protected] or [email protected], Internet: http://www.misa.org,
or Kwame Karikari, Executive Director, MFWA, P. O. Box LG 730, Legon, Ghana,
tel: +233 21 24 24 70, fax: +233 21 22 10 84, e-mail: [email protected],
Internet: http://www.mediafoundationwa.org

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