Rwandan Journalists Jailed

Two Rwandan journalists, Agnes Nkusi Uwimana, and Saidati Mukakibibi have been sentenced to jail over opinion pieces they wrote ahead of the August 2010 presidential elections.
Agnes Nkusi Uwimana, editor of the private Kinyarwanda tabloid newspaper, Umurabyo, was sentenced to 17 years. Her deputy editor, Saidati Mukakibibi, was sentenced to 7 years.

Agnes Nkusi Uwimana was found guilty of threatening state security, genocide ideology, divisionism and defamation. Saidati Mukakibibi was found guilty of threatening state security.
The pair was prosecuted over several articles they had written in which they criticized government policies and made corruption allegations against senior government officials, including President Kagame.
Among several articles, the judge referred to one saying some Rwandans were unhappy with the country's rulers. Prosecutors said this was "meant to stir [up] hatred and fury against the government".
The judge cited several other offending articles including one which criticised the Gacaca traditional community courts set up to deal with 1994 genocide cases and others criticising Rwanda's reconciliation process.

“Today’s verdict marks yet another blow to freedom of expression and opinion in Rwanda”, said Amnesty International’s Africa Programme Director, Erwin van der Borght. “The government has not adequately demonstrated how the articles could be construed as a threat to national security or were intended, or likely, to incite violence” He added.
Rwandan government defends its tough media laws, pointing to the role of "hate media" ahead of the genocide.

Before prosecution, Uwimana was called before Rwanda’s Media High Council, a government-aligned media regulatory body, to respond to allegations that her articles were defamatory.
In 2007, Uwimana served a one-year sentence after being convicted of divisionism and defamation. The prosecution was based on an article comparing the current Rwandan administration to the government of former President Habyarimana. Uwimana said she accepted some of her articles may have lacked professionalism.
“Journalists must be free to criticize public officials and policies without fear of criminal sanctions for defamation”, said Erwin van der Borght. “Rwandan officials should respond to criticism, rather than try to stamp it out”.
Vague laws on “genocide ideology” and “sectarianism” laws were introduced in Rwanda after the 1994 genocide, to restrict speech that could promote hatred.
The law prohibits hate speech, but also criminalizes legitimate criticism of the government.
The Rwandan government expressed commitment in April 2010 to review the “genocide ideology” law.

The Rwandan government clamped down on critics before the August 2010 presidential elections. They used regulatory sanctions, restrictive laws and criminal defamation cases to close down media outlets critical of the government. Some leading editors and journalists fled Rwanda after facing repeated threats.

Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right, guaranteed by a number of international conventions.
Minimal impairment of the enjoyment of this right is permitted only in special circumstances and must be acceptable and demonstrably justifiable in a free and democratic society.
President Paul Kagame came to power in 1994, ending the genocide in which some 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered.