Senegal: Editor Jailed in Absentia

A magistrate court in Dakar on August 26, 2010 convicted Express News, a pro-government newspaper of defaming Pape Samba Mboup, the Chief Director in the office of President Abdoulaye Wade.

The court sentenced the newspaper's editor Abdourakhmane Diallo to a six-month prison term in absentia.

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)'s correspondent in Senegal reported that the court also fined Farba Senghor, head of the Express News group FCFA 20million (about US$ 44, 445) as damages to the plaintiff.

Mboup initiated the action following a publication on June 23 accusing him of being a "political mercenary." The article also described Mboup: "as a permanent danger for the regime who violates state secrecy"

The correspondent said the newspaper also described the chief of staff as "a drunkard who has no credibility because of alcohol".

-August 30, 2010 by Media Foundation for West Africa (Accra)

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Source: allafrica.com/stories/201008301313.html (accessed on 31.08.10)