A journalist has endured seven months of ordeal in the maximum security prison of Koro Toro in the north of the country, more than 600 km from the capital N’Djamena. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) strongly condemns this arbitrary and abusive detention and calls on the authorities to shed full light on the most appalling violence suffered by Service Ngardjelaï.

The story of Service Ngardjelaï, a journalist with a pro-government TV channel, beggars belief. The night after thousands took part in protests against the transitional military government on 20 October 2022, Ngardjelaï was awakened by alarming noises. Soldiers stormed into his N’Djamena residence after breaking down the gate. He found himself face to face with a soldier who slapped him. Despite explaining that he was a Toumai TV journalist, Ngardjelaï was arrested and, with 15 other people, was tied up in the middle of the yard and severely beaten with sticks and whips.

Seventy-two hours of incredible violence ensued. He and the other detainees were thrown into a military vehicle “like bags” and were taken to a municipal school in Abena, a village 10 km outside the capital. While held in a classroom, he said he heard the soldiers execute several people in the courtyard, to which he was later taken and beaten. The next evening, he and other detainees were taken to an isolated place on the shores of Lake Chad by soldiers who “stubbed their cigarettes out on the bodies of the prisoners.” The soldiers were about to execute them but lowered their weapons when they saw civilians approaching.

The soldiers then took them to police headquarters in N’Djamena, where they initially promised to free them but instead set off with them heading north. Several people died from lack of food on the trip, during which the soldiers “forced the prisoners to take the bodies of the dead and throw them in the sand.” On 23 October, they finally arrived at Koro Toro, a prison in the middle of the desert, isolated from all means of communication. It is notorious for its constant gratuitous violence, which international organisations have repeatedly denounced. Ngardjelaï ended up spending seven months there.

12-kilo leg irons, deadly food

Ngardjelaï was held arbitrarily in inhuman conditions for seven months. “We slept on the floor, and there were between 20 and 30 of us in each cell,” he said. He was also subjected to forced labour. “If we refused, the soldiers attached irons weighing 12 to 16 kilos to our feet. They were so tight that they caused sores, which could then become infected.” He sustained injuries to his left ribcage, right arm, and spine, and he says he vomited blood.

He found all sorts of objects in his food, including sand, razor blades and electric battery innards. Out of date flour was used to prepare the food. He was regularly beaten by the soldiers. Some of his jailers were a little more lenient towards him before of his status as a journalist, but others used additional violence against him for the same reason.

Should never have been held

Ngardjelaï should never have spent all this time in prison. At the start of November, around ten days after his arrest, he appeared before a judicial commission consisting of a judge and a police officer and was charged with unauthorised assembly, destruction of property, arson and disturbing public order. The trial of 401 of the prisoners in Koro Toro was completed on 2 December, but Ngardjelaï was not one of them. A few days later, without his knowledge, an order was issued dismissing the case against him. The authorities had “found nothing convincing” against him. He should have been released immediately.

It was only on 7 May that Ngardjelaï was notified of this decision. That day, a commission arrived in the prison to try some of the detainees. Ngardjelaï ran into two lawyer friends, who questioned his presence in the prison as his name did not appear on their list of defendants. He told them he had appeared before a judicial commission six months earlier. The lawyers then located the December order dismissing his case. He was finally released on 12 May after a seven-month ordeal. For five months, the Chadian authorities had “omitted” to notify him of the decision to release him.

The treatment to which Service Ngardjelaï was subjected from the time of his arrest and throughout his detention in Koro Toro prison is absolutely intolerable. This journalist should never have been arrested, and his detention was illegal. Who knows what would have happened if he hadn’t met lawyers who knew him? Journalists are subjected to violence and harassment with complete impunity in Chad. We call on the authorities to shed light on Service Ngardjelaï’s arbitrary and abusive detention, the conditions in which he was held and his allegations of torture.

Sadibou Marong, Director of RSF’s sub-Saharan Africa bureau

A month and a half after his release, Ngardjelaï still bears the scars of his time in prison. He suffers from intense pain in the spine and has difficulty moving his arms and fingers. His scars are also psychological. Furthermore, he believes that he has been followed and watched since his release, including by people in cars with tinted windows.

