“Defamation suits
should not be used to silence the press, and in this case Front Page Africa is
being penalized months before the newspaper even has its first court date. The
order to seize assets, including its office, must be rescinded immediately – as
should the performance bond imposed upon the paper.”
The Liberian Government has also recently undermined the
independence of Liberia’s key transparency agency, LEITI – with President Weah illegally firing the
Head of the Secretariat earlier last month (12 March), and using Liberian
police to forcibly remove him from his office.
Global Witness, Front Page Africa, and the
BBC have all reported on the illegal removal of Mr Karmo from LEITI.
LEITI is a semi-autonomous agency whose Multi-stakeholder
Steering Group is empowered by law to appoint its Head of Secretariat. Instead
the Liberian President has taken matters into his own hands.
“Having this kind of intimidation imposed on LEITI endangers the
independence critical to its mandate to scrutinise and report on the payments
oil, logging, mining, and plantation companies make to the government.” said
Clydesdale.
“Liberian democracy requires independent voices and
impartial information, like that provided by Front Page Africa and LEITI.
President Weah should ensure that Liberia’s press – including the vital Front
Page Africa – remains free, and reinstate LEITI’s Secretariat Head Konah Karmo.”
The defamation suit and how the closure took place: a timeline
of intimidation
According to court documents seen by Global Witness, on 5 April
Judge Beisay ordered that the offices of Front Page Africa – Liberia’s leading
newspaper – be closed. Four days later, the police raided the paper and
arrested its staff.
The order followed a legal complaint in which two plaintiffs
reportedly brought a US$350,000 defamation action against Front Page Africa for
publishing an advertisement that also appeared in other publications.
Judge Beisay “attached” all of the paper’s assets to the
complaint, shutting its doors even through the case will not begin until June.
Other publications who ran the advert have not faced court orders.
After being held under arrest for several hours, Front Page
Africa’s staff members were released. The offices remained closed on 9 April,
reopening only after it reportedly paid a US$5,000 performance bond to the
court.
Judge Beisay’s order should be challenged
Under Liberian law, a court can only seize assets in a civil
case if it has a “reasonable belief” that the plaintiff will win the case and
that the defendant’s assets are hard to reach. (1) The closure of Front Page
Africa’s office clearly shows their assets are easy to access.
On the day that police raided Front Page Africa, the Liberian
Ministry of Information issued a statement, saying that “the closure of the
FrontPage Africa newspaper and arrest of some of its staff was not on the
orders of the government of Liberia.” (2)
The court order against Front Page Africa is only the most
recent threat to independent Liberian voices since President George Weah took
office in January of this year. On 22 March, President Weah verbally accused
BBC stringer Jonathan Paye-Layleh of being “one of those that were against me.”
(3)
Mr Paye-Layleh has chosen to leave Liberia for the time being.
The Executive Mansion later sought to clarify that the President had not
attacked Paye-Layleh, but was clarifying that the journalist’s past reporting
had not been fair. (4)
Source link : https://www.globalwitness.org/en/press-releases/global-witness-condemns-arrests-and-closure-liberias-leading-newspaper/
Author :
Publish date : 2018-04-11 03:00:00
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