SECTOR 1

defunct and succeeded by the SISE (Department of State Inelligence
and Security) ;
•

The Law of Crimes against State Security: this law was approved eight
days after the approval of the Press Law, setting out in its Article 22
that the Defamation of the PR, Ministers, Supreme Court Judges and
even general secretaries of political parties is considered to be a crime
agasint State security, which carries a penalty of between one and two
years in prison ;

•

The Law of Public Probity: not specifically intended for the media,
but for the promotion of government transparency, this legal act,
at least potentially, has proved to be problematic for freedom of the
press, since it extends the range of those who are liable, in a certain
media company, for press crimes. For the rest, number 3 of Article 69
of the Law of Public Probity states that : “In the event that it is not
known who is directly responsible for the publication mentioned in the
previous number [Part II of the tax return and assets, which is that it
contains items which allow for rigorous assessment of the assets and
income of the declarant and his spouse, or the person with whom he
lives as such, minor children and legal dependents], then the Director
or Chairman of the Board of Directors of the media body is personally
implicated in terms of the same number”;

•

The Press Law while it is seen as a law which is generally compatible
with basic democratic values, contains a standard which is at least
problematic, by undermining the very content of the presumption
of innocence, which right is constitutionally guaranteed. Number
4 of Article 47 of the Press Law then reads that “no proof of the
accuracy of facts is required if the offender is the President of the
Republic or, reciprocally, a foreign Head of State or his representative
in Mozambique”. In fact, no PR or equivalent has resorted to this
provision in the more than two decades that the Law has been in
effect, but the simple fact that it is provided for , by omission, could
cause pressure for journalists.

Even though many of these laws and/or articles of laws are constitutionally clearly
doubtful, although they have not formally been removed from the legal system,
they seem to be blocking freedom of the press. The fact that the Law on the Right
to Information, approved by the AR on November 26 2014 states, in its final and
temporary provisions, that all laws which contradict it are revoked, this is good
news, although this will not happen automatically.

AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER MOZAMBIQUE 2014

71

Select target paragraph3