Rwanda
Rwandan trio arrested for reporting on alleged affairPosted Mar 5 2010
Rwandan journalists Charles Kabonero, Didas Gasana and Richard Kayigamba were sentenced to prison last week after writing a story in November that discussed an alleged extramarital affair between the mayor of Kigali and a government minister.
The three men were employed by the Kinyarwanda-language private weekly Umuseso. Kabonero was a former editor, Gasana the editor-in-chief and Kayigamba a reporter. Charged with invading the privacy of Cabinet Affairs Minister Protais Musoni and Kigali Mayor Aisa Kirabo Kacyira, Kabonero was sentenced to one year in prison. Gasana and Kayigamba were each sentenced to six months.
In addition to the sentences, the trio was must pay damages of $1,700. The men are free pending an appeal and were able to avoid being jailed immediately after the convictions. The publication was also allowed to remain open, even after calls that it should be banned.
Many organizations, including Reporters Without Borders, were worried Umuseso would close and thus signal more pressure upon privately owned press in Rwanda. According to Reporters Without Borders, Rwanda was ranked as 157th out of 175 countries for press freedom in 2009.
Despite the men's convictions, they say they were just doing their job. Adulterous relationships by public office holders are a crime under Rwanda's 2008 Law on the Leadership Code of Conduct. But both officials deny any wrongdoing.
The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) reports that “imprisoning journalists for carrying out their professional activities constitutes a clear breach of the right to freedom of expression.” WAN-IFRA has launched a campaign to abolish insult and criminal defamation laws across Africa, according to the organization’s Web site.
This is not the first court case Kabonero and Gasana have faced. The two are still in the appeals process for a suspended two-year prison sentence that stems from a 2008 conviction for slander against a South African businessman.