Reporters Without Borders is worried by the deteriorating environment for the media in Rwanda in recent weeks. In the past few weeks, a journalist has been arrested, at least two others have fled abroad, and a news website has been hacked. While apparently not linked, these events have helped to fuel a climate of fear and self-censorship among media personnel.
Cassien Ntamuhanga, a journalist at the Christian radio station Amazing Grace, appeared at a trial hearing in Kigali on 24 April on charges of endangering state security, complicity in terrorism, and treason. Three other defendants including the very popular singer, Kizito Mihigo, appeared with him in court.
Colleagues say Ntamuhanga never had any problems until he was reported missing on 7 April. The police announced on 14 April that he was in their custody without saying where or when he was arrested, leading the Rwanda Media Commission to assume he was held illegally from 7 to 14 April.
Nonetheless, the RMC subsequently reported on 17 April that his arrest was not linked to his work as a journalist. The prosecutor’s office asked the court to keep Ntamuhura and the other defendants in detention until another hearing scheduled for today.
The US State Department has asked the Rwandan authorities to respect media freedom and ensure that Ntamuhanga, Mihigo and the other defendants get “minimum fair trial guarantees.” It also stressed the important of “allowing for freedom of expression in a democratic society.”
Reporters Without Borders has meanwhile learned that at least two other journalists have had to flee the country in recent weeks.
Stanley Gatera, the editor of the independent news website Umusingi, was arrested on April 17 on charges of attempted extortion. According to the information obtained by Reporters Without Borders, he was in a café when a person approached him and slipped an envelope in his pocket, whereupon three plainclothes policemen immediately arrested him and took him to the police station. […]