Journalism continues to be very dangerous in Chad, which is part of the Sahel, a region in which many areas suffer from the presence of armed groups and a high level of violence. Three journalists have been killed in Chad since 2019, including Narcisse Orédjé, who was fatally shot by individuals in military uniform during the protests of 20 October 2022. His killers have not been arrested. A total of 62 journalists have been arrested in the past ten years and 19 have been physically attacked.

Chad is ranked 109th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2023 World Press Freedom Index.

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In response to news reports that journalist Orédjé Narcisse was shot and killed on Thursday in Chad’s capital N’Djamena as he was on his way to work, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement:

“Chadian authorities must conduct a swift and transparent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the fatal shooting of Radio Cefod journalist Orédjé Narcisse,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, in New York. “Authorities must also ensure the safety of journalists as the country grapples with antigovernment protests.”

Orédjé worked for the privately owned Radio Cefod and was shot outside his home by individuals wearing Chadian military uniforms as he was on his way to work, according to those reports and Leubnoudji Tah Nathan, the president of the Network of Chadian Journalists and Reporters (RJRT), who spoke to CPJ by phone and cited his conversations with eyewitnesses and Radio Cefod staff. Orédjé died from the gunshot wound as he was taken to the hospital, Leubnoudji said.

The attack comes amid demonstrations in N’Djamena demanding an end to the rule of transitional President Mahamat Déby, according to those sources. CPJ could not determine if Orédjé had been covering the protest when he was shot.

Chadian journalist Evariste Djailoramdji was killed in February while covering community violence in the southern village of Sandana.

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In separate incidents on August 8 and August 10, 2022, the Chadian gendarmerie, a military police force, arrested and detained journalists Janvier Mouatangar and Anner Sabartang in the southwestern part of the country.

On August 8, the commander of the gendarmerie in the city of Doba detained Mouatangar, a correspondent for the radio station La Voix du Paysan, and accused the journalist of defaming him in a broadcast report about agricultural management, according to a statement by the Union of Journalists of Chad (UJT) and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ over the phone.

Mouatangar told CPJ that earlier that day, he had broadcast a report about farmers in the village of Ndoroman, about six miles (10 kilometers) from Doba, who were angry about alleged over-grazing by herders. Mouatangar had quoted the herders as saying that the commander of the gendarmerie, whose name Mouatangar said he did not know, owned the fields and gave them permission to be there. CPJ was not able to determine the identity of the commander.

Mouatangar, who is also a farmer, was working in one of his own fields outside of Doba soon after the broadcast when he received a call from an unknown person who asked him to report to the office of the gendarmerie’s investigations unit, he told CPJ. When Mouatangar refused and asked why he was being summoned, the caller said he would need to “show the evidence” supporting the broadcast about the fields, the journalist said. Mouatangar offered to show them the damage to the fields in Ndoroman, which he said the caller interpreted as a refusal to comply with the summons.

After the call, two armed gendarmerie officers from the investigations unit arrived at his field on motorcycles and asked him to go with them to Ndoroman, Mouatangar said, adding that the officers let him change his clothes before taking him.

“They told me we were going to Ndoroman, and on the way they turned toward Doba,” the journalist told CPJ, adding that it felt more like a kidnapping than an arrest. When he arrived at the gendarmerie office in Doba, officers insulted him, called him a criminal, and accused him of defaming and smearing them, he said.

After Mouatangar spent the night at the Doba gendarmerie office, on August 9 officers tried to compel him to write a letter of apology to their commander and retract his reporting about Ndoroman, he said, adding that he refused. Then the officers brought the journalist before the local prosecutor, Colette Ngaoundi Bombaïto Nadjilem, who ordered his release but instructed him to return the next day.

On August 10, Mouatangar returned and met with Nadjilem, who told him the case had been dropped because the gendarmerie commander had withdrawn his complaint.

CPJ’s message sent to the directorate of the gendarmerie of Chad via a messaging app was not answered. CPJ reached out to the Doba prosecutor’s office via messaging app, but has not received a reply.

Separately, on August 10, gendarmerie officers detained Sabartang, editor-in-chief of Radio Gaya Tcholwa, on the orders of Germain Beramgoto, a local government representative in the southwestern region of Kabbia, according to news reports and Nathan Tah Leubnoudji, secretary general of Chadian Journalists and Reporters Network, who spoke with CPJ in a phone interview.

