Human Rights Day 2019
Eritrean women passing in front of a swimming pool in Asmara, Eritrea | (By Eric Lafforgue/Art in All of Us)
To commemorate Human Rights Day, PEN International and PEN Centres are launching an essay series and holding events on human rights issues across the globe.
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The aftermath of the decriminalisation of libel laws in Ghana: the state of freedom of expression and journalistic practice
Introduction
Ghana’s criminal libel and seditious laws (commonly referred to as the Criminal Defamation Laws) formed part of the Criminal Code (the 1892 Criminal Code Ordinance, which was amended in 1934) bequeathed to the country at independence. Added to that was the Newspaper Registration Ordinance which came to effect in 1894. Both laws stifled free speech and freedom of expression. Following a series of protests and agitations from media practitioners and several institutions, the criminal libel laws were repealed on 26 July 2001.
Aftermath of the Repeal
The repeal of the criminal libel laws in 2001 has expanded the frontiers of freedom of expression and media freedoms, thus strengthening the provisions of the 1992 Constitution. Free speech started to become a reality for both media practitioners as well as ordinary citizens, as people were now able to express themselves in different forms through the platforms provided by media organisations, especially the numerous local language radio and television stations.
However, since the repeal of these laws there has been a heightened concern by media practitioners, writers and the general public about a gradual erosion of trust in the media. Some journalists and media organisations have been considered unprofessional and unethical, and are seen to have misinterpreted the repeal of the criminal libel laws as open licence to publish unsubstantiated allegations against individuals, especially political appointees and top business executives, and openly defame people.
This situation has compelled those who feel libelled or defamed to seek redress and protection in the courts, leading to the dragging of some journalists and media outlets before the court where heavy fines have been imposed on them. The number of civil defamation cases against journalists and media organisations has been on the rise since the repeal of the laws.
By March 2006, 90 per cent of all libel cases that went before the Fast Track High Court involved journalists and media organisations. On 31 July 2013, an Accra High Court fined the state-owned newspaper Daily Graphic and a private newspaper The Democrat, a total of Gh¢180,000 (about $86,282) for libelling former member of parliament and minister of trade, Joe Baidoe-Ansah. In March 2014, Daily Guide and The Informer newspapers were given heavy fines of Gh¢250,000 and Gh¢300,000 respectively for publishing libellous stories about the General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress, Johnson Asiedu-Nketiah. More recently, in September 2019, a journalist from the TV3 network, Natalie Fort, sued seven news portals for defamation.
Equally of concern is the practice whereby some journalists and media outlets have allowed themselves to be used as propaganda tools for political parties and politicians, thus sacrificing objectivity, accountability and professionalism. Some have also faced contempt of court charges due to their unguarded pronouncements on air and biased stories in newspapers.
In 2013, Ken Kuranchie, editor of the Daily Searchlight newspaper and a member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Stephen Atubiga, a member of the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) Communication Team, were cited for contempt by the Supreme Court for "scandalising the court after publicly criticising and bringing into disrepute the Supreme Court Judges and their decisions”, in relation to their comments on the radio at the time when a petition was before the Supreme Court for a decision to determine the winner of the 2012 presidential election. They were jailed 10 days and three days respectively.
In the same year, the General Secretary of the NPP, Kwadwo Owusu Afriyie and Hopeson Adorye, a member of the party’s Communication Team, were fined GH¢5,000 and GH¢2,000 respectively by the Supreme Court for contempt for their comments on radio about the court. Again, in 2016, a host of Montie FM’s political radio programme, infamous for its broadcasting of hate and diatribe, and two panellists, were cited for contempt of the Supreme Court and jailed.
As PEN Ghana, along with PEN International and other PEN Centres, noted in its 2017 report, “Stifling Dissent, Impeding Accountability: Criminal Defamation Laws in Africa”, the failure, particularly of radio broadcasters, to adhere to basic professional and ethical standards stems primarily from inadequate training of journalists and a failure of appropriate broadcast regulation rather than the removal of criminal penalties for defamation.
It is therefore paramount for the media to undertake self-introspection, exercise self-control and uphold professional and ethical practices, especially at a time when parliamentary and presidential elections are to be held in December 2020. Extensive and intensive training programmes for journalists, writers and media organisations should be conducted to highlight the significance of their professional ethics in ensuring that the repeal of the criminal libel laws becomes meaningful for journalists, writers and society at large.
Dr Frankie Asare-Donkoh lectures in at Pentecost University, Accra, Ghana. He holds a PhD and MA from Cardiff University and a Diploma in Journalism from the Ghana Institute of Journalism. He was a former acting General Secretary (2000) and Deputy General Secretary (1996-1999) of the Ghana Journalists Association.
Frankie was Secretary for the Ghanaian PEN Centre until 2012 when he became the Centre President. He also served as the Secretary-General of the PEN Africa Network (PAN) from 2013.
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Of threshing fields, funerals and Eritrea on International Human Rights Day
Daniel Mekonnen
Looking at the very title of this contribution, a reader may wonder what ‘threshing fields’ and ‘funerals’ have to do with this year’s International Human Rights Day. In the Eritrean context these are all linked, as this contribution aims to show.
