• ALERT Date: May 29, 2007 Persons: Media in Mozambique Violation: Legislation (threatening) All of the main Mozambican journalists’ associations have urged President Armando Guebuza not to promulgate a bill passed by the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, earlier this month which will ban any broadcasting of trials. The bill concerns the organisation of the country’s courts, and most of it is uncontroversial, dealing with such matters as expanding the powers of district courts, and introducing a new layer of intermediate appeals courts. But Article 12 puts severe limitations on press coverage of the courts. The first clause in the article states that trials are public - “unless the law or the court decides they should be held without publicity to safeguard the dignity of persons and public order, or when other powerful reasons occur”. The second clause imposes a blanket ban on “the production and public transmission of images and sound from trials”. So no cameras or microphones in courtrooms - this is justified by a mention of “safeguarding the material truth and the legally protected interests and rights of those involved in the cases”. This ban is not just on live broadcasts, but on any broadcasts at any time. The three media organisations point out that the Constitution puts much narrower limits on the judges’ discretion to keep the press out of their courtrooms. Article 65 of the Constitution states “Criminal trials are public, except when safeguarding personal, family, social or moral intimacy, or powerful reasons of the safety of the hearing or of public order advise the exclusion or restriction of publicity”. The mention of intimacy here clearly refers to sexual offences, and there is no mention of “safeguarding the dignity of persons”, much less “other powerful reasons”. Furthermore, Article 48 of the Constitution states that all citizens have the right to information. The media organisations believe that excluding radio and television from the courts denies citizens that right. In their letter to Guebuza, the three organisations argue that Article 12 of the law on the courts “puts serious obstacles in the way of the media’s job of explaining matters to public opinion, as a fundamental condition for the existence of an open and democratic society”. • ALERT Date: April 25, 2007 Persons: Citizens of Mozambique, media in Mozambique Violation: Censored MISA Mozambique has condemned the decision by the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, to discuss a report from its Petitions Commission behind closed doors. Exactly as in 2006, the press and public were thrown out of the last sitting. The debate continued with the deputies talking to themselves, out of earshot of the nation. The ruling Frelimo Party used its majority to ensure a closed session while the opposition argued, unsuccessfully, that since there was nothing to hide, the press should be allowed to cover the debate. Frelimo based its decision on article 41 of the Constitution, which states that citizens have the right to their “honour, good name, reputation, the defence of their public image, and their privacy”. • ALERT Date: April 15, 2007 Persons: Faisca newspaper Violation: Legislation Libel suits should not be used by the courts as a covert form of censorship, MISA MozamSo This Is Democracy? 2007 -58- Media Institute of Southern Africa