Le Forum des éditeurs africains condamne ces atteintes graves à la liberté d’expression, exige la liberté des confrères et activistes détenus, et la réouverture immédiate de la radio et télévision LARABI.
Le Forum des éditeurs africains (TAEF) appelle les autorités nigériennes au respect des textes relatifs à la liberté d’expression et de la presse, particulièrement ceux relatifs à la déclaration de Table Mountain qu’elles ont signé.
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Mardi 27 mars 2018
(Version anglaise)
STATEMENT BY THE AFRICAN EDITORS FORUM ON THE CLOSURE OF TELEVISION AND RADIO LABARI
The African Editors Forum condemns with the utmost rigor the closure by Niger authorities of television and radio LABARI on Sunday, March 25, 2018.
The African Editors Forum informs that on Sunday, March 25, 2018, around 20h GMT, the police ordered the cessation of broadcast of the independent channel of Niger, LABARI (radio and TV), based in Niamey for refusing to provide registration of the evening paper that had just come to end.
The police demanded a recording of an intervention by LARWANA ABDOURAMANAN, a lawyer and civil society actor who had come to comment on the afternoon clashes between security forces and protesters in Niamey. It must be said that a coalition of civil society organizations has organized since three months public demonstrations in Niamey and several other cities in Niger to demand the revision of the 2018 finance law deemed antisocial. The municipal officials of Niamey, Maradi, Zinder and Tahoua had banned the demonstrations last Sunday, but the organizers have braved this prohibition because the basic law gives them this right.
Despite the arrest of the activist lawyer by police officers just after he left the studio, a police commissioner asked for the tape that the journalists refused to hand over because the procedure would require the CSC (Higher Council of Communication-regulator) who writes to the body to obtain a copy.
It was in the face of this legal refusal that he was ordered to close the TV and the radio. To this day elements of the National Guard block the entry of LABARI and no one can access the premises. The Director General of LABARI Ali Idrissa was referred tuesday to the prison of Filingué at 180kilometers of Niamey. He is one of the leaders of the protest.
The African Editors Forum condemns these serious attacks on freedom of expression, demands the freedom of imprisoned confreres and activists, and the immediate reopening of LARABI radio and television.
The Forum of African Publishers calls on Niger authorities to respect the texts relating to freedom of expression and the press, particularly those related to the Table Mountain declaration they signed.
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