Three journalists detained in Chad for their reporting
N’DJAMENA, Chad, June 23, 2005 (AP) — Authorities have detained three journalists in Chad on criminal charges over reports and columns critical of the government, according to a media watchdog group.
Security forces Thursday arrested Michael Didama, publication director of the private weekly Le Temps, Ngaradoumbe Samory, editor of the private weekly L’Observateur, and Garonde Djarma, a freelance columnist who contributes frequently to local newspapers, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
“We’re alarmed by the arrest of these three journalists,” said Ann Cooper, executive director of Committee to Protect Journalists. “Authorities in Chad should release Michael Didama, Ngaradoumbe Samory, and Garonde Djarma immediately, and they should ensure that journalists in Chad can report and comment on the news without fear of government reprisal.”
Government officials weren’t immediately available for comment.
Didama was charged with defamation and incitement to hatred, violence, and rebellion. Others were charged with defamation and incitement to violence, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, citing local sources.
Didama was charged after his newspaper published two reports in May on a resurgence of anti-government rebel movements in eastern Chad and an alleged massacre of civilians in eastern Chad. The killings arose from conflicts between local residents, aggravated by the surge of refugees from the troubled Darfur region of Sudan, sources interviewed by the media watchdog said.
An article alleged that government security forces had participated in the massacre, and the newspaper printed a front-page photo of some of the victims.
The High Council of Communication, a government media regulatory body, studied the articles after government officials complained they had incited violence, but decided in early June that the newspaper wasn’t guilty of incitement.
The charge against Djarma stems from a recent opinion piece he wrote for L’Observateur in which he criticized President Idriss Deby and a recent constitutional amendment allowing Deby to run for a third term in office.
Local journalists say Samory was arrested after he refused to reveal the names of authors of an open letter to Deby, written under a pseudonym, on behalf of members of detained members of a minority ethnic group known as the Kreda, who live in northwestern Chad. The government had accused the ethnic community of mounting a rebellion.