For a country like Eritrea, an occasion like International Human Rights Day serves two major purposes. On the one hand, it serves as a stark reminder about the dire state of human rights violations in the country. On the other hand, it is seen as a prelude to our eventual day of reckoning in the forthcoming Democratic State of Eritrea. It is an occasion for us to renew our commitment to ensuring accountability for gross human rights violations in the country, including the wanton suppression of the right to freedom of expression. Fighting these unacceptable practices and devising pragmatic accountability systems are among the core ideals for which PEN International and its national chapters stand.
This year’s International Human Rights Day marks the second such event since Eritrea formally settled its 20-year political and diplomatic stalemate with neighbouring Ethiopia. The stalemate was repeatedly cited by the Eritrean Government in justifying abhorrent practices that made the name “Eritrea” synonymous with heart-wrenching expressions, such as: ‘the most censored country in the world,’ or ‘the highest jailer of journalists in Africa,’ ‘the least connected country on earth,’ or ‘the bottom country for 10 consecutive years in a row’ in the annual Press Freedom Index of Reporters Without Borders (covering the period between 2007 and 2017). The list is endless. But the real issue, which is unique by the standards of any nation in the world, is the following: Eritrea as a country does not have a working constitution or a functioning parliament, regardless of how democratic these documents and institutions might be regarded.
The hopes that many Eritreans expressed in July 2018, when a new peace and friendship agreement initiated by the new prime minister of Ethiopia was signed between both countries, seem to be waning gradually. This is true in particular as far as the internal political dynamics of Eritrea are concerned. While many things have changed dramatically in Ethiopia over the last eighteen months, in Eritrea it is still “business as usual.” Not only that, but international media outlets have now begun to refer to the rapprochement of 2018 as a stagnated peace process. The most important example in this regard comes from two major reports that BBC Tigrinya published on the first and third weeks of November 2019. It is from these reports that the phrase ‘threshing sites’ and the word ‘funerals’ are taken.
From the reports cited above, one clear but undesirable picture is emerging. In spite of the high level of enthusiasm many Eritreans demonstrated when the leaders of Eritrea and Ethiopia paid several official visits to each other in 2018, the fragility of the peace process is becoming more evident by the day. One only needs to remember that all the common borders of the two countries that were briefly opened in 2018 are now closed again as of December 2018 or early 2019. In a striking illustration of the problem, BBC Tigrinya tells the story of an Eritrean man who recently travelled to Mekele (Ethiopia) for medical treatment. The man died in Mekele and while he was there the Zalambesa-Senafe border was closed. After his death, his relatives were unable to transport the corpse to the man’s birthplace for burial. They were forced to bury the corpse in Zalambesa. In another story, BBC Tigrinya laments that after the closure of the border, the main asphalt road between Zalambesa and Senafe became an ideal traditional ‘threshing field’ for crops, due to the fact that there is no traffic in the area since the closure of the border. This has become ‘business as usual.’
BBC Tigrinya’s reference to a ‘threshing field’ evokes a powerful and well-known poem written at the height of the 1998-2000 border conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia in which similar language was used. The poem is none other than Amanuel Asrat’s The Scourge of War. Asrat, who has become one of the major icons of human rights violations in Eritrea, is the former editor-in-chief of Zemen newspaper, one of several news outlets that were shut down in September 2001. At the time, he was subjected to incommunicado detention and to this day his fate has not been legally resolved. In his poem, one of the best-known poems in the post-independence history of Eritrea, Asrat laments about the conflict as an unwanted growling war that ‘spilled infinite lives’ by reaping death with death, ‘threshing it on the shoulders of our offspring.’ This happened in ‘the valley of anxiety and peace,’ in ‘the piazza of life and death,’ where ‘two brothers pass each other by,’ where they also meet in ‘the gulf between calamity and culture.’ The ‘brothers,’ having served the war ‘willy-nilly,’ prayed ‘so hard for it to be silenced!’ It remains unclear whether their prayers have been answered.
One can only hope for better days in Eritrea. In making this a reality, one of the most important things PEN Eritrea and its partners can do is redouble their ongoing efforts to ensure accountability for gross human rights violations. It is therefore worth concluding this contribution with a clear message. In spite of the broad sense of enthusiasm Eritreans felt in July 2018, the political space remains to be opened to democratic debates and conversations, and other measures remain to be taken by the Government to resolve the political crisis of the country. As of today, the Government seems to have returned to the status quo before July 2018. On a day like this, it is incumbent on all of us to bring light to this sad reality and to persist with our resolve to fighting the pervasive culture of impunity in the country.
Daniel Mekonnen, a writer and translator, is a Founding Member of PEN Eritrea. He is also member of the Advisory Council of PEN Eritrea. He is formally trained as a human right lawyer and has done a considerable amount of work in human rights activism, advocacy and teaching. He is a Fellow of the African Studies Centre in Leiden University, and Director of the Eritrean Law Society (ELS).
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Human Rights and Freedom of Expression in Malaysia
Bernice Chauly, PEN Malaysia
On 9 May 2018, millions of Malaysians voted in their 14th General Election. The country had been mired in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad corruption scandal that implicated Prime Minister Najib Razak in a slew of accusations. These included the loss of billions of dollars – money used to finance elections, the purchasing of penthouses in New York and LA, the production of Hollywood films – including the Wolf of Wall Street – and lavish parties around the world. Malaysians were aghast, humiliated and angry, especially when it was also revealed that Rosmah, the PM’s wife, had been on spending sprees around the world, fueling her taste for designer clothes, Birkin bags and large gemstones. The Najib government had reached lows like never before, and Malaysians did what they do best at times like this. We came together and voted out a corrupt PM and the Barisan National coalition – which had ruled Malaysia since independence from the British in 1957 – without a single drop of blood. It was a bloodless revolution, nothing short of a miracle. Malaysians were ecstatic, it was the beginning of a new dawn, a new beginning, a new Malaysia with the rallying cry, “Malaysia Bharu!” (“A new Malaysia!”)