The officers initially detained Sabartang at Beramgoto’s house and then transferred him to the local gendarmerie commander’s house, Leudnoudji told CPJ. On August 13, Sabartang was taken to the gendarmerie office and released without charge. While in custody, the officers seized Sabartang’s phone and questioned him about the broadcast.

Leubnoudji told CPJ that the journalist’s phone had not been returned as of September 12. CPJ reached out to Sabartang via messaging app, but did not receive a reply.

The arrest was related to an August 3 broadcast by Sabartang about conflict over Beramgoto’s appointment of a local leader, with some in the area arguing that the local leader wasn’t representative of the people of Kabbia, according to Leubnoudji.

Several days before being arrested, Sabartang had received a phone call from Beramgoto, who blamed the journalist for the negative reaction against him following the broadcast, according to Leubnoudji and a recording of the call, which a local news site posted on Facebook and CPJ reviewed.

CPJ sent questions to Beramgoto via messaging app, but received no response.

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Authorities in Chad should cease their harassment of reporter Olivier Memnguidé and ensure journalists can cover events of public interest, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.

On April 20, the Chadian gendarmerie, a military police force, arrested Memnguidé, a correspondent for the privately owned radio station Oxygène, as he covered unrest in the southwestern town of Donia in the Logone Occidental region, according to the journalist and Abbas Mahamoud, the chairman of the Union of Journalists of Chad (UJT). They both spoke to CPJ by phone and email.

Memnguidé and Mahamoud said the gendarmerie seized the journalist’s cell phone and took him to their office in the nearby Moundou city, where he was accused of rebellion, held for five days, and then released after the local prosecutor intervened. The gendarmerie informed Memnguidé on his release that he should be ready because they might still prosecute him, he told CPJ, adding that as of May 12, his cell phone had yet to be returned.

“Chadian authorities should cease their harassment of Radio Oxygène journalist Olivier Memnguidé and ensure he can work freely and without fear of another arbitrary arrest or prosecution,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, in New York. “Covering unrest is dangerous enough for journalists without worrying about an arrest on spurious anti-state allegations.”

Memnguidé was arrested at the same time as several young adults from Donia “who were rioting in response to the detention of another youth who had been charged for allegedly stealing a motorcycle,” Mahamoud told CPJ.

“I went to the field to get a feel for the situation and to scout around. When I was about to meet [and interview] the authorities, the brigade commander who was following me, stopped me and took me to Moundou, the provincial capital,” Memnguidé told the CPJ. The journalist said he did not behave in any way that would justify him being accused of rebellion.

Five days later, on April 25, Memnguidé was presented to the prosecutor’s office in Moundou, where the deputy prosecutor ordered his release because the court there did not have jurisdiction to proceed with the case, the journalist told CPJ. Since then, Memnguidé has not returned to his home in Goré, another nearby town, because he is fearful that he will be rearrested.

CPJ called Ahmed Saleh, a commandant with the local gendarmerie, but the line disconnected after CPJ told him the call was about Memnguidé’s arrest.

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Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the Chadian authorities to shed all possible light on last week’s massacre in southern Chad in which a radio reporter was killed while covering an attack by local herders on a village of farmers.

The journalist, Evariste Djaï-Loramadji, provided his Christian community radio station, Radio Lotiko, with a brief live report at 4:39 p.m. on 9 February, in which he said people were “fleeing into the bush” in a confused situation in his village, Sandana, located 600 km southeast of the capital, N’djamena. That was his last report for the radio station. When Radio Lotiko tried to contact him a few minutes later, he did not reply. His body was found in the early evening by a colleague who had arrived from a nearby locality. He had been shot several times in the head.

RSF has learned from local sources that Djaï-Loramadji had been trying to establish why people were fleeing the village. It emerged that a herder’s death in a motorcycle accident was called a “murder” by a local police officer, which prompted other herders armed with guns to stage a punitive raid on the farming village. Djaï-Loramadji was one of the 11 people killed.

“Until the end, this journalist tried with a great deal of determination and courage to report what was happening in his community,” said Arnaud Froger, the head of RSF’s Africa desk. “The authorities have a duty to shed all possible light on this massacre that left 11 dead, including this journalist, who had already been threatened in similar events. Impunity endangers those who report the news, and threatens the population’s access to information. It must be ended.”

