Sierra Leone
Court sets high bail for editor's releasePosted Jul 20 2007
A Freetown court has charged Philip Neville, the editor of the privately owned Standard Times daily newspaper, with libel, malicious propaganda and publishing false news, and set tough conditions for his provisional release, reported news organization Reporters Without Borders. The court has required three people to act as security for Neville, two of who must own homes in the Western area worth at least the amount of the editor's bail bond, which stands at $68,056.16. The bond and the property titles of the guarantors have to be deposited with the high court clerk's office before Neville can be freed. Plain-clothes police arrested Neville on June 28 after he published an article accusing President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah of keeping quiet on gifts that Sierra Leone had been offered by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi during a recent visit.