Press: DW Africa correspondent detained in Dondo, Mozambique, for a month

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Press: DW Africa correspondent detained in Dondo, Mozambique, for a month

12:19 CAT | 09 Nov 2016

DW / File photo

Arcénio Sebastião, a DW Africa correspondent in Beira, Mozambique, has been in detention in the Dondo district of Sofala province about 30 km from Beira City for 30 days now, accused of libel and defamation against a police officer.

Contacted by DW Africa, the District Police Command of the Republic of Mozambique confirmed that the journalist was detained on October 10, but declined to make any statement about the case, saying it was in the hands of the Dondo District Court.

The Southern African Media Institute in Mozambique (MISA), a non-governmental organization that promotes press freedom and freedom of expression, says that this is the first time someone has been detained in the country on charges of defamation and has remained in prison.

Mosambik Angriff auf Bus (DW/A. Sebastião) — Arcenio Sebastiao reporting attacks on vehicles in National Road 1 on March 2016

MISA raising bail money

“We contacted Arcénio, who told us that he was detained when he approached a police officer in the Dondo district. When we contacted the authorities, we were informed that he was arrested in the act of committing a crime,” said Rodrigues, Sofala MISA representative.

“It is very strange,” Luís says. “This whole process has gone ‘non-normal’ from our point of view. It was all very fast. The arrest was legalized and bail of 20,000 meticais was set.”

“We are working to pay this deposit, mobilizing funds through MISA, and we have already contacted a lawyer. He will probably get out on Wednesday (9.11)” he added.

Detailed testimony only after release from jail

The details of the detention, according to Rodrigues Luís, are still unclear, and MISA is waiting for the lawyer, Joaquim Tesoura, to secure the DW Africa correspondent’s release.

Rodrigues said that whenever they succeeded in contacting Sebastião, there was somebody listening in, so the full version of the case would probably only be known when the journalist was released.

Commenting on Sebastião’s statement that he “was detained when he was approaching a police officer”, Luis said: “He was probably just doing his job, because there’s a police station there where trucks from other countries gain access to the port of Beira. It’s almost an international check-point.”

The MISA representative believes that the journalist was working “because his tape recorder and camera were confiscated at the time of the arrest”.

MISA is waiting for the lawyer assigned to the case to assess the legality of the correspondent’s imprisonment. According to Luís, there are already many in the region who describe the environment as “troubled” for media professionals. “Among journalists, it’s common ground that this attitude is aimed at frustrating the practice of professional journalism.”

“But we can not generalize, because we have never had a case in Mozambique of a journalist detained for defamation,” says Rodrigues Luís. “Usually, the person pays a fine and then responds through the process, at liberty.”

Source: Deutsche Welle