Authorities in Benin and Burkina Faso must immediately lift their respective suspensions of La Gazette du Golfe and Radio Oméga, and allow the media to report without fear on regional politics, including the coup in Niger, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.

On August 8, Benin’s High Authority for Audiovisual and Communication, or HAAC, which regulates the country’s communications sector, indefinitely suspended operations of the privately owned press group La Gazette du Golfe, including its TV, radio, print, and online outlets, according to a copy of the decision and two of the group’s staff members, who spoke with CPJ and requested anonymity for safety reasons.

Separately, on August 10, Burkina Faso suspended “until further notice” the privately owned outlet Radio Oméga, according to a statement by the government’s information service and a member of the broadcaster’s staff, who spoke with CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing security concerns.

Both suspensions stem from the outlets’ coverage of the recent coup in Niger.

“Authorities in Benin should reverse their suspension of La Gazette du Golfe, and Burkina Faso authorities should also lift their suspension of Radio Oméga at once,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, in Durban, South Africa. “Journalists should be free to provide information about political developments in West Africa, such as regional responses to the coup in Niger, without fear of reprisal.”

In its decision, the HAAC accused La Gazette du Golfe of failing to respect the regulator’s August 3 statement telling the media to “scrupulously respect constitutional and legal provisions” when dealing with information condoning coups in Africa and the region.

When contacted via messaging app, HAAC Secretary-General Julien Pierre Akpaki said he was traveling and could not respond to questions because he did not have reliable internet. Another HAAC representative told CPJ by phone that the suspension of La Gazette du Golfe was related to its August 8 broadcastcriticizing possible military intervention in Niger by neighboring states. That representative requested anonymity because they were not allowed to make public comments.

Benin has offered to contribute troops if the Economic Community of West African States uses military force to reinstate Niger President Mohamed Bazoum, who was ousted by soldiers on July 26. Niger’s new military rulers said Mondaythat they planned to prosecute Bazoum for treason.

Burkina Faso’s official government information service said that authorities suspended Radio Oméga over an August 10 interview with Ousmane Abdoul Moumouni, a spokesperson for Niger’s Council of Resistance for the Republic, which was established to reinstate Bazoum. The statement described Moumouni’s interview as “peppered with insulting remarks against the new Nigerien authorities.”

Burkina Faso, which had two coups in 2022, has warned that it would regard military intervention to reinstate Bazoum as “a declaration of war” against itself as well.

Radio Oméga said in a statement that the state security department of the police summoned and questioned the outlet’s editor-in-chief, Abdoul Fhatave Tiemtoré, on August 11 about his interview with Moumouni. The police held Tiemtoré for several hours before allowing him to leave.

Radio Oméga condemned the suspension as “unfair and unfounded” and said the decision followed “numerous death threats” against its staff by people claiming to support Burkina Faso’s government and calling for the broadcaster to be suspended.

CPJ previously documented threats by government supporters against Radio Oméga reporter Lamine Traoré over his coverage of a meeting between Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traoré and civil society organizations.

CPJ did not receive responses to phone calls and an email sent to Burkina Faso’s government spokesperson, or text messages sent to Fidèle Tamini, general secretary of Burkina Faso’s Ministry of Communication.

The post Media outlets in Benin and Burkina Faso suspended appeared first on IFEX.

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) welcomes the release of Aziz Imorou, a former journalist, after being detained for 19 days on cyber stalking charges.

Imorou was detained on 17 September 2020 after he published a Facebook article in which he reported an alleged act of aggression against himself by a bodyguard of Armand Ganse, Managing Director of the Société de Gestion des Marches Autonomes (SOGEMA), the state corporation that manages public markets.

The former journalist who worked for the Informateur narrated in the article that on May 15, he was assaulted by Gansè’s bodyguard while he was taking pictures of a vehicle that had run over a commercial motorcycle rider. In the act of taking pictures, four individuals beat him up and snatched his telephone.

