Mali court drops case against newspaper editor

By -

A court in Mali threw out a case against a newspaper editor who was arrested after publishing an article criticizing the leader of last year's military coup, reports Reuters.
Boukary Daou was detained on March 6 and charged with inciting revolt after an open letter in his Le Republicain newspaper accused Captain Amadou Sanogo of taking a large salary while leaving his soldiers poorly equipped.
Sanogo headed a putsch that toppled President Amadou Toumani Toure.
The editor's arrest by intelligence services demonstrated the coup leaders' continuing control over state security even after they officially handed power back to a civilian administration.
The presiding judge said on Tuesday the authorities had failed to follow proper procedure and the case was therefore invalid.
"I pay homage to my country's legal system, which has just rendered justice through a sane, clear and correct application of the law. It has proved its independence by voiding the case against my client," Daou's lawyer Hamidou Diabaté said.
Al Qaeda-linked Islamist fighters took advantage of the power vacuum caused by the March 2012 coup to seize the northern two-thirds of Mali.
The letter published by Daou said Malian soldiers fighting the Islamist rebels in the desert north were angry about their lack of equipment and rations, while military leaders in Bamako were living in comfort on high salaries.
It said Sanogo, who was given the job of overseeing military reform by an interim government, was getting about 4 million CFA francs ($8,000) a month.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

UBTH @50: Obaseki hails institution’s role in strengthening Edo healthcare

By -
Image
(Nigeria) Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, has commended the staff and management of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, UBTH, for their unwavering commitment, dedication, and hard work in providing high-quality healthcare services to the people of Edo State and Nigeria in the past fifty years. Obaseki, at a dinner organized in honour of the Committee of Chief Medical Directors of Nigeria, at the Government House, Benin City, reassured the government’s continuous partnership and collaboration with the federal government-owned health institution to strengthen the health system and ensure quality health delivery to Edo people. The governor, who was represented by his deputy, Philip Shaibu, reeled out the gains of the government’s reforms in the health sector, commending the medical centre for bolstering the government’s efforts at transforming Edo State into a health hub. He said, "We came into a wilderness where you have to cut a part for yourself and fix it. We held
Read more

NBC has no powers to impose fine on broadcast stations --Court

By -
Image
(Nigeria) The National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, has been restrained by a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, from imposing fines on broadcast stations in the country. Trial judge in the matter, Justice James Omotosho also set aside the N500,000 fines imposed on March 1, 2019, on each of 45 broadcast stations. The court made the orders in its judgment a suit by the Incorporated Trustees of Media Rights Agenda, MRA, which had sued the NBC. Justice Omotosho held that the NBC, not being a court of law, had no power to impose sanctions as punishment on broadcast stations. The court further held that the Nigeria Broadcasting Code, which gives the commission the power to impose sanction, is in conflict with Section 6 of the Constitution that vested judicial power in the court of law. He said the court would not sit idle and watch a body imposing fine arbitrarily without recourse to the law. He said that the commission did not comply with the law when it sat as a complainant and at
Read more