Editor,

Dakar Daily Observer's conviction - CPJ condemns criminal defamation convictions in Senegal.

New York, May 15, 2008-The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns criminal defamation convictions handed to two Senegalese journalists on Tuesday. The two were convicted for reporting on the contents of an anonymous letter critical of top security officials.

A criminal court in the capital, Dakar, sentenced Director Jules Diop and Editor-in-Chief Serigne Saliou Samb of private daily newspaper L'Observateur to six-month suspended prison sentences and 30 million CFA francs (US$72,000) in damages, defense lawyer Boubacar Cissé told CPJ. The ruling also ordered the journalists to publish the verdict in several newspapers. An appeal was immediately filed, Cissé said.

"We call on the appeals court to overturn the criminal convictions and prison sentences of Jules Diop and Serigne Saliou Samb," said Tom Rhodes, CPJ's Africa Program Coordinator. "Senegal's pattern of criminal defamation prosecutions creates an intimidating atmosphere that leads to self-censorship. We urge President Abdoulaye Wade to honor his pledge to decriminalize defamation."

Ngom was quoted as saying in a January statement that it "pains him" to press charges against journalists "due to his commitment to press freedom," Senegalese online news Web site Nettali reported. However, the statement goes on, "when you confuse a press offense with a common law offense (defamation) committed by a public means of dissemination [of information], it is necessary for the courts to remind you that freedom of the press comes with responsibility."

Ngom's comments reflect the long-standing reticence of Senegalese officials to decriminalize defamation despite President Abdoulaye Wade's 2004 call to local media stakeholders to submit proposals for reforms, according to CPJ research. Authorities have yet to react to the proposals, and in November, CPJ wrote to President Wade urging him to finally implement his 2004 commitment.

Committee to Protect Journalists

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Editors's Note:

We totally disagree with the CPJ.

It cannot be right that journalists, who wield a power that Halifa Sallah this week called "Mightier than the Sword", should be free to libel and defame people with impunity.

How can you destroy someone's character on the basis of an "anonymous" letter and claim journalistic privileges - as it is claimed here?

Here at the Banjul Daily Observer we "verify, verify, verify and if in doubt we leave it out". We will not defame and libel anyone unless we are certain that our evidence will stand up in court - in which case it will not be libel or defamation.