Court orders release of journo
2009-10-27 09:49
Niamey - The appeals court in Niger on Monday ordered the immediate release of an editor of a satirical paper weeks before completing his three-month jail term, a local media lobby group said.
Abdoulaye Tiemogo, editor of the weekly Le Canard Dechaine, was jailed mid-August.
"Tiemogo having served more than two months in prison is now free and should be out of prison today," chairman of the Association of Editors of Independent Media in Niger (ANEPI), Boubacar Diallo, said.
He was convicted of "casting discredit on a judicial ruling" following a comment he made on a private television on an international arrest warrant for exiled former prime minister Hama Amadou on corruption charges.
He then appealed against the conviction.
The Paris-based global watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) in its latest worldwide press freedom index, ranks Niger number 139 out of 175 countries, a drop of nine places from last year.
- SAPA