It has been 18 months since 9 May, and Malaysia is once again plunged into a kind of darkness, of extremist and dangerous rhetoric in the rise of populism and intolerance. The man who led the opposition party Pakatan Harapan (Party of Hope) to victory was no other than 93-year-old Mahathir Muhammad, the draconian, ruthless and authoritarian politician who had ruled Malaysia for 22 years, from 1981 to 2003. The fact that he was now back in power did not sit well with many after the elections, and we now have more reason to be fearful and pessimistic about the future of the nation.
Malaysia is a multicultural, multi-religious country with Islam as its official state religion and an unspoken rule that all Malays – who represent more than fifty percent of the population – have to be Muslim. Non-Malays have to convert to Islam to marry Malay Muslims, divorce as Muslims, as all laws that pertain to Muslims come under the Syariah Court. In recent years, the understanding of what it means to be Muslim and Malay has become highly debated, and highly contentious. Malaysia has always prided itself in practicing a moderate form of Islam, but since the elections last May, the realities are far from that.
A backlash of sorts occurred after the Pakatan Harapan win. Mahathir decided to appoint Lim Guan Eng – his former political opponent – as Finance Minister and Tommy Thomas as the new Attorney General. The decisions to nominate a Malay of Chinese descent and another of Indian ethnicity in key positions were the cause for much dismay among Malay groups in the rallying cry that Malay politicians were being sidelined. In July 2018 as a direct or indirect means to counter this recrimination, Mahathir installed Mujahid Yusof Rawa as Minister in the Department for Religious Affairs. Mujahid is known for his right-wing views and extreme rhetoric, which he made clear as a member of Parliament, and also is a fervent supporter of the controversial Indian cleric and speaker Zakir Naik. A trickle-down effect was seen immediately. Within months, three transgender women were brutally attacked and murdered. In September, Malaysia’s first public caning of two women was carried out at the Terengganu Syariah Court – a predominantly Muslim state in the east coast of Malaysia. The harsh sentence of six strokes carried out in a public courtroom demonstrated little regard for the dignity of the two women who were sentenced under Section 30 and 59(1) of the Syariah Criminal Offences for being in close proximity. Malaysians were shocked and outraged. The event was livestreamed on social media and marked a dark day in our history. The fact that this had happened a few months after the 9 May victory once again plunged many Malaysians into a state of despair. In early November, Mujahid ordered the portraits of two LGBTQI+ activists to be removed from an art exhibition that was part of the George Town Festival in Penang. The photos of Pang Khee Teik, co-founder of Sexualiti Merdeka, an LGBTQI+ human rights group, and Nisha Ayub, a transgender activist and founder of SEED, an NGO for transgender rights, were taken down, and caused criticism and outrage internationally. Pang and Ayub (who is Muslim) continued to be harassed online and received death threats in the following months.
Following the ratification of PEN Malaysia at the 85th Congress in September 2019, we are now in a position to stand in solidarity with writers who have faced harassment in connection with their work.
Another example of the harassment of writers is author Faisal Tehrani - seven of his books have been banned - who stated at a conference in August that the religionisation of Malay literature over decades has become a stumbling block to realising national culture. He added that Islamic literature has become synonymous with Malay literature, which is now “laced with Arabic terminology.” Tehrani also asked why non-Malay writers continue to be sidelined by the Malay publishing and literary communities and questioned whether writers who work in English, Tamil or Mandarin might ever become National Laureate. For his outspoken views and his support of Shia Muslims in Malaysia Tehrani has also received death threats.
Also in August, the High Court dismissed an application from Sisters in Islam – an NGO that works for the rights of Muslim women and children – who challenged a fatwa from 2014 which decreed that the organisation was ‘deviant’ as it believed in liberalism, pluralism and women’s rights.
In October, four public universities hosted the Malay Dignity Congress, which was essentially a platform to facilitate hate rhetoric for academics and students alike, barring students of other ethnicities from attending. One of the keynote speeches ended with the phrase, “Malaysia for the Malays.” The fact that this was endorsed by the heads of four key public universities is in direct violation of the grounds of academic scholarship and its ideals, and indicative that public institutions are becoming a breeding ground for factionalism and extremist ideas.
With this rise in hardline rhetoric, with the fact that the Sedition Act, the Official Secrets Act and detention without trial still exist in spite of Mahathir’s promises to make them obsolete, to make Malaysians more polarised and fractured than ever, with increasing threats to their freedom of speech and expression, human rights and democracy.
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Haiti: human rights under threat
In September 2018, the Haitian government appointed a Minister for human rights and ending extreme poverty. The Haitian interministerial committee on human rights developed a national action plan to strengthen human rights. On 3 April 2019, during its statement on the situation in Haiti to the Security Council in New York, the United Nations High Commission expressed satisfaction, comparing the situation in Haiti in 2019 to that of 2004. However, the events of July 2018 to February 2019 made the slaughter that we have seen over the past three months all too foreseeable.
