Niger
Director, editor handed 18 month prison sentencesPosted Oct 25 2006
Maman Abou, director, and Oumarou Keita, editor, of Le Republicain were found guilty of defaming the Niger government and publishing false news by a Naimey court Sept. 1. They each face 18 months in prison and fines of US$10,000 (5 million CFA francs).
An opinion piece that criticized Niger's Prime Minister, Hama Hamadou, for his foreign policies landed Abou and Keita in jail in August .It said Hamadou was “deserting the West for Iran.” Abou and Keita said they are being punished for an earlier string of articles that focused on alleged government corruption in primary education financing. According to Reporters Without Borders, “Everything suggests that Abou and Keita are now the prime minister's personal prisoners. President Mamadou Tandja should realize that these heavy sentences will not benefit either Niger or his prime minister and constitute a serious breach of press freedom.”
The prison sentence was what the prosecution asked, while the fines were 100 times what had been sought.
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=18746