Around ten people were killed in Sandana on 26 August 2019 in a previous punitive raid resulting from a conflict between herders and farmers. Djaï-Loramadji received several threats after covering that massacre, RSF was told by the director of his radio station.

The Union of Chadian Journalists (UJT) has issued a statement calling for the perpetrators and accomplices of the latest massacre to be prosecuted and punished in order to render justice to Djaï-Loramadji.

Chad is ranked 123rd out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2021 World Press Freedom Index.

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Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on Chad’s media regulator to rescind the sanctions it is threatening to enforce against several media publishers and editors, who will either have to be replaced or else see their publications closed down because, under a new law, they lack the necessary academic qualification to hold these positions. Enforcing these sanctions would eliminate many newspapers and would deal a very serious blow to the freedom to inform in Chad less than a year before its next presidential election.

The threatened publications include N’Djamena Hebdo, which brought out its first issue 31 years ago, when Hissène Habré was Chad’s dictator, and which may have to stop publishing within weeks. Like more than a dozen other independent publications in Chad, it could be forced to close by the end of the year. The High Authority for Media and Broadcasting (HAMA) has just sent letters to at least three media outlets asking them to comply with a provision in the 2018 press law under which publishers and managing editors must, at the very least, have a postgraduate degree in journalism.

N’Djamena Hebdo publisher Djendoroum Mbaininga told RSF the aim is to “persecute newspapers that provide serious reporting and annoy the authorities.” Mbaininga, who trained as a teacher, joined this biweekly in 1992 after a competitive recruitment process in which he came fourth out of more than 400 candidates. Ironically, he was named editor by his predecessor, Dieudonné Djonabaye, in 2005, when Djonabaye left to become the HAMA’s president.

The weeklies La Voix and L’Éclairage are the other two publications that are known to have just received similar letters. The HAMA already closed 12 publications – a quarter of Chad’s privately-owned print media outlets – at the start of September on the same grounds.

“No qualification or degree criteria can be used to restrict access to journalism or to the management of a media outlet,” said Arnaud Froger, the head of RSF’s Africa desk. “The desire to professionalize the media cannot be realized by sidelining journalists who have in some cases been working for decades, or by closing historic titles.”

“We urge the media regulator to rescind this decision and we urge the authorities to amend the media law so as to abolish these restrictions on access to the position of media editor or publisher. With just months to go to the presidential election, the disappearance of around 15 publications would deal a major blow to media pluralism in Chad and would be seen as driven by a desire to silence critical and independent journalists.”

The presidential election is due to be held on 11 April 2021. Chad’s president since 1990, Idriss Déby, has not yet announced whether he will seek a sixth consecutive term.

Chad is ranked 123rd out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2020 World Press Freedom Index.

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Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is appalled that a radio reporter has just been given a prison sentence for criticizing the judicial system in a provincial city in Chad, becoming the second Chadian journalist to be jailed for defamation in recent months. The sole aim of these disproportionate sentences is to silence journalists.

You report at your peril in Chad. The latest victim is Ali Hamata Achène, a reporter for DJA FM in Mongo, a city 400 km east of the capital. Held since 26 December, he was sentenced yesterday to six months in prison and fined the equivalent of 152 euros on charges of defamation and contempt of court because of a Facebook post about the local judicial system’s slowness and cases of alleged corruption.

“Are the Chadian authorities going to jail every journalist who is accused of defamation?” said Arnaud Froger, the head of RSF’s Africa desk. “Giving prison sentences for ordinary press offences is a serious abuse. The merits of these cases have been extremely questionable and the sanctions imposed totally unjustified and disproportionate.“ As things stand, Chadian law enables plaintiffs to have a journalist detained whenever they dislike what has been reported. This constitutes a serious attack on press freedom and a major threat to journalism in Chad. These sentences also completely contradict what the president recently said about the right to criticize.”

Achène’s radio station said in a statement that his arrest was a result of his research into the local judicial system. He went to see an investigating judge to confront him with his findings and, three days later, he was summoned and arrested by a member of the judicial police, the radio station said.

During a forum on digital communication in Chad in July 2019, President Idriss Deby Itno urged his fellow citizens to “express themselves with complete freedom” and to “freely criticize” the conduct of public affairs and the actions of those in power. This was their “most absolute right,” he said.