Social injustices have so angered the people of Haiti that various popular protest movements, alongside the “partisan political opposition”, have succeeded in bringing tens of thousands of protesters onto the streets for over a year. On social media and at every protest, they are calling for a radical overhaul of the corrupt system of governance, and for those diverting PetroCaribe Programme funds to be brought before the courts[1]. At least three companies headed at the time by President Jovenel Moïse are implicated in this financial scandal: the greatest in Haiti’s history, according to successive reports published by the High Court of Auditors and Administrative Disputes (Cour Supérieure des Comptes et du Contentieux administratif, CSC/CA). Unable to meet the people’s social demands, the government has deployed its forces of order to repressive ends, as recently verified by Amnesty International. According to Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty, “the security forces under the command of President Moïse have used excessive force”: use of live ammunition, military weapons, and beating[2]. An updated count following the latest protests lists 41 deaths, including nine at the hands of the police, and around 100 wounded.
Between 14 March 2018, the date on which freelance photojournalist Vladjimir Legagneur – who was investigating the consequences of clashes between the police and gangs in Grand-Ravine, where two police officers and nine civilians have been killed – disappeared, and 17 October 2019, when Radio Signal FM journalist Raynald Petit-Frère was beaten by agents of the Palais National General Security Unit (Unité de sécurité générale du Palais National, USGPN) on the Champs de Mars, PEN Haiti identified three cases of journalists suffering gunshot wounds and assassination attempts against Kendi Joseph at newspaper Le National and Luckson St-Vil at Loop Haiti. Pétion Rospide, host of Info Petro, a programme focused on the Petrocaribe scandal, for Radio Sans Fin, and Néhémie Joseph, a reporter for Radio Panic FM and Radio Méga and an outspoken critic of officials in Mirebalais, were shot dead after receiving death threats. Lastly, on 9 November, Bernard Belle-Fleur, a Télé Soleil and Radio Nationale d’Haïti journalist and operator, was shot repeatedly and killed by unknown assailants.
Furthermore, there have been many civilian casualties due to clashes between armed gangs:
from 1 to 13 November 2018, some 60 people were murdered, dozens injured and seven raped during the La Saline Massacre;
on 24 April 2019, eight people were killed, including a pregnant woman, and 12 injured at the Impasse Eddy (Carrefour-Feuilles) slaughter;
in June 2019, eight people died and 2000 were displaced following clashes between rival gangs in the Artibonite department;
from 4 to 7 November, 15 people died from gunshot wounds, 20 homes were torched and 11 vehicles damaged in the Bel-Air neighbourhood.
The state appears powerless, and these human rights violations receive no response. “According to Jean-Rebel Dorcéna of the National Commission for disarmament, dismantlement and reintegration, there are at least 96 heavily armed gang groups in the country,” writes Alix Laroche of the Haiti Press Network (HPN)[3]. Reports by several human rights organisations, including the National Human Rights Defence Network (Réseau national des droits humains, RNDDH) and the Fondasyon je klere (FJK) indicate links between these armed gangs and members of Parliament.
Every part of Haiti's national life is dying. The first term of the school year is ruined, with over two million children forced to stay at home[4]. Its prisons, where 70% of detainees are citizens held on remand, are running low on supplies[5]. With impunity guaranteed, criminals roam the streets openly. On 27 October 2019, police officers had to resort to protests to force the government to respect their right to join a trade union[6]. While managers at both public and private hospitals have worked hard to provide first aid and medical care to the Haitian people, these services have been paralysed by the absence of a humanitarian corridor that would ensure the movement of healthcare professionals and supplies to medical centres.
Even individual freedoms are under threat. In April 2017, the Senate passed a law deeming homosexuality to be “contrary to the notion of morality and good character in the same manner as child pornography, incest, polygamy, paedophilia, child prostitution and procuring.”[7] Charlot Jeudy, the young leader of KOURAJ, a prominent LGBT organisation, and campaigner for LGBTI community rights, recently died in as yet unexplained circumstances.
The Haitian PEN Centre is working tirelessly to mobilise its members, national public opinion and the international community on the need to support the Haitian people in their legitimate demands. Various notices have been published in the press and on social media to serve as reminders of the right to freedom of expression, to bear witness to our solidarity with the victims of repression and death squads, and to demand justice and reparations[8]. On 17 June 2018, in an Open letter to the nation[9], signed by some thirty Haitian writers, we set out the social and political demands of the Haitian people and invited the nation to safeguard the achievements of human rights and democracy.
The situation is critical. We hope that it is not too late for Haiti. We condemn the climate of repression that is affecting citizens of all ages who wish to give free voice to their demands. We will not give up.
Kettly Mars is a Haitian poet, novelist, and President of PEN Haiti.
[1] In 2007, Venezuela granted Haiti financing arrangements for the purchase of oil products. Profits from the resale of these products on the local market form the PetroCaribe Fund, intended for development and investment.
