SECTOR 1 1.3 There are no laws or parts of laws restricting freedom of expression such as excessive official secret, libel acts, legal requirements that restrict the entry into the journalistic profession or laws that unreasonably interfere with the functions of media MISA-Lesotho has identified 14 laws that impact on media freedoms and freedom of expression. One of these laws included the Penal Code on Criminal Defamation (Section 104), which was recently repealed. In May 2018, three judges in the high court’s constitutional division found that criminal defamation, long used as a threat against journalists and the media, was unconstitutional. The case was brought to the court by Basildon Peta, the owner and publisher of the Lesotho Times, after he was charged with the offence of criminal defamation following the newspaper’s 2016 publication of a satirical column (The Scrutator) relating to the then Lieutenant General of the LDF, Tlali Kamoli. Beyond the now-repealed criminal defamation law, Lesotho has several other laws that impinge on media freedom and freedom of expression, as summarised below: The Printing and Publishing Act of 1967: Section 10 (1) of the Printing and Publishing Act makes it an offence to import, print, publish, sell, offer for sale, distribute, or reproduce a statement which poses a danger to, among others, ‘public safety’ and ‘public order’. This can be broadly interpreted. The Official Secrets Act of 1967: Section 4 of the Official Secrets Act makes it an offence for any person to communicate any information regarding a prohibited place or that is in contravention of the Official Secrets Act and if found guilty, such person is liable to a period of imprisonment. The Internal Security (General) Act of 1984: Section 34 of the Internal Security Act makes it an offence to, among others, publish words that might reasonably be expected to result in the commission of public violence and the offence is punishable by a fine, imprisonment or both. The Sedition Proclamation 44 of 1938: The Sedition Proclamation makes it an offence to print, publish, sell, distribute or import any seditious publication: the offence is punishable by a fine, a period of imprisonment or both. The definition of sedition is very broad and includes inciting ’disaffection against the Government’ and promoting ‘feelings of ill-will and hostility’ between different classes of the population. The Obscene Publications Act of 2012: The right of privacy law in the constitution prohibits the operations of the media, in that contradictions and tensions exist between the right to privacy and the right of dignity. There is a need for legislation to resolve this tension. 12 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER LESOTHO 2018