Her Excellency Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
President of Liberia
Monrovia, Liberia
c/o H.E. Permanent Representative to UN
Email: liberia@un.int

15 March 2007

Your Excellency,

We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 102 countries, to express our serious concern at the closure of The Independent newspaper and intimidation of its publisher Sam Dean.

According to reports, on 20 February The Independent published explicit photographs of Presidential Affairs Minister Willis Knuckles engaged in sexual acts with two women. Following publication of the photographs, Mr Knuckles resigned and apologised. Solicitor-General Tiawan Gongloe and Colonel Stephen Zoegazor, however, declared Mr Dean a “wanted man and fugitive” and the government began what appears to be a campaign of harassment against the newspaper and Mr Dean.

On 27 February the government revoked the newspaper’s publishing licence for one year and the police closed its offices. At a press conference the Information Minister also told the business community not to do business with the paper. According to reports, after being harassed by police and receiving death threats, Mr Dean has gone into hiding.

While the publication of sexually explicit photos is controversial, the investigation of public officials is a legitimate and essential responsibility of newspapers. We respectfully remind you that closing The Independent and harassing Mr Dean constitutes a clear breach of the right to freedom of expression, which is guaranteed by numerous international conventions, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 19 of the Declaration states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media, regardless of frontiers.”

We respectfully call on you to lift the arbitrary ban on The Independent and end the harassment of Mr Dean. We urge you to ensure that in future your country fully respects international standards of freedom of expression.

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Gavin O’Reilly
President
World Association of Newspapers

George Brock
President
World Editors Forum

WAN is the global organization for the newspaper industry, with formal representative status at the United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe. The organization groups 18,000 newspapers in 102 countries, 11 news agencies and nine regional and world-wide press groups. WAN is non-governmental and non-profit.

cc Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism Lawrence Bropleh
Minister of Justice Frances Johnson-Morris

UPDATE on this case http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view...