[2] https://www.amnesty.org/fr/latest/news/2019/10/haiti-amnesty-verifies-evidence-excessive-force-against-protesters/
[3] http://www.hpnhaiti.com/nouvelles/index.php/societe/6360-haiti-insecurite-scenes-de-crimes-horribles-dans-l-artibonite
[4] https://www.lesoleil.com/actualite/monde/haiti-deux-millions-denfants-prives-decole-9d53c6fbe0bd10d9c492200773c58448
[5] https://www.lesoleil.com/actualite/monde/crise-en-haiti-la-famine-frappe-certaines-prisons-1ac738aa6e6f99bf267c934fe64d0b7c
[6] https://www.alterpresse.org/spip.php?article24893#.XegFGOhKhPY
[7] https://lenouvelliste.com/m/public/index.php/article/174502/le-senat-a-vote-une-loi-sur-la-reputation-et-le-certificat-de-bonnes-vie-et-moeurs
[8] http://mail.lenational.org/post_free.php?elif=1_CONTENUE/culture&rebmun=3531 , http://www.loophaiti.com/content/le-centre-pen-haiti-rend-hommage-aux-journalistes-morts-impunement
[9] https://pen-international.org/fr/nouvelles/haiti-lettre-ouverte-des-ecrivaines-et-escrivains-haitiens-a-la-nation
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Zimbabwe’s “new dispensation” fails to curb human rights abuses
by Desmond Kumbuka (PEN Zimbabwe)
When President Emmerson Mnangagwa was sworn in as Zimbabwe’s new leader on 24 November 2017, one of the key expectations was an immediate end to the impunity and systematic human rights abuses that had become institutionalised under his predecessor President Robert Mugabe’s 37 years of unbroken rule.
Many hoped that random arrests of journalists and abductions of human rights activists by suspected state agents would cease, and that investigations into outstanding cases of unexplained disappearances would be pursued more purposefully and transparently to inspire public confidence in the rule of law.
While some within his party (the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front Zanu-PF) believe the new government deserves more time to fulfil their promises of governance reform and to reorient the system away from past misdeeds, others are convinced that the situation has gone from bad to worse.
They cite a rising number of abductions, as well as increasingly brutal crackdowns by the police and army against demonstrators demanding better wages. Meanwhile, the economy has continued to deteriorate while opposition activists are denouncing a shrinking space for democratic debate.
In its 2018 report, Human Rights Watch noted that throughout the past two years, Mnangagwa and other senior government officials made numerous promises of reform to steer the country away from the Mugabe era.
Despite relatively peaceful national elections endorsed by various observer missions from the European Union, African Union and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in July 2018, disputed results and post-election violence clearly showed that little had changed in Zimbabwe, HRW noted.
Critics of the Mnangagwa administration argue that the “new dispensation” has not taken any tangible steps to demonstrate commitment to accountability, justice for human rights abuses or respect for the rule of law. The widely celebrated departure of President Mugabe and the rise of Mnangagwa to the presidency following the 2018 presidential race, which for the first time since the country’s independence in 1980 did not include Mugabe’s name on the ballot, was followed by a brutal military crackdown on political opponents that left at least six people dead. Although President Mnangagwa subsequently appointed a commission of inquiry, headed by former South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, into the post-election violence, widespread skepticism greeted its findings, its recommendations remaining largely unfulfilled.
Last January, protests over economic hardships sparked by a sudden rise in fuel prices were met with a brutal backlash by the army and police - 17 people lost their lives, according to the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum. On 18 January 2019, following the protests, the government imposed a total internet shutdown that critics said was designed to blackout social media reports of a violent crackdown on the protests.
It was thus with a measure of irony, HRW observed, that Mnangagwa, despite his own murky record of human rights abuses as Mugabe’s security minister in the early eighties, called on Zimbabweans to “let bygones be bygones” during his inauguration as Executive President on 26 November 2017.
On 27 August 2019, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum launched a special report entitled “The New Deception: What has Changed,” which critiqued the government’s record on human rights violations. The report reflected on the promises made by the President when he took his oath of office to return to constitutionalism and the rule of law. The launch event included stakeholder discussions focusing on the key highlights of the report, such as the nature and distribution of violations witnessed since November 2017 when Robert Mugabe was overthrown in what was officially termed a military-assisted transition.
Since then, several cases of abductions and violence showcase that little has changed. The widely publicised case of a doctor and labour activist, Dr Peter Magombeyi, whose alleged abduction led to widespread protests by medical staff, was one of several incidents of forced disappearances reported in the local media in recent months. Dr Magombeyi was then the acting President of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA), which stands for improved pay and conditions of service for medical staff. He went missing from his home in the suburb of Budiriro in Harare on 14 September 2019 after being allegedly kidnapped by unidentified armed men.
Although he was found some 30 kms from Harare five days later, media reports said he looked disoriented and in pain, suggesting he might have been tortured. To this day, the exact circumstances of his kidnapping and release remain unclear. The doctor was sent to neighbouring South Africa for medical examination and treatment. Zimbabwe routinely sends patients outside the country for medical attention, a practice that government critics say is reflective of the failure to provide medical care for its citizens at home.
Mnangagwa’s ascendancy to the presidency of Zimbabwe had also rekindled hope in a full-scale investigation into the disappearance of journalist cum political activist Itai Dzamara, abducted from a barbershop in the suburb of Glen View in 2015.
Dzamara became something of a protest icon when he launched a solo “Occupy Africa Unity Square” campaign demanding the resignation of President Mugabe. On several of these ostensibly foolhardy escapades, he was arrested and brutally assaulted by police. Opposition legislators demanded that the police provide periodic updates to Parliament on their investigations but to this day, his family still awaits closure on what happened to him.
Still, the story of Zimbabwe’s lacklustre human rights record would not be complete without the case that came to symbolise ‘triumph over impunity’. On 27 September 2018, the High Court in Harare ordered the state to pay $150,000 to Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) director and pro-democracy campaigner Jestina Mukoko as compensation for unlawful detention, torture and violation of fundamental human rights.
