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Douala-based newspaper publisher held for past two days

Reporters Without Borders condemns the detention of journalist Lewis Medjo for the past two days in the western city of Douala. The publisher of the Douala-based Détente Libre weekly, Medjo was arrested by the head of the local plain-clothes police as he left a dinner in a Douala hotel on the evening of 22 September.

"This journalist has no place being in police custody and should be released," Reporters Without Borders said. "Like any citizen, Medjo, as a newspaper publisher, may well have a case to answer as regards what his newspaper published. But Cameroonian law does not offer a fair and appropriate way of dealing with this kind of problem, preferring police raids carried out at the behest of powerful men."

Medjo was arrested by provincial plain-clothes police chief Vincent Minkoa Nga outside the Akwa Palace Hotel at around 11 p.m., after attending a dinner organised by the central government's representative for Douala urban community. He was taken to plain-clothes police headquarters in Douala and is still being held there.

Local journalists told Reporters Without Borders they thought Medjo would be charged with publishing false information. He was reportedly questioned about two articles in the newspaper's 14 August issue. One claimed that President Paul Biya was going to force supreme court president Dipanda Mouelle, a loyal ally, to stand down next year.

The other article claimed that the head of the national police criminal investigation department, Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo'o, had seized the passport of wealthy businessman Victor Fotso's son and, through an intermediary, was trying to get Fotso to pay a large sum of money for its return.

Topics: Freedom of speech, Freedom of information, Freedom of expression,