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Tag: Press freedom

The UN Envoy expressed commitment to working with the Liberian Government in achieving the Pro-poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development. However, he noted that UN adheres strictly to its fiduciary standards to safeguard UN funds against misuse and integrity risks. Op-ed 

The Vicious Attack on Roots FM is Autocratic and reechoes ‘The Reign of Terror’

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    The Editor,   With grave urgency and concern, we vehemently condemn President George M. Weah and his Government for violently attacking ROOTS FM 102.7 – a critical radio station owned and operated by popular and vocal talk-show host Henry P. Costa. The unprovoked action by this government to forcibly enter and illegally shut down Roots FM is not only autocratic and undemocratic, but it reechoes ‘The Reign of Terror’ in Liberia. The Republic is fast gravitating from Democracy to Dictatorship under ex-Soccer Star George M. Weah. The dark…

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No later did it turn out to be set up for journalists who were now trapped and prevented from leaving the yard or the party headquarters. They were mercilessly flogged, on instructions from some party officials, who instructed that both local and international journalists be flogged and while in the process, their electronic equipments were destroyed. News Society Arts & Leisure 

President Weah keeps 2005 promise of threats against Journalists

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  By: Staff writer Monrovia—Recently, a young journalist was mysteriously murdered, by unknown men, and I can’t help it, as thoughts of threats against journalists, made by then Ambassador George Oppong Weah, in 2005 keeps coming to mind as a flash back. During the campaign for the presidential runoff elections between the only two parties standing, CDC and UP, the then CDC standard bearer Mr. George Oppong Weah, went to Nimba County that year and gave his campaign address when he said; “To journalists, remember life is reciprocal, today is…

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Paye-Layleh’s calls for clarity from the Liberian leader stems from an open accusation made by the President on Thursday, March 23, during a press stakeout with visiting Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations Ms. Amina J. Mohammed. News Op-ed 

Reporter writes Weah: I am baffled by these allegations and verbal attacks

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      Dear Your Excellencies, My name is Jonathan Paye-Layleh, the Liberia correspondent of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and The Associated Press news agency. I am a Liberian who has lived at home and worked for the two institutions since 1993 and 1996, respectively.  I write to draw your joint or individual attention, through this open letter, to a situation that involves my safety; and I eagerly look forward to your prompt intervention to save a Liberian life. On Thursday, March 22, 2018  the United Nations  Deputy Secretary General,  Amina J.…

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President Weah were taking questions from reporters in the midst of dignitaries, I asked the visitor if the UN was willing to support efforts in Liberia to set up a war crimes court like it did in Sierra Leone News Politics 

Open Letter to PUL on the Media Climate in Liberia

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    Mr. Charles Cuffey President Press Union Of Liberia (PUL) Clay Street, Monrovia Liberia Dear Mr. Cuffy, In these last few weeks the media in Liberia have been challenged in the line of their duties like we’ve seen before under the dictatorships of Samuel Doe in the 1980s and Charles Taylor in the 1990s. What was unique about attacks on the media and journalists over those periods was the threats came directly from the men occupying the highest office in the land. Newspapers and radio stations were accused of…

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News Society Arts & Leisure 

Liberian Popular Talk Show Host Jailed In Monrovia

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…He Challenged President Sirleaf Son To A Fight And is jailed On Terrorism Charges!   The former talk show on Hot FM, Mr. Henry Costa is facing trial at the Monrovia Magisterial Court at the Temple of Justice on charges of Terroristic Threats, Menacing and Criminal Coercion.    The ongoing trial is the result of a complaint filed by the director of the National Security Agency (NSA), Mr. Fomba Sirleaf. The writ reads: You are hereby commanded to arrest the living body (ies) of Henry Costa, to be identified defendant(s) and…

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Politics Society Arts & Leisure 

Liberia’s Media Still Threatened by Unjust Laws!

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By K. Abdullai  Kamara   When the veteran Stanton Peabody and his colleagues organized the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) back in 1964, their challenge then was to ensure that journalists were not jailed for reporting and discussing events of the day. We agree with them, that is why we have maintained this organization across these years. And of course, the challenges of those years have simply gotten worse. Laws that criminalized discussing government are still threatening today, as they were then. Contempt charges by the courts and the legislature…

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News Society Arts & Leisure 

Ethiopian Journalist’s Plight Evokes Apartheid ‘Terrorism’ Law

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By Zakes Mda The continued detention of Ethiopian journalist Eskinder Nega, who is serving an 18-year sentence as a convicted terrorist in Kaliti prison outside Addis Ababa, is emblematic of the systematic harassment and incarceration of independent journalists in that country. The government in Addis would have the world believe that Eskinder is a reckless, even racist, agitator bent on violent revolution. Yet a review of the evidence against him and his writings reveals instead a thoughtful and principled man whose only crime has been to urge, peacefully and publicly,…

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News Society Arts & Leisure 

Jamaica decriminalises defamation

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Staff Report Jamaica has now become the first independent Caribbean country to have no criminal defamation laws – including seditious libel – on the books, according to the International Press Institute (IPI). Grenada abolished criminal libel in 2012, but maintains laws criminalising seditious libel and insult of the monarch, IPI said in its congratulatory message to Jamaica. The Jamaica Gleaner reported yesterday that after years of lobbying by the media and civil society interests to overhaul Jamaica’s libel and slander laws, the House of Representatives on November 5 passed the…

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Op-ed Politics 

Liberia’s Media, And Gross Libel Claims

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  By Abdullai K. Kamara The past month has been very rowdy for the media landscape in Liberia.  At a hearing of the Media Complaints Committee, claims were made about media targeting specific public officials; media accusing public functionaries of engaging in campaigns to discredit them, deny them of public adverts, and conspiring to eliminate them  or destroy their enterprises. On the eve of reaching a position on one of such matters, we encountered the enforcement of a court decision that effectively sends Rodney Sieh, the publisher of FrontPage Africa, to prison…

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News 

Liberian news editor free for 30 days

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By Ralph Geeplay Lawyers representing Frontpageafrica Editor Rodney Sieh have secured his release for 30 days in the Liberian capital of Monrovia. The lawyers contended that Sieh’s imprisonment violated various provisions of the Liberian constitution of 1986, including the prohibition against debt bondage in Article 12, the Equal Protection Clause of Article 11, the due process clause of Article 20, and the directive against extreme punishment in Article 21. Kwame Clement [Pro bono] a former Liberian journalist and broadcaster who reside in Maryland, the United Statres in collaboration with Musa Dean and…

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