On 6 February 2017 Justice John Mativo ruled that Section 194 of Kenya’s Penal Code, which creates the offence of criminal defamation, violates the right to freedom of expression as guaranteed under Article 33 of the supreme law of the land. Jaqueline Okuta and Jackson Njeru, two individuals separately charged with criminal defamation...
The Federation of African Journalists and three exiled Gambian reporters have filed a legal claim before the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States to challenge the pervasive culture of persecution, violence, and injustice towards journalists in The Gambia. They argue that their right to freedom of expression has...
A two-day conference held in Juba to mark International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists (2 November), has recommended decriminalization of defamation as is contained in the South Sudan 2013 Media Authority Act. It also appealed to the government to speed up investigation of the seven journalists killed in South Sudan,...
The Assembly of Delegates of PEN International, meeting at its 81st World Congress in Quebec, Canada, 13th to 17th October 2015 Despite the growing international consensus that criminal defamation infringes the fundamental right to freedom of expression as expressed by international and regional human rights bodies and mechanisms, prosecutions of journalists and other...
The crusade against defamation, insult, false news and sedition laws across the African continent will be won with a mixture of both political and legal methods, delegates at a 19-20 September continental campaign meeting in Johannesburg agreed. At the Decriminalisation of Expression’s two-day meeting, activists from African and international organisations exchanged ideas on...
aims to rid Africa of criminal defamation, insult, false news and sedition laws. The campaign is spearheaded by the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa, Advocate Pansy Tlakula, along with organisations spanning the five regions of Africa: East, West, South, Central and North. The Centre for Human Rights, based at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, act as secretariat to the Campaign. An overview of all the organisations involved in the campaign, which includes local, regional and global organisations, can be found here… read more
Continental Campaign Meeting
67th World Newspaper Congress & 22nd World Editors Forum
If journalists are the frontline in the battle to protect media freedom, then the last line of defense is perhaps the idealistic lawyers with the smarts to challenge restrictions by taking litigation beyond national courts through to regional and international structures. In early July, KAS Media Africa partnered with the Media Legal Defence...
If the Storify does not load automatically please click here. [View the story “FXI seminar unpacks decriminalisation of expression campaign” on Storify]
Cape Town, South Africa, December 5, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the decision by the Pretoria High Court in South Africa to uphold journalist Cecil Motsepe’s appeal against a conviction of criminal defamation, but disapproves of the court’s ruling that the crime of defamation for journalists falls in line with South Africa’s...
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