A day after the publication on Facebook, Imorou was summoned to the Central Office for the Repression of Cybercrime (OCRC) on the complaint of the Director of SOGEMA. After being interrogated, Imorou was brought before a Magistrate’s Court in Cotonou. Without giving judgment, the judge committed the accused to detention at the Cotonou civil prison for defamation.

The court on 6 October 2020 released him on the benefit of the doubt. While welcoming their client’s release, Philibert Behanzin and Jean Claude Gbogblénou, lawyers for the ex-journalist, denounced his detention.

“The Prosecutor had no reason to put him under a committal order because he was summoned and he responded normally. The information put to press by the journalist was all true,” Philibert Behanzin told reporters.

This is the second time in ten months that a powerful public figure has prompted the arrest of an individual over online publications they find “offensive.”

Benin’s Public Prosecutor, Mario Metonou, caused the arrest, prosecution and imprisonment of Ignace Sossou, a journalist with WEB TV in December 2019.  The prosecutor complained that a tweet by the journalist purporting to quote the remarks he made at a conference was inaccurate. Imprisoned on December 24, 2019, Sossou was released from prison on June 24, 2020 after a successful appeal against his two-year jail term.

Although the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) welcomes the release of Imorou, we condemn his illegal detention as a breach of criminal proceedings. The MFWA urges Benin’s authorities to stop intimidating social media users with frivolous prosecutions.

The post Benin: Former journalist jailed over Facebook post released appeared first on IFEX.

In what is feared to be an exercise that would further weaken an already distressed media sector, Benin’s media regulator, Haute Autorité de l’Audiovisuelle et de la Communication (HAAC), on July 7, 2020, ordered the closure of several online media for non-compliance.

The move has come under heavy criticism and has been described as insensitive, given the crisis brought about by COVID-19.

The regulator however insists it is a necessary exercise to sanitise the online landscape. Fernand Gbaguidi, a spokesperson for the HAAC, said in a press conference that this has become necessary because the regulator has noticed a free proliferation of online media without prior authorisation.

“The intention to clean up is not bad, but we condemn the callousness of the press release. Some online media organisations had taken steps to put themselves in good standing, paid the required amount, but the HAAC never responded,” said Zakiath Latoundji, president of l’Union des professionnels des médias.

The media owners’ group, Conseil National du Patronat de la Presse et de l’Audiovisuel du Benin (CNPA-Benin), in a press release has also said that the move is an attempt to muzzle press freedom and undermine internet use in the country.

”The CNP-Benin, therefore, invites the regulatory institution [HAAC] to put its own house in order, instead of this attempt at muzzling the press which goes against the dynamics of promoting the use of the internet that the government of President Patrice Talon is fortunately promoting,” reads the press release from CNPA-Benin.

Although the MFWA does not encourage the illegal practice of journalism, it believes that at this time of the pandemic, the media is playing an important role in public education, and the HAAC as a media regulator could have granted a moratorium to the media organisations concerned.

In a series of reports under the title “The Media and COVID-19 in West Africa” published by the MFWA, the media in Benin emerged as one of the sectors neglected by the State during the pandemic. Shutting down online media will therefore further destabilize media enterprises and compromise advertising contracts with dire consequences for the livelihood of the journalists who work in these media organisations. We therefore encourage the HAAC to dialogue with the media owners to find a solution.

The post Benin’s closure of online media outlets seen as muzzling of media appeared first on IFEX.

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) and its 15 National Partner organisations in West Africa have petitioned the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR), Lawrence Mute, on the imprisonment of Beninois journalist, Ignace Sossou.

Sossou, who works with the online media, Benin Web TV, was sentenced on December 24, 2019 to 18 months in prison on a charge of “harassment by means of electronic communication” and fined CFA Francs 200,000 (about US$ 350) after he posted on Twitter and Facebook part of a speech made by the country’s public prosecutor, who complained that his words had been taken out of context.

