Press freedom in Liberia is under fire
after an editor has been jailed over reports about government corruption.
The
editor of one of Liberia's leading newspapers was spending his eighth day in
hospital on Tuesday after he was jailed over reports about government
corruption, according to its staff.
Rodney
Sieh, who publishes Frontpage
Africa, was taken into custody on August 21 following a Supreme
Court ruling that the paper should pay US $1.6 million (1.2 million euros) for
libelling former agriculture minister J. Chris Toe.
The
court ordered that the paper be closed down until the damages are paid in full
and Sieh was sent to jail, where he was reported to have launched a hunger
strike.
He
was rushed to hospital on August 27 after a rapid decline in his condition,
according to
Reporters Without Borders.
"He
is responding to the treatment and has started eating," said Frontpage Africa
desk editor Wade Williams, confirming that Sieh was still in hospital.
Toe
successfully sued the paper after Sieh wrote a series of stories in 2009
accusing the minister of embezzling agriculture ministry funds.
Frontpage
Africa has
been vociferous in its criticism of the government of President Ellen Johnson
Sirleaf in recent years.
Sieh
is expected to remain incarcerated until he pays the damages or Sirleaf
intervenes.
The
New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists described Sieh's detention as
"disproportionate
and tainted with political undertones" and called on Sirleaf to pardon
him.
Source: Doha Centre
for Media Freedom
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