The other Chadian journalist to receive a prison sentence on a defamation charge in recent months is Martin Inoua Doulguet, the editor of the Ndjamena-based quarterly Salam Info, who is being held in the most appalling conditions, as RSF reported in December. He sleeps on the ground in an improvised cell built by the detainees themselves and has to pay to use a clean shower and toilet. He was arrested in mid-August and was sentenced a month later to three years in prison on charges of libel and “association for the purpose of computer crime” in connection with his coverage of a case involving a former health minister who was accused by her niece of sexual assault. Ever since launching Salam Info in 2018, Doulguet had been the repeated target of summonses and threats in connection with his coverage of corruption. His home and his care were also set on fire.

Chad is ranked 122nd out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2019 World Press Freedom Index.

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In July 2019, the Chadian government lifted a 16-month blockage on access to social media, which it had imposed in March 2018. While connected citizens are now able to access social media with ease, various concerns remain. Digital communication costs are prohibitively high, the media are routinely muzzled, the country is still autocratic, and President Idriss Déby – in office for 29 years now – is not in a hurry to relinquish power. The prospects of enjoying a greater range of digital rights are low, the likelihood of another internet disruption high.

Chad has one of the world’s lowest Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) penetration rates, with internet penetration of 11.4% and mobile penetration of 46.9%. It is ranked 174^th out of 176 countries worldwide and 36^th out of 38 surveyed countries in Africa by ICT Development Index (IDI).

The low internet penetration did not deter the government from ordering a social media blackout when citizens staged widespread public protests against constitutional changes that could see President Déby rule until 2033. The blockage was only lifted 16 months later in the face of severe national and international pressure. While the blockage lasted, it hampered ICT uptake, denied citizens access to information, hurt their livelihoods, cost the national economy over USD 200 million, and constrained innovation.

Is Chad then ready to harness and to reap the dividends that a digital society delivers? The landlocked central African country has recently launched a 1,200 km fibre optic network linking the capital N’Djamena to the border with Sudan, a large step in broadband coverage extension since international fibre reached the country in 2012. The World Bank-supported Central African Backbone (CAB) project is also expanding ICT infrastructure. But affordability remains a huge problem, and the affronts to freedom of expression and the free flow of information online have slowed ICT uptake in the country of 16 million people. In this article, we provide a rundown of the country’s ICT sector.

 ICT Legal and Regulatory Framework

The key regulations in Chad’s digital space are the law N° 014/PR/2014 on eCommunications, the law N° 009/PR/2015 on Cybersecurity and the fight against Cybercrime, the law N° 007/PR/2015 on the Protection of Personal Data, and the law N° 008/PR/2015 on eTransactions.

At the institutional level, the National Agency for Computer Security and eCertification (ANSICE), established by law N° 006/PR/2015 and under the tutelage of the Presidency, designs and implements policies to combat cybercrime, regulate and control national information systems’ security and eCommunication networks. It coordinates national cyber security actions to ensure the security of government systems and critical state infrastructure. The Regulatory Authority for eCommunications and Posts (ARCEP), which is supervised by the Ministry of Post and New Information and Communications Technologies, is the industry regulator. The ICT Development Agency (ADETIC) develops and monitors the implementation of the national ICT development strategy. However, while its establishing Law N° 12/PR/2014 provides for formation of a national ICT strategy, to-date, a strategy has not been put in place.

Access and Affordability

Article 90 of the eCommunications Act  provides for good quality and affordable, universal ICT services across the country. At the July 2019 inauguration of the 1,200km national optical fibre network, President Déby stated that “operators and the State must make efforts to further support the lowering of the internet connection rates, while ensuring quality of services”. However, these aspirations remain a pipe dream, as infrastructure is thinly spread and taxes make access unaffordable to many. According to the 2018 ARCEP Telecommunications Market Observatory report issued in May 2019, the average cost of one GB of data per month is currently 7,000 FCFA (USD 12), representing about 12% of the monthly minimum wage which is 60,000 FCFA (USD 101) in Chad. This means only a fraction of Chadians can afford to consistently purchase data and use the internet. In addition, speeds are low – 5KBps in 2018 as reported by ARCEP – making it hard for companies and start-ups to provide digital-based development solutions. According to Sidick Bachir Lougouma, the director general of ARCEP, with the new optical fibre network, “Chad will be able to provide national operators with a capacity of 100 gigabits of which 40 gigabits are already available.”

