On Thursday, Amnesty International urged the Guinean government to drop charges against 13 journalists arrested following their participation in peaceful demonstrations on October 16th. These reporters were advocating for the abolition of restrictions on access to certain news websites in the country.
Subsequent to the protests, the journalists were arrested and charged with “unlawful assembly on a public highway”. They later appeared before the Court of First Instance in Kaloum, Conakry.
In a statement, Amnesty International expressed their concern regarding the increasing restrictions on rights of peaceful assembly and free expression within the country. The quote from the report reads: “This latest crackdown on a rally bears witness to the regime’s implacable determination to enforce its decision of 13 May 2022 banning all rallies and to silence the individuals and media outlets that are denouncing the repeated attacks on the rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.”
Notably, the Guinean government had received widespread criticism after implementing a ban on access to social media and news websites in May 2022 following a march orchestrated by the Forces Vives de Guinée. These demonstrations were primarily an opposition to the ruling military junta in Guinea.
Since mid-August, the country’s popular news website Guinée Matin was completely offline for a period before being restored in late August. The website’s downtime was not due to technical glitches as per the site’s manager. The founder and Editor of Guinée Matin, Nohou Baldé, expressed concerns about the potential shutdown of other news sites as well.
Guinea’s Minister of Posts, Telecommunications, and Digital Economy, Ousmane Gaoual Diallo denied any government involvement in the outage. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) managed to restore access to Guinée Matin by creating a mirror site, allowing individuals to access critical information.
In addition to Amnesty International, press organizations such as AGUIPEL, URTELGUI, REMIGUI, and UPLG have also issued a unified statement. They have condemned the arbitrary arrests and are demanding that the government promptly release the incarcerated journalists.
Original article can be found at Jurist.