New York, December 13, 2021 — Togolese authorities should immediately release journalists Ferdinand Ayit\u00e9 and Jo\u00ebl Egah and halt legal harassment of Isidore Kouwonou, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On December 9, national police officers arrested<\/a> Ayit\u00e9, the publication director of the privately owned L\u2019Alternative<\/em> newspaper, after he responded to a summons<\/a> to appear at the Research and Investigations Brigade (BIR), according to multiple<\/a> media<\/a> reports<\/a> and Ayit\u00e9\u2019s Facebook<\/a> posts<\/a>. The summons followed a complaint by two Togolese government ministers who are also pastors, Pius Agbetomey and Kodjo Ad\u00e9dz\u00e9, about a November 30 online broadcast<\/a> that featured all three of the journalists, according to the journalists\u2019 lawyer Elom Kpade and those reports. During the broadcast, which is part of a series called \u201cL\u2019Autre Journal\u201d on L\u2019Alternative<\/em>\u2019s YouTube channel with over 15,000 followers, the journalists discussed the two ministers\u2019 alleged corruption and manipulation of the Togo public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next day, on December 10, police summoned<\/a> Egah, the director of the privately owned Fraternit\u00e9<\/em> newspaper, and Kouwonou, the editor in chief of L\u2019Alternative<\/em>. Egah was then arrested and detained, while Kouwonou was released the same day under judicial supervision, the reports and posts<\/a> said. Ayit\u00e9 and Egah were accused of \u201ccontempt of authorities\u201d and \u201cpropagation of falsehoods,\u201d and Kouwonou was accused of complicity in these two crimes, Kpade told CPJ via messaging app. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere is absolutely no reason for Togolese journalists Ferdinand Ayit\u00e9 and Jo\u00ebl Egah to have been arrested or detained. Authorities should release them immediately and put an end to the legal harassment of Isidore Kouwonou,\u201d said Muthoki Mumo, CPJ\u2019s Sub-Saharan Africa Representative, from Nairobi. \u201cTogo\u2019s laws and law enforcement should be used to protect the press and ensure they can work freely, not leveraged in efforts to intimidate or criminalize journalism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anyone found guilty of \u201ccontempt against representatives of public authority\u201d may be punished with up to two years in prison and a fine of 1 million West African francs (US$1,722), according to Togo\u2019s penal code<\/a>. Publication of false news is punishable with up to two years in prison and a fine of 2 million West African francs (US$3,445). \u201cCoaction and complicity\u201d punishments aligned with those of the associated crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Press offenses are \u201cdecriminalized\u201d<\/a> in Togo and therefore Ayit\u00e9 should not have been detained, Kpade told CPJ hours after his arrest. Ferdinand\u2019s summons and arrest took place without any documentation of the complaint, which Kpade described as an abuse of authority in a recording<\/a> posted on YouTube by local media on December 10. \u201cOne cannot be arrested based simply on a phone call,\u201d Kpade said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGrievances brought against journalists in the exercise of their profession must be assessed with regard to the provisions of the Press Code and not the Penal Code,” said Isidore Akollor, the president of the Togolese Press Patronage, a local media association, in a December 11 statement that CPJ reviewed and was published by local media<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n State prosecutor Mawama Talaka told CPJ via messaging app that he declined to comment on the journalists\u2019 situation because \u201c[a]s a judicial authority, it does not seem appropriate to communicate with the press on an ongoing case.\u201d Text messages sent to Agbetomey and Ad\u00e9dz\u00e9 from CPJ requesting comment went unanswered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Togolese government has suspended L\u2019Alternative<\/em> twice in less than two years: in February 2021, when Ayit\u00e9 also faced legal harassment,<\/a> and in April 2020<\/a>, when the government suspended L\u2019Alternative,<\/em> Fraternit\u00e9<\/em>, and a third newspaper, Libert\u00e9<\/em>.Ayit\u00e9\u2019s phone number has also appeared on the Pegasus Project list of those allegedly selected for potential spyware surveillance<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n
\r\nThis content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists<\/a> and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.
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