According to the lawyer for two journalists in hiding in Togo, they were given a three-year prison term for insulting the government.
Rights organisations frequently accuse the tiny West African nation of repressing the media and opposition figures since President Faure Gnassingbe took office in 2005.
The director and editor of the biweekly publication l’Alternative, Ferdinand Ayite, and Kokou Kouwonou, also known as Isidore Kouwonou, were charged in December 2021 with public disobedience and spreading rumours on social media.
It happened as a result of complaints made about a YouTube broadcast by the ministers of justice, Pius Kokouvi Agbetomey, and commerce, Kodjo Adedze.
According to their attorney, Elom Kpade, a court in the nation’s capital, Lome, “sentenced Ferdinand Ayite and Isidore Kouwonou to three years in prison and handed down a $4,900 fine to each” on Wednesday.
He added, “An international arrest warrant has been issued against them,” and said he would talk to his clients about a potential appeal.
In December 2021, Ayite spent a brief period of time in jail along with another journalist. He is hiding now, along with Kouwonou.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, a U.S. organisation that supports press freedom, has condemned the situation.
According to CPJ’s Africa programme coordinator Angela Quintal, the Togolese government should stop immediately harassing journalists Ferdinand Ayite and Isidore Kouwonou with legal action.
“Journalistic commentary on matters of public interest should never be made illegal, and the summonses issued to these journalists should be dropped immediately.”