Meanwhile, high taxation rates also undermine affordability and uptake. Excise duty tax on mobile operators rose from 4% in 2014 to 7% in 2016. In 2017, the excise duty shot up to 18%, before falling to 9% in 2018 to-date, according to the 2019 Finance Law. In addition to the excise duty tax, Article 27 of the Finance Law states, “Subscription contracts for post-paid and fixed mobile phones are subject to a stamp duty equal to 10% of the amount of the invoices sent to the customer.”

The ACERP’s 2018 report estimates the number of mobile subscribers at seven million – equivalent to a mobile penetration rate of 46.9%. Airtel Chad, Tigo Chad, Salam, and Sotel Fixed-Tawali are the leading telecom operators, with the lion’s share of the market held by Tigo (51.1%) and Airtel (48.5%). The number of internet users was estimated at 1.74 million, representing a penetration rate of 11.4% in 2018, compared to 1.5% in 2009.

While the ongoing infrastructure investments might improve internet speeds and expand access, including to broadband, to larger parts of the country, the high and multiple taxes will keep telecommunications prices high and undermine growth in subscriber numbers.

Safety, Personal Data and Privacy

The Constitution of Chad provides for the protection of privacy in Article 49, stating: “The privacy of correspondence and communications is guaranteed by law.” Article 182 establishes the High Authority for Media and Broadcasting – an independent administrative body responsible for promoting freedom of the press, and access to information “within the framework of deference for national cultural values, public order and citizens’ privacy. “

The above constitutional provisions are reflected in the 2015 law on the Protection of Personal Data, which aims to regulate the collection, processing, transmission, storage and use of personal data. It defines personal data as “any information relating to a natural person identified or identifiable directly or indirectly, by reference to an identification number or to one or more elements, specific to his physical, physiological, genetic, psychological, cultural identity, social or economic” (Section 5).

The application of the law is ensured by the ANSICE, following a framework defined by the law N° 006/PR/2015. It guarantees respect for the fundamental rights and freedoms of natural persons, the state, local and regional authorities, civil society, and aims to ensure that the use of ICT does not  infringe on individual or public liberties, especially on private life (Article 1, Paragraph 2). The law is considered a good step towards protecting personal data and promoting users’ digital rights.

Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the Press

Freedom of expression and freedom of the press are guaranteed by the Chadian Constitution as follows: “The freedoms of opinion and expression, communication, conscience, religion, press, association, meeting, movement, events are guaranteed to all. They can only be limited by respect for the freedoms and rights of others and the imperative to safeguard national unity, public order and morality“ (Article 28).

However, the country is ranked 122^nd out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index 2019. Arbitrary arrests and detention of journalists, closure of media outlets, a restrictive operating environment for human rights defenders, threats, intimidation and assault of reporters – have led to a culture of self-censorship online.

In addition, the government has ordered long-lasting disruptions to social networks, thus muzzling citizen participation in decision-making and the democratic process through the internet. Following the controversial re-election of President Déby in 2016, over 10 websites were blocked and the whole country experienced an internet shutdown for several weeks, followed by an eight-month disruption to social networks. At the time, authorities acknowledged that SMS services were restricted “as a security measure” but denied any interference with internet services, instead citing technical challenges.

There were reports of another government-ordered internet disruption on January 25, 2018, to thwart an anti-austerity protest. The planned “peaceful march” against “bad governance, injustices of all kinds and anti-social measures taken by the government” was organised by several civil society organisations in major cities across the country. The Minister of the Interior and Public Security banned the march, before the internet disruption occurred.

In the same way, following protests against constitutional changes, the Chadian government blocked access to social networks including Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram and YouTube for 16 months – from March 2018 to July 2019. While lifting the blockage, President Déby confirmed that his government had ordered the restriction of access to social networks to preserve national security. Without citing any law, he added: “For a country like Chad which has had dark hours, it is not acceptable for the internet to be diverted for malicious purposes by some individuals with fatal intentions for peace and national unity.”

Conclusion

The ICT sector in Chad remains under-developed and there is a lack of a clear roadmap to a vibrant digital society. The culture of ordering network disruptions, negligible efforts in bridging the digital divide and ensuring universal access, as well as multiple and high levels of taxation, censorship of online and traditional media by the government, remain bottlenecks to an accessible and affordable internet and undermine the contribution of ICT to Chad’s socio-economic development.