Like Dzamara, Jestina was abducted by unidentified armed men from her home in Norton some 40 kms northwest of Harare on 3 December 2008. Her whereabouts, as well as those of two other ZPP employees, remained unknown until 24 December 2008 when they first appeared before a Harare Magistrate court after weeks of being held incommunicado. Mukoko spent three months in remand prison before being released.
Clearly, Zimbabwe’s human rights challenges go beyond physical crackdowns on journalists and opposition activists; its failure to provide basic needs for its citizens must be cited. A UN official recently noted that Zimbabwe was on the brink of man-made starvation – more than 60 per cent of the 14 million population are considered food insecure, according to recent findings. This is certainly ample evidence that Mnangagwa’s “new dispensation” is far from bringing the change Zimbabweans had hoped for after the 2017 military–assisted transition.
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Malawi has made relative strides as far as freedom of expression is concerned, given a past in which it was deemed taboo to discuss the government – be it in print or electronic media, or any other forum. People are now able to directly criticise the government. During the dictatorial era that spanned from 1964 to 1994, most writers used cryptic language to express their frustrations and journalists would not dare utter a single word against the state. Today people are more or less able to freely write or speak against any governance matter, mostly without fear of reprisal.
However, there are new types of challenges that are detrimental to the status quo and that should be considered if this political space is to be sustained or even improved upon. Recently, there have been a few incidences where the government has targeted some individuals for what they said or how they expressed themselves on social media. For example, according to reports, in April 2019 a man was arrested and charged with insult and a ‘cyber violation’ for likening a picture of the first lady to a cartoon character – an arrest that seems completely arbitrary. He is still on bail pending the state’s readiness with the case.
The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) has also implemented restrictions on the media. Shortly after the 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections, and during post-election demonstrations following disputed election results, MACRA issued a directive to private media organisations, barring them from covering the events live on their stations, unless they employed a delay machine. MACRA has also summoned private media establishments for questioning over programmes that the government deemed unsuitable.
Phone-in programmes were suspended by MACRA on 7 June 2019 but lifted by the High Court on 25 September 2019, after MISA Malawi, together with Times Group, Capital Radio and Zodiak Broadcasting Station, applied for an injunction to stop the suspension. A judicial review of the case was set for 15 October 2019 and has since been adjourned further. Despite the court ruling, no radio station has resumed operations. These events are troubling, as the role of an institution like MACRA should be to ensure responsible reporting, not to unduly restrict freedom of expression.
The rights to freedom of association and expression have also been undermined at times by the police service, who have on several occasions used excessive force during recent protests, and by ruling party cadres, who have threatened and attacked human rights defenders. From June to October 2019, the Human Rights Defenders Coalition held demonstrations to force the Malawi Electoral chair to resign from her role in presiding over the 2019 Tripartite General Elections, which the protesters alleged were full of irregularities. In a recent incident in September 2019 in Blantyre, when Minister of Agriculture Kondwani Nankhumwa was opening the National Agricultural Fair, members of the ruling party descended upon the demonstrators, reportedly armed with machetes, hacking and wounding the protest leader, Billy Mayaya of the Human Rights Defenders Coalition. Mayaya had to be hospitalised at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital. It was in this pandemonium that the police chased the demonstrators to disperse the crowd, and tracked them into the hospital premises, where they fired tear gas at the protestors.
In an earlier show of violence, police reportedly assaulted two radio journalists from private media outlet Zodiak Broadcasting Station, who were covering a crackdown by police on street vendors in one of the major cities of the country in 2018. The journalists sustained soft tissue injuries and were treated as outpatients at Mzuzu Health Centre.
Another example of restrictions against the media is the Malawi Revenue Authority’s (MRA) shutdown of two major private media organisations, on allegations of tax evasion. Times Group was closed in January 2017 for accumulated arrears in tax and again on 1 June 2018 for the same offence; Nation Publications was closed on 18 October 2019. In all these cases, the closures lasted for at least two days only to be struck down at the intervention of the courts. It is suspicious, to say the least, that private media publications in particular are being charged with tax evasion and closed immediately, rather than allowed time to negotiate.
The country is facing an additional challenge with the delay in the implementation of access to information legislation. The Access to Information Act 2017, also under MACRA’s purview, has still not been published, allegedly because its rules and regulations are still being formulated. This restricts the kind of information that the public is able to access, and if people are not able to file freedom of information requests, their ability to express concerns on issues of governance or hold officials to account is limited.
In addition, the national broadcaster, Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), mostly broadcasts opinions favourable to the government and the ruling party. The co-option of some journalists and writers by various political parties is also problematic. This happens in both government-owned media as well as private media establishments. The result is the transmission of fake information, an increasing issue of concern, to the detriment of peace and development.
Finally, colonial-era laws are still in place that constrain the full exercise of freedom of expression, for instance the Printed Publications Act, which was instituted in 1947 and therefore prior to technological innovations, fails to provide equal recognition to e-publications. Other provisions of the Penal code, such as the offence of sedition, unduly restrict freedom of expression and have been used against bloggers and journalists.
This is the environment that the media and writers are confronted with in Malawi. The result of this stifling climate is self-censorship, which many feel is necessary for one’s work to be shown in public, be it poetry, essays, short stories or novels. Even though the country has made progress as a democracy, writers and the media still face some clear restrictions.
