IFJ Calls on Chad to Drop Charges against Newspaper Editor

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PUBLISHED ON December 20, 2007 AT 10:29 AM

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today condemned the detention of a newspaper editor in Chad, who was held illegally by authorities for four days in connection with an article he wrote accusing the President of ethnic cleansing, and called on authorities to drop charges against him alleging he has incited “tribal hate.”

“The government has brought charges against our colleague to silence his critical reporting,” said Gabriel Baglo, Director of the IFJ Africa office. “He was arrested and detained without due process. The charges against him should be dropped immediately.”

Nadjikimo Benoudjita, editor of the weekly newspaper Notre Temps, was charged with “inciting tribal hate” and released yesterday afternoon. Benoudjita was arrested in the capital city N’Djamena early on Friday morning by armed men who did not have a warrant.

His arrest came after an article he wrote accusing Chadian President Idriss Deby of carrying out targeted killings under former President Hissen Habré was published last week in Notre Temps. The article denounced the killings on the basis of the victims’ ethnicity and also criticised French President Nicolas Sarkozy for supporting Deby’s government in the former French colony.

According to Benoudjita, a complaint for defamation was filed by the media regulatory body High Council of Communication (HCC). The charge was later turned into “defamation, insult and inciting tribal hate”.

“It is shocking that the media regulatory body did not solve the issue in-house but threw our colleague to the lions,” said Baglo. “We call on the leadership of HCC to withdraw its complaint and to ensure that the case is tried in the journalists’ court.”

Benoudjita, who is also the President of the Private Press Editors’ Association, is due to face the charges in court in few days.

For more information contact the IFJ at + 221 33 842 01 43
The IFJ represents over 600,000 journalists in 120 countries worldwide

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