H. E. Paul Biya
President of the Republic of Cameroon
Presidential Palace
Yaoundé
Cameroon
Vienna, 15 January 1998
Your Excellency,
The International Press Institute (IPI) strongly condemns the prison sentence and heavy fine handed out to Pius Njawé, editor-in-chief of the weekly La Messager.
Njawé was arrested on 24 December, two days after the publication of an article entitled “Is President Biya Ill?” In the article, journalist Franck Essomba reported that the head of state Paul Biya had suffered a heart attack during the Cameroon Cup soccer finals. On 13 January 1998, Njawé was sentenced to two years in prison and fined 500,000 CFA francs (5,000 FF) for “spreading false news.”
IPI, the global network of editors and media executives from newspapers, magazines, broadcasting organisations and news agencies in over 100 countries, is outraged by this conviction and considers the charge to be simply a pretext to silence Pius Njawé’s critical style of reporting in particular, and the voice of the country’s independent newspapers in general.
We strongly urge Your Excellency to take all necessary steps to ensure that Pius Njawé is released immediately and unconditionally, We further urge you to ensure that Cameroon’s independent journalists are allowed to carry out their profession without harassment.
We thank you for your attention.
Yours sincerely,
Johann P. Fritz
Director