This lack of freedom of expression has led to the stalling of almost every institution, be it in the public service or in the private sector. The economic environment favours those who are supportive of the government line, leaving utility organisations such as water boards and energy companies unable to function efficiently. The precariousness of services, the co-option of the media and the pressures to conform have brought Malawians’ morale to a new low.
Alfred Msadala is a poet, short story writer and critic from Malawi. He is also President of PEN Malawi.
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The sword's struggle to weaken the pen in Nigeria
Nigeria has, in recent months, been making headlines worldwide for its government’s crass disregard for democratic principles. The government professes alliance to democratic ideals; but since coming to power in 2015, it has consistently displayed a lack of respect for the rule of law and has held the judiciary in disdain.
This attitude is distinctly correlated to the government’s human rights violations reflected in frequent disobedience of court orders and constant attacks on freedom of expression. This situation has startling similarities with the brutal era of military dictatorship in the country, in which freedom of expression was under attack and human rights abuses rampant, and which, in 1995, saw the hanging of nine prominent leaders of the Ogoni ethnic community, including the renowned writer and environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa.
Nigeria gloats over its twenty straight years of unbroken civilian rule. However, not since its return to civil rule in 1999 has the country witnessed such a flagrant demonstration of outright insensitivity by the government to alternative views and intolerance of dissenting voices. This is corroborated by Amnesty International, which, in a report published in October 2019, states that at least 19 journalists and media practitioners have been attacked in Nigeria between January and September 2019, the highest number since 2015.
The report chronicles the attacks on journalists in Nigeria carried out by state agencies, including the police, the State Security Service (SSS) – popularly called the Department of State Service (DSS) – the military and the dreaded arm of the Nigerian Police called Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), and states the following points:
Six journalists, including bloggers, were arrested in 2018; four were arrested in 2017; sixteen journalists/bloggers were arrested in 2016; five were arrested in 2015;
Eight media outlets, including Premium Times, have been raided or harassed since 2015, while three journalists have gone into hiding;
Reasons for the journalists’ arrests include exposing corruption, election coverage, and social media posts critical of a governor or a senator;
The charges proffered against the journalists range from terrorism, sedition, and treason to unlawful assembly, defamation of character, and criminal conspiracy
One recent example of the increasing crackdown on dissent, is the case of Omoyele Sowore, publisher of Sahara Reporters and opposition activist, who was abducted on 3 August 2019, and eventually charged with treason, money laundering, and cyber-stalking the President of Nigeria. The charges are apparently in relation to his organisation of a peaceful protest movement, dubbed #RevolutionNow, which called for good governance.
Despite the global outcry trailing his detention and several court orders calling for his release, Sowore was kept in detention by the DSS until 5 December. He was, however, re-arrested barely 24 hours later in the vicinity of a court by DSS agents; Sowore’s lawyer Femi Falana advised the agents to ‘obey the rule of law and not resort to gangsterism’, stating to the media that the invasion of a courtroom by the DSS to make an arrest has never happened before in Nigeria.
After much local and, particularly, international pressure, the government decided to release Sowore on 24 December ‘on compassionate grounds’, according to reports quoting the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami. Sowore’s prolonged detention despite court orders for his release points to the government’s disrespectful and contemptuous attitude towards the rule of law.
Sowore and activist Olawale Bakare, also known as Mandate, who is standing trial alongside the journalist and pro-democracy campaigner, are by no means the sole victims of the government’s intolerance of criticism and disregard for the rule of law and freedom of expression. One such example is journalist Jones Abiri, who was held incommunicado for two years on terrorism allegations before his release in 2018, and who has recently been charged with terrorism, sabotage and cybercrimes.
Legislation is another instrument employed by the authorities to undermine the pen in Nigeria. For example, the Criminal Code provisions on slander, libel and defamation are criminal offences punishable by imprisonment, and have been used against journalists in retaliation for critical reporting.
The government is currently striving to facilitate the passing of two bills into law: the Social Media Bill, under the guise of curbing fake news, which has since gone through a second reading at the National Assembly, and the Hate Speech Bill, which, if passed into law, prescribes the death penalty for offenders. (The Hate Speech Bill has been modified to remove the death penalty, but it has not been passed). While the right to freedom of expression goes hand in hand with a responsibility to stay within the ambit of the law, these bills have clear implications for writers and journalists, whom the government holds in disdain for carrying out their social responsibilities and obligations.
In response to this situation, PEN Nigeria has been active in the defence of the rights of citizens, particularly freedom of expression. PEN Nigeria has also raised its voice in defence of several other people who have been persecuted for exercising their freedom of expression. We write and circulate open letters, as in the case of Jones Abiri, we organise public rallies and special readings to draw attention to such cases.
Members of our Centre write, feature articles and creative works on issues pertaining to freedom of speech. We also collaborate with associations and organisations associated with the promotion of free speech, which highlights the freedom of every individual and community to express their opinions, thoughts and ideas without restraint, censorship, fear of retaliation or legal penalty. In highlighting the voices of those who have been silenced, PEN Nigeria hopes to hold the government accountable for its actions and strives to support freedom of expression in Nigeria.
Authors
FOLU AGOI: poet and President, Nigerian Centre of PEN International (aka PEN Nigeria).
NIRAN OKEWOLE, poet and Vice President II of PEN Nigeria, is a medical doctor – a trained psychiatrist.
DAGGA TOLAR, poet and Secretary of PEN Nigeria, is founder of the Aj. House of Poetry, a platform focused on nurturing and mentoring new minds into the poetic field.
