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Politics News

Libel laws constrain journalists’ work in Liberia

The U.S. State Department Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Liberia says the Government of Liberia or GOL used libel and slander laws against print and broadcast journalists in the county.


The 2016 Human Rights Report says libel, slander, and national security laws placed limits on freedom of speech here, though individuals could generally criticize the government publicly or privately in exercise of Constitutional provision for freedom of speech and press.

The report says libel, slander, and defamation laws constrained the work of journalists and media outlets reporting on high-profile government or other public figures. It recalled that after reporting on corruption in the award of a high-value road construction contract, a reporter Otaven Williams was arrested and sued for L$200 million ($2.2 million) by the executive awarded the contract.

The report quotes Reporters Without Borders or RSF, as saying that media freedom was limited, adding that in August authorities closed two opposition radio stations that broadcast commentary accusing President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of corruption.

Is says government cited the lack of required permits as official reason given for the closure of the radio stations, while others that allegedly lacked permits also remained opened.

The report further claimed that court decisions against journalists involved exorbitant fines, and accused authorities of jailing journalists who did not pay the fines imposed by courts.
Given the atmosphere here, the report claims that self-censorship was widespread, and that the media often avoided addressing subjects such as the President’s family and government corruption.

It cited an instance how in September, plainclothes security officers arrested the editor of a local daily newspaper Fester Poque and held him for four hours of questioning after he republished an article that accused President Teodoro Obiang of Equatorial Guinea of human rights abuses.
In the midst of the condition faced by the media here, the U.S. Human Rights Report says the Press Union of Liberia or PUL advocated decriminalizing libel and slander laws to eliminate prison terms for persons unable to pay large fines.

But it has noted that the government did not restrict or disrupt access to the internet online content, and there were no reports that the government monitored private online communications without appropriate legal authority.

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However, it says law enforcement officers occasionally harassed newspaper and radio station owners because of their political opinions and reporting, especially those that criticized government officials.

It indicated that government officials also harassed and sometime threatened media members through telephone calls and text messages for political reasons. The report concluded that local press and RSF reported a presidential spokesperson threatened the representative of a journalists’ association for calling on the government to reopen radio stations it closed in August.

By Emmanuel Mondaye-Editing by Winston W. Parley

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