The journalist has so far served four months of the 18-months sentence and is currently appealing the sentence. On May 3, the MFWA and its national partners sent a petition to Commissioner Mute urging him to intervene in the matter to ensure the release of the journalist.

Commissioner Mute has since acknowledged receipt of the petition.

Kindly click here to read the full petition.

The post West African media organisations petition ACHPR Special Rapporteur on Ignace Sossou release appeared first on IFEX.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and more than 120 media outlets and journalists in West Africa are publishing an unprecedented joint op-ed today calling for the release of Ignace Sossou, a Beninese journalist still being held after two and a half months in prison although the proof of his innocence has been available for several weeks.

Arrested in Cotonou on 20 December after tweeting about the statements that Benin’s prosecutor-general made at a workshop organized by the French media development agency CFI, Sossou was sentenced to 18 months in prison four days later on a charge of “harassment by means of electronic communications.”

But, as today’s joint op-ed points out, “anyone can now verify from the audio recording and transcript that the imprisoned journalist reported the statements accurately.”

The recording and transcript of the prosecutor’s comments released by CFI on 2 January clearly show that Sossou quoted what he said word for word, without distorting his statements in any way. An investigative reporter and head of production at Bénin Web TV, Sossou is nonetheless still being held after 84 days in prison and his appeal is still waiting to be heard.

“This show of support by West African media and journalists speaks to a deep concern for media personnel in the region,” said Assane Diagne, the director of RSF’s West Africa office. “A journalist in an ECOWAS member country has for the first time been jailed for using social media to report comments that really were made, and for serving the public interest by so doing. He has been jailed for doing his job.”

“Two and a half months after this journalist was convicted and jailed, and with everyone able to see that he committed no crime, it is hard to understand why his appeal has not yet been heard so that he can be released,” said Arnaud Froger, the head of RSF’s Africa desk. “As the news organizations and journalists who signed this op-ed point out, the shock waves from this journalist’s detention have been felt far beyond Benin’s borders. A journalist should not be jailed for three tweets quoting a public figure. His release should be a priority for the authorities.”

Benin is ranked 96th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2019 World Press Freedom Index.

The post Accurate reporting lands Beninese journalist in jail appeared first on IFEX.

A Magistrate’s Court in Cotonou on August 12, 2019, sentenced a journalist to a one-month suspended jail term and a fine of 550,000 francs CFA (about US $ 850) after being found guilty of “publishing false information on the internet.”

The trial of Ignace Sossou, journalist of Web Benin TV, an online media outlet, followed a defamation complaint by Jean Luc Tchifteyan, a businessman of French nationality and owner of the Tchifteyan Group of Companies based in Cotonou.

The journalist had published two investigative articles in which he made tax evasion allegations against the Tchifteyan company. The investigative articles were published in collaboration with the International Consortium for Investigative Journalism (ICIJ) and the Centre National de Presse -Norbert Zongo, MFWA’S partner organisation in Burkina Faso.

Although Benin has decriminalised press offenses, the authorities charged Sossou under the country’s digital code law No 2017-20 on the use of social networks and electronic communication tools, particularly article 550 which deals with online press offenses.

The conviction of Sossou adds to the case of Casimir Kpedjo, a journalist with the private online magazine Nouvelle Economie, who is still being prosecuted. Kpedjo was arrested and detained by the police on April 18, 2019, on accusations of “spreading false information about Benin’s economy’’ in connection with an article he published.

While the MFWA takes note of the lenient and suspended penalty pronounced by the Court, we still find it intriguing that a country that has decriminalised press offenses would still press criminal charges for defamation. We, therefore, urge the Beninois authorities to ensure that the freedoms granted through the decriminalisation process are not taken back through repressive laws or misinterpretation of other laws to target the online media.

The post Beninese journalist gets suspended sentence and fine appeared first on IFEX.