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In 2013, reporter Peter Kanaakulya was covering a procession of opposition leaders led by Dr. Kizza Besigye and Lord Mayor of Kampala, Erias Lukwago. The procession was intercepted by the police and Kanaakulya was pepper sprayed and beaten. His camera fell and he had to jump out of the car to safety. The police later called the TV station where he worked and asked him to retrieve his camera.
“From then, I vowed never to go to Central Police Station again, nor to go back to the field,” he said. He now focuses on administrative and production work for online television station MRU TV. In another incident, the police forced him to delete the footage he had recorded. “I had to delete it so that they wouldn’t hurt me,” he explained. “For a journalist, your weapon is a camera and recorder so that you tell the truth to the public.”
Over the years, the police have continued to harass journalists, even when they wear their press credentials. According to Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda’s Press Freedom Index for 2018, 163 cases of violations and abuses were reported. According to the same Press Freedom Index, the police have been the leading offender of media rights in the past ten years. Of the 163 cases, the police were responsible for 87, representing 53 per cent of all documented cases in 2018.
“Journalists will keep away from political situations and they will censor themselves, and then the general public will be denied information,” says Margaret Sentamu-Masagazi, the Executive Director of Uganda Media Women’s Association.
When interviewed for this piece, other specialists concurred. “Journalists are scared to report, yet the public has a right to information,” says Komakech Henry Kilama, a human rights lawyer and legal practitioner.
“Journalists are the eyes and ears of the public and if they are unable to cover events then the public will miss out on a lot of information,” says Diana Nandudu, Legal Officer at Human Rights Network of Journalists-Uganda.
Attacks on Journalists and Media Freedom
In February 2018, according to Human Rights Watch, five unidentified men wearing military uniforms, and later identified as agents from the Internal Security Organisation (ISO), apprehended an investigative journalist with the New Vision newspaper. The journalist was released six days later, following a court ruling against the ISO. The journalist had recently published an article linking ISO agents to the death of a Finnish businessman.
In another incident in the same year, two journalists were arrested and beaten by security forces as they reported on a by-election and the shooting of Yasin Kawuma, the driver of Bobi Wine, musician and member of parliament. The journalists were subsequently charged with ‘malicious damage to property and incitement of violence’, and then conditionally released.
Still in 2018, soldiers harassed journalists covering protests, including confiscating and damaging the equipment of a photojournalist who was trying to carry out his work.
In light of the situation above, on World Press Freedom Day 2019, the European Union Delegation, alongside a number of other European missions and the Heads of Mission of Iceland, Japan, Norway, Republic of Korea and United States, issued a joint statement expressing deep concerns over a series of incidents restricting the freedom of expression and freedom of assembly in Uganda.
However, attacks against journalists continued throughout the second half of 2019.
In November 2019 the police fired tear gas at a group of journalists who were protesting alleged brutality by police. In the same month, village information officer David Kibuuka was killed by live bullets allegedly fired by the police, while he was covering a protest.
Female journalists who face violence in their professional duties
One incident occurred in 2017, when a TV reporter was kidnapped by two unknown people and beaten, apparently over her coverage of a dispute between outspoken academic, activist and poet Stella Nyanzi and Janet Museveni, who is minister of education and President Yoweri Museveni’s wife. The kidnappers shaved the reporter’s head, beat her and threatened to torture her. Stella Nyanzi herself has just been released from jail after her 18-month prison sentence for alleged cyber harassment of the president on Facebook was overturned by an appeal court. Her original conviction indicates that no space is safe for Ugandans to criticise the authorities.
In another instance, five female journalists were stoned by police officers as they reported on the outbreak of a fire at Katwe Police Station on 24 August 2017.
Harassment of female journalists is of particular concern in that “the impact of violence is greatest on female journalists so they will find other career paths, such as public relations or communications, where they are more comfortable,” says Masagazi of the Uganda Media Women’s Association.
Restrictions on artists
Journalists are not the only ones who face restrictions on their right to freedom of expression; artists also face harassment and censorship. On many occasions, politician and singer Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, has been prevented by the police from performing and arrested for reasons such as making inadequate preparations for his performance.
Additionally, a performance poet is no longer allowed to perform some of his political poems at the National Theatre in Kampala. He continues to write his ‘angry’ poems and perform in different spaces.
A way forward
Police harassment against journalists and others who use their voice to criticise the authorities is rampant, and there are fears that the situation will worsen as the 2021 elections approach.
The public must show its support for media associations and media owners so that together, Ugandans can push for the safety of journalists and artists and for freedom of expression in general. The Government of Uganda must respect and adhere to the provisions of the 1995 Constitution, which provides for freedom of expression.
Beatrice Lamwaka is the Vice President PEN Uganda and board member FEMRITE – Uganda Women Writers Association. Her collection of short stories, Butterfly Dreams and other stories was published a few years ago. Her short story is featured in the acclaimed, New Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Writing by Women of African Descent (2019). She was awarded by Uganda Registration Service Bureau for her literary contributions in 2018. She is a recipient of the 2011 Young Achievers Award, was shortlisted for the 2015 Morland Writing Scholarship and the 2011 Caine Prize for African Writing, and was a finalist for the 2009 South African PEN/Studzinski Literary Award. The anthology of short stories, Queer Africa (2013), to which she contributed, won the 26th Lambda Literary Award in 2014.
