Journalists’ meeting at the Rwanda Media Commission. They say there were
not consulted about the revisions to the media law. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Rwandan media has raised concern about the government’s move to
revise the media law, without involving the industry in the
decision-making process.
The Rwanda Journalists
Association says the recommendations they gave to the Law Reform
Commission last year, including the decriminalising defamation, were
ignored.
“The Law Reform Commission did not ask for
our contribution but we still sent our input, including the importance
of decriminalising defamation.
However, our
recommendations were ignored,” said Gonza Muganwa, the executive
secretary of the Rwanda Journalists Association (ARJ).
He
added that although criminal defamation is not limited to the media
alone, its impact would mostly be felt by investigative journalists who
would now be more restrained out of fear of being jailed.
Harsher sentence
The
proposed penalties for defamation in the draft law are harsher with a
maximum sentence of three years compared with the previous one year.
Sources
at the Rwanda Governance Board (RGB), which overseas media development
in the country, said they were not aware of any engagements between the
board and the Law Reform Commission
RGB chief executive
Anastase Shyaka was not available for comment by press time, neither
were the Minister for Justice Johnston Busingye and State Minister for
Constitutional and Legal Affairs Evode Uwizeyimana.
Last week, media groups were planning to present a petition to parliament against passing the new law in its current form.
The
Bill introduces a new offence of “insults or defamation against the
president,” which attracts five to seven years in prison and fines
ranging between Rwf5 million ($5,865) and Rwf7 million ($8,211).
Drawing
a cartoon that “humiliates” public officials can also attract a jail
term of up to two years. Editing pictures without stating that they are
edited is also a criminal offence under article 165 and can lead to
imprisonment of up to one year and a fine not exceeding Rwf1 million
($1,173).
Related stories:
No comments :
Post a Comment