By Joseph Lamin Kamara
Sierra Leone’s media regulatory body, the Independent Media Commission (IMC), has challenged a High Court ruling in a matter between the commission and the Independent Observer Newspaper.
Justice Allan Halloway delivered his ruling on Friday in Freetown, noting that the IMC had been accurate in the procedures it used in dealing with the matter before the case was taken to court by the newspaper’s lawyer and that the commission had not violated the principles of natural justice in the matter.
But IMC argues that “the ruling neither stated that the procedures it used were wrong, nor stated that the publication was ethical.”
This is IMC’s initial reaction to the ruling, though it said in a statement on Monday that it had not yet received an official copy of it from its lawyer.
The commission had slammed a total fine of Le16, 500, 000 on Independent Observer for “breach of provisions” in the IMC Act of 2000 and the amended Act of 2007, in a publication on February 6, this year.
“The said publication breached several provisions: Accuracy principle, a fine of Le 1,000,000 (One Million Leones), Copyright, a fine of Le 500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand Leones), Privacy, a fine of Le 5,000,000 (Five Million Leones), Indecency and Pornographic Materials, a fine Le 5,000,000 (Five Million Leones) and publishing details of a person’s…individual lifestyle, or of any physical or mental disability unless these are directly relevant to the story, a fine of Le 5,000,000 (Five Million Leones),” says IMC in the Monday press statement.
Justice Holloway stated that the IMC fines were “excessive” and needed to be “reviewed.”
However, the “Commission noted that the last three breaches have no stipulated fines in the Code of Practice, and therefore utilized provisions in both the IMC Act of 2000 as amended in 2007 (Section 36 (3) and the IMC Code of Practice of 2007 (principle 31, p. 17) in levying the fines. The provision states that ‘Where no penalty is prescribed by or under this Act for any complaints inquired into by the Commission, the Commission may censure or impose a fine not exceeding Le 5,000,000 (Five Million Leones). Failure by the newspaper or magazine to pay the imposed fine shall lead to the suspension of the publication until the fine is paid.”
The IMC defends that the fines “are in conformity with the law” and it said it would react to the ruling further “after studying” it.
Politico 10/06/15
