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Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2004 7:54 PM
Subject: [unioNews] UGANDA: Lawyers and civil rights groups welcome court ruling on journalists
Lawyers and civil rights groups welcome court ruling on journalists
KAMPALA, 12 February (IRIN) - Lawyers and civil rights activists have welcomed the declaration by the Supreme Court that section 50 of the penal code prohibiting "the publication of false news" is a constraint on freedom of expression, which is enshrined in the constitution and should therefore be struck out.
But lawyers have warned that the ruling is "only the beginning", as there are many other sections of the penal code Which "violate basic press freedoms" still being upheld.
"Significant as the ruling is, now is not the time for journalists to be popping the champagne corks. There are other articles of the code which must also be tackled. It's up to journalists' associations and civil rights movements to nullify all offending sections," Richard Omongole, one of them, told IRIN.
Section 50 of the code, which states that "any person who publishes a false statement, rumour or report likely to cause fear or alarm to the public is guilty of a criminal offence", was challenged in a constitutional petition in 1997 by the former managing editor of the independent daily The Monitor, Charles Obango-Obbo, and a senior Monitor reporter, Andrew Mwenda.
The petition was lodged after they were charged over a story published in October 1997, which alleged that the late former president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Laurent-Desire Kabila, had paid Uganda with gold mining concessions for its support of his coup to oust President Mobutu Sese Seko in 1996.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court, presided over by Justice Joseph Mulenga, ruled in a unanimous judgement that the section must be scrapped because the use of the words "likely to cause" made it a matter of speculation whether or not the law had been broken.
"This is a welcome move. The whole issue of ‘publishing false news’ in Uganda is quite vague. Freedom of expression is a fundamental right in Uganda. We asking the government to drop all these charges brought against journalists under laws restricting press freedom. We are also asking the government to repeal those laws," Sheila Keetharuth of the human rights group, Amnesty International, told IRIN.
Commenting, Omongole said: "It is clear that the spirit of the law is to enable the security agents to use intimidation against journalists whom they find troublesome. It was deliberately ambiguous, so anything can count as an excuse to arrest or harass a journalist. By the time the courts come in, much harm could already have been done on very flimsy grounds."
He noted, however, that other sections of the penal code – from 33 to 53 – had similar problems. One law, entitled "The delivery of prohibited publications", makes it illegal to sell, import or deliver a publication deemed illegal.
Lawyers said the repeal of section 50 would not affect another controversial spat between the government and journalists from The Monitor concerning a report published in October 2002 that a helicopter gunship in northern Uganda had been shot down by Lord’s Resistance Army rebels. This is because the law under which the journalists are being charged is section 39 prohibiting the publication of military information "likely" to prejudice military operations or national security.
[ENDS]
U N I T E D N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN)
Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2004
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