Revisions to restrictive laws and the passing of implementation regulation for existing laws is thus crucial. As in the adoption of a national strategy for ICT development.

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Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is appalled by the three-year jail sentence that Martin Inoua, the editor of the quarterly Salama Info, received yesterday from an N’Djamena court on a new criminal charge after being held since 16 August on a charge of defamation.

RSF regards the sentence imposed by the court – which also included an exorbitant fine of 3,140 euros and damages of 31,400 euros, to be paid jointly by him and his co-defendant, Abderamane Boukar Koyon, the editor of the satirical newspaper Le Moustik – as iniquitous and politically motivated.

The court did not pass any prison sentence on Koyon, who like Inoua, had been detained since 16 August on a charge of defamation, although defamation is only punishable by imprisonment in Chad in cases of incitement of hatred of violence.

Both journalists were finally convicted on the new charge of “association for the purpose of computer crime” as well as “false accusations”.

The case was the result of a defamation suit by former health minister Toupta Boguéna in connection with their coverage of the sexual assault charges brought against her by her niece. Their lawyers say they intend to appeal.

“After Martin Inoua was detained provisionally for defamation, which is not punishable by imprisonment, and after the charges were changed in mid-trial with the sole aim of imposing a heavier punishment, this extremely harsh sentence suggests a political motivation,” said Arnaud Froger, the head of RSF’s Africa desk. “It is hard not to see this as an orchestrated reprisal against a journalist critical of the government. We call on the Chadian authorities to free him without delay.”

RSF has also learned that Inoua was assaulted on Sunday evening in N’Djamena’s Amsinéné prison although it has not yet been possible to establish the circumstances of the attack. Several witnesses said one of his eyes was very swollen when he appeared in court yesterday morning.

Inoua is known for criticizing corruption in his articles and the authorities often target his quarterly. The regulatory authorities suspended it for three months in July for “breaches of ethics and professionalism.”

Press freedom violations are common in Chad. It holds sub-Saharan Africa’s record for restricting access to social networks, which were blocked in March 2018 and were restored just two months ago by President Idriss Déby Itno.

Chad is ranked 122nd out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2019 World Press Freedom Index.

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Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls for the immediate release of two editors who have been detained for the past four days on the orders of Chad’s prosecutor-general in connection with their coverage of a trial, despite the fact that press offences have been decriminalized in Chad since 2010.

Abderamane Boukar Koyon, the editor of the satirical newspaper Le Moustik, and Martin Inoua Doulguet, the editor of the quarterly Salam Info, have been held in the capital’s Amsinéné prison since 16 August – in violation of Chad’s print and electronic media law – because of a defamation suit by former health minister Toupta Boguéna.

The former minister sued them in connection with their coverage of her recent trial on a charge of “sexual assault on a minor,” which was the result of a complaint brought against her by her niece.

Issue no. 84 (19-26 June) of Le Moustik alluded satirically to the case without naming those involved. In a 14 July post on the Salam Info Facebook page, Doulguet quoted the comments made by the lawyer representing Boguéna’s niece when he announced that he intended to appeal against Boguéna’s acquittal.

Doulguet’s lawyer, Olivier Gouara, told RSF that the detention of the two journalists “violates the law governing the press.” He also accused the prosecutor of committing “a procedural irregularity” by ordering their summary arrest for offences not punishable by imprisonment when “the normal procedure would be to issue a summons to appear in court.”

Koyon and Doulguet are due to be brought before a judge on 22 August.

“As defamation has not been punishable by imprisonment in Chad since 2010, detaining these two journalists preventively is not only completely absurd but also illegal and shows what little attention the authorities pay to the press law,” RSF’s Africa desk said. “These journalists must be freed at once, without waiting for this case to be heard.”

Two days after launching his newspaper in the capital, Doulguet had already been detained in February 2018 on the grounds that his publication permit covered only the south of the country.

Despite the decriminalization of press offences, journalism is often obstructed in Chad. Recent major obstacles have included the disconnection of social networks, which continued for more than a year and was ended by President Idriss Déby Itno only last month.

Chad is ranked 122nd out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2019 World Press Freedom Index.

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