1, October 2024
Kingsley Njoka’s absurd 10-year prison sentence: ongoing persecution of Anglophone journalists 0
Barely a month after journalist Amadou Vamoulké was sentenced to 20 years in prison, freelance reporter Kingsley Fumunyuy Njoka, who has been in pre-trial detention for over four years, was sentenced to ten years in prison for “secession and complicity with armed gangs”. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the conviction and outrageous charges, which testify to the ongoing persecution of journalists in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions.
On 24 September, Cameroon suffered yet another attack on press freedom: freelance journalist Kingsley Fumunyuy Njoka was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment by the Yaoundé military court for “secession and complicity with armed gangs”. His crime? Authoring reports published in 2020 on the armed conflict raging in the northwest of the country.
Arrested without a warrant on 15 May 2020 at his home in Douala, the country’s economic capital, by three members of the Bonabéri research brigade, Njoka has been held in pre-trial detention at the Kondengui Central Prison in the Yaoundé region ever since. Before his arrest, Njoka regularly published reports critical of the authorities, notably working for the English-language media outlet Canal 2 English on the “Anglophone crisis”, an armed conflict in the English-speaking zones of western Cameroon between the military and separatists that has claimed 6,000 lives since 2017.
One of Njoka’s lawyers, Amungwa Tanyi Nicodemus, a former journalist who worked with Njoka, told RSF this was an “unfair trial, in violation of Cameroonian laws and international law,” stressing that “the time limit for detention without trial, 18 months maximum in this kind of case, was not respected at all.” Nicodemus appealed against this conviction on 27 September.
“This is the second prison sentence for a journalist in less than a month — following that of Amadou Vamoulké — and illustrates how Cameroon is sinking deeper into its crackdown against the right to inform, which has been underway for several years. The case of Kingsley Njoka, who was illegally held in pre-trial detention for four years before being arbitrarily sentenced, reveals the fate awaiting journalists reporting on the Anglophone crisis. His situation is not unlike that of his colleague Samuel Wazizi, who was also arrested for covering the crisis and died in custody in 2019. Kingsley Njoka’s wrongful conviction on baseless charges must be overturned and he must be released immediately.”
Barely a month earlier, the former Director General of the Cameroon Radio and Television (CRTV), Amadou Vamoulké, was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment for “embezzlement of public funds”, after 178 successive postponements of his trial. He had already been condemned to 12 years’ imprisonment for a similar case in December 2022, after more than seven years in pre-trial detention. He will therefore have to serve a total of 32 years in prison, which is inexcusable treatment of a journalist renowned for his professionalism and integrity.
Anglophone journalist Samuel Wazizi was also arrested and accused of complicity with secessionists in 2019. He died in custody under troubling conditions. According to the official statement, which was not given until ten months later, the journalist died due to illness a mere fifteen days after his arrest, despite being in perfect health – a story that is difficult to believe.
To date, four journalists have been unjustly convicted in Cameroon: Dimitri Wassouom Tchatchoua was sentenced to two years in prison in April 2023 for “publishing false information” electronically, and Thomas Awah Junior, correspondent in Cameroon’s northwest region for Afrik 2 Radio, was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2018 for multiple charges, including “secession”, “insurrection”, “spreading false news”.
Cameroon ranks 130th out of 180 countries in the RSF’s 2024 World Press Freedom Index.
Culled from RSF
2, October 2024
Pope Francis opens new debates on Catholic Church future 0
The General Assembly of the Synod, comprising 368 religious and lay people — including women — from around 100 countries, will hold closed-door debates on potential reforms at the Vatican until October 27.
The synod had already gathered for a month-long assembly in October 2023, after a three-year worldwide consultation among Catholics organised by Francis to confront challenges facing the 2,000-year-old Church.
The 87-year-old Argentine pontiff will have the final say on any doctrinal changes they recommend.
Last year, the assembly addressed themes as varied as attitudes to LGBTQ people, polygamy, the ordination of married men and the fight against the sexual abuse of children by priests.
Although the body resisted pressure to allow the ordination of female priests, calls continue for more visibility and space for women in an institution still run by men.
No decisions are expected any time soon, with the most sensitive issues entrusted to working groups that will deliver their conclusions in June 2025.
Francis launched the Assembly with a mass in St Peter’s Square, where he urged participants to enter the discussions with an open mind.
“Let us be careful not to see our contributions as points to defend at all costs or agendas to be imposed,” he said.
He added that the meeting was “not a parliamentary assembly, but rather a place of listening in communion”.
On Tuesday evening, Francis held a “penitential” vigil attended by around 2,5000 people in St Peter’s Basilica, during which he again asked forgiveness and expressed his “shame” for the abuse by priests that has overshadowed the Church’s work across the world.
People at the vigil heard from a South African former choirboy who was assaulted by a priest when he was just 11, and who denounced a lack of transparency and responsibility in and by the Church that he said had shaken the faith of millions of people.
“We are here as beggars of the Father’s mercy, asking for forgiveness,” Francis said.
“How could we be credible in our mission if we do not acknowledge our mistakes and stoop to heal the wounds we have caused by our sins?” he added.
Source: AFP