SECTOR 1 committing libel and defamation and need to be protected: rather than being exposed to the rules that apply to the public. Growing demand for a comprehensive Media Act, which upholds press freedoms, protects journalists and separates press offences from penal offences, amongst other things, reflects a sense of dissatisfaction with the scope of legal guarantees of the right to freedom of expression, and particularly, freedom of the press. Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: ✓ ✓✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓✓✓ ✓ ✓✓ 4.3 (2008 = 3.4; 2011 = 5.0; 2014 = 4.9) 1.2 The right to freedom of expression is practised and citizens, including journalists, are asserting their rights without fear The extent to which citizens and journalists in Cameroon exercise freedom of expression comes across in the way the subject is framed and articulated. Panellists repeatedly used expressions such as ’looking over one’s shoulder’, ’minding your language’, and ’undercover security operatives’, when talking about the practice of freedom of expression. One panellist summed it up in one sentence, ’It is risky to speak the truth, particularly the bitter truth, in Cameroon.’ The fear to speak up persists even though avenues for citizens to express themselves have increased over the last few years. Internet penetration has increased from about 5% to over 20% between 2012 and 2017, along with an explosion in the use of social media. At the same time, the government has increased its capabilities to silence critical voices. A good example is the anti-terrorism law which was passed in 2014. Critics have argued that the law uses terrorism as a pretext to suppress dissent and persecute journalists and activists. In 2017, Journalist Ahmed Aba was sentenced to ten years in jail, after a military court found him guilty of withholding information from authorities that jeopardised state security and for laundering money from terrorism. Critics said the charges were ‘trumped’ and criticised the use of military courts to try civilians. Aba’s case was the first time Cameroon persecuted someone for ’non-denunciation’, a more than 50-year-old provision of the penal code. In what appears to be a new trend, three other journalists charged with 11 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER CAMEROON 2018