Over a period of two weeks (April 18 and May 2, 2019), two protesters have been killed, the internet has been shut down, and a journalist has been arrested and detained over false publication charges, as the authorities in Benin go on the rampage against freedom of expression and assembly.

On April 18, the security forces stormed the home of Casimir Kpedjo, the manager of the private online magazine Nouvelle Economie and took him into detention at the Xlacodji brigade of the Gendarmerie in the economic capital, Cotonou.

In two articles published on the official Facebook page of his newspaper, the journalist had criticised a euro bond issued by the country, and made a gloomy analysis on the economy.

Following the publications, the state institution in charge of external finances, Caisse autonome d’amortissement, filed a complaint of economic sabotage against the journalist leading to his arrest. Accused of disseminating false information about the economy of Benin, Kpedjo was put before court on April 23.

“He was arrested for having broadcast on social media, on the Facebook page of his newspaper, two articles of La Nouvelle Economie, notably in the No. 126 and 127 editions of the newspaper which contained information said to be false on the economic performance of Benin,” the journalist’s lawyer, Renaud Agbodjo, told the media.

For a country that has decriminalised libel, Benin should not be prosecuting a journalist for his critical, even if erroneous, diagnosis of the Beninois economy, especially when the government has several avenues to rebut the information.

Ten days after the arrest of the journalist (April 28), the authorities disrupted social media networks in the country before shutting down the entire internet grid as tension mounted over the decision to proceed with legislative elections from which all opposition candidates had been disqualified.

“Impossible to communicate via social networks in Benin; Facebook, telegram, WhatsApp, Twitter etc. No platform of social networks has functioned in this country over the past few hours. They are all shut this Sunday, April 28, 2019, polling day,” reported lanouvelletribune.info, an online news media ahead of the total shutdown.

The internet shutdown is a clear violation of the Benin people’s right to receive and share information and a serious infraction on their economic rights, given that many people depend on the internet for their economic activities.

In the latest act of violation, two people, a man and a woman, were shot dead as the police and military quelled post-election protests with lethal force on May 1. Minister of Interior, Sacca Lafia, confirmed on RFI that live bullets were used “contrary to orders against the use of lethal force”.

From the holding of the one-sided election and the shutting of the internet, to the fatal crackdown on protesters and the arrest of the journalist, Benin has emerged with a tarnished image.

These incidents cast a dark shadow over Benin which, in 1991, organised the first elections that ushered West Africa into the current democratic era, and which has since consolidated its democratic tradition with peaceful, transparent elections and respect for human rights including freedom of expression.

MFWA is, therefore, deeply concerned about this crackdown in Benin and condemn the Patrice Talon government’s siege on press freedom, including internet freedom. We call on the authorities to drop charges against Casimir Kpedjo and to conduct thorough investigations into the killing of the two protesters in order to find the culprits and bring them to justice.

The post Media and FoE crackdown in Benin intensifies over 2 week period appeared first on IFEX.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the arbitrary arrest of Casimir Kpédjo, the editor of Beninese newspaper Nouvelle Economie, over a story about Benin’s debt. His arrest is indicative of a government desire to control the press, RSF said.

Police arrested Kpédjo at his Cotonou home on 18 April as a result of a complaint by Caisse autonôme d’amortisseement (CAA), about an article published the previous day claiming that Benin’s eurobond issues in the first quarter of 2019 violated its finance law. The article was illustrated with the minister’s photo.

CAA is the government body responsible for monitoring external finance.

“Casimir Kpédjo’s arrest constitutes further evidence of a government desire to silence all contradictory voices in Benin,” said Assane Diagne, the head of RSF’s West Africa office. “We call for his immediate and unconditional release.”

Kpédjo is the second journalist to be arrested this year for his opinions about the government’s actions, following Parfait Folly, who was arrested on a complaint by the same minister.

Kpédjo is currently being held at the headquarters of the Criminal Brigade in Cotonou. He will be transferred to the Court for Economic Offences and Terrorism (CRIET), which is tasked with combatting corruption, illicit enrichment, drug trafficking and money-laundering, as well as terrorism.

Benin is ranked 96th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2019 World Press Freedom Index, 12 places lower than in 2018 and 18 places lower than in 2017.

The post Benin authorities arrest editor over article appeared first on IFEX.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns this week’s decision by Benin’s High Authority for Broadcasting and Communication (HAAC) to close one of the country’s most popular newspapers, the pro-opposition La Nouvelle Tribune, for insulting President Patrice Talon. The decision is disproportionate and lacks a legal basis, RSF said.

“La Nouvelle Tribune is finished. On to the next one,” a cartoon on the newspaper’s front page said yesterday, a day after the HAAC issued its decision to close it until further notice for “conducting during recent months an insulting and offensive campaign violating the Head of State’s privacy and using a degrading vocabulary.”

Under article 55 of the 1992 law establishing the HAAC, it can only close a media outlet when the outlet violates this law’s own provisions. But the decision published by the HAAC on 23 May cites provisions on press ethics, insult and respect for privacy in Benin’s information and communication law and press ethics law, neither of which says this kind of offence is punishable by closure.

When reached by RSF, HAAC president Adam Boni Tessi refused to make any comment about this decision.

“There are no legal grounds for the HAAC’s decision,” said Arnaud Froger, the head of RSF’s Africa desk. “Closing a newspaper on the basis of laws that do not provide for this form of punishment is absurd and the punishment seems out of all proportion to the alleged offences. As long as the HAAC continues to arbitrarily close media outlets critical of the authorities, it will be seen as a government tool.”

The Benin Union of Media Professionals (UPMB) and the National Council of Print and Broadcast Media Owners (CNPA-Benin) have issued a joint statement “questioning the HAAC president’s real motives” and saying there are “no valid arguments justifying the closure of what is a space for freedom.”

The HAAC ordered the closure of four opposition broadcast media outlets in December 2016. Three of them are now back on the air but one, Sikka TV (owned by the president’s leading political rival, Sébastien Ajavon), is still unable to resume broadcasting despite a court ruling in May 2017 ordering its reopening. Tessi, who was already the HAAC’s president, was himself ordered to pay 76,000 euros in damages.

Benin fell six places in RSF’s 2018 World Press Freedom Index and is now ranked 84 out of 180 countries.

The post Broadcasting authority shuts down Benin’s most popular newspaper appeared first on IFEX.

Léhady Soglo – the mayor of Benin’s economic capital Cotonou – has sued the publication director of Nord Sud Quotidien newspaper for defamation. Soglo is claiming 50 million CFA Francs (about USD $85,000) in compensation.

The suit follows a publication in the May 2, 2017 edition of Nord Sud Quotidien, which featured an analysis of Cotonou Metropolitan Council’s interim financial audit report for the period June 2015-June 2016.

The publication titled “Audit of the management of the city of Cotonou: Why Talon is protecting Léhady” alleged that Soglo had mismanaged city affairs. It also accused Beninois president Patrice Talon of protecting him.

Soglo claimed that the publication contained inaccuracies and “false” allegations calculated to tarnish his image, and took legal action.

During an appearance in court on May 17, 2017, the management of the newspaper was made to pay a bond of 30,000 CFA Francs, (about USD $50), and the case was adjourned to May 31, 2017.

The MFWA is concerned about the suit against Nord Sud Quotidien and recommends the aggrieved party to resort to dispute resolution mechanism of the media regulatory body, Haute Autorite de l’Audiovisuel et la Communication (HAAC) to seek redress. We also take this opportunity to urge the media to avoid sensationalism and speculative reporting.

The post Benin: Mayor of Cotonou sues “Nord Sud Quotidien” director for USD $85,000 appeared first on IFEX.