Uganda’s Supreme Court highest judges have struck off the country’s statutes a law oppressive to the media, saying it ”puts the press and other media in a dilemma” and determines what they should publish.
”The section puts the press and other media in a dilemma as to whether to publish and face punishment or not to publish and withhold the information from the public,” Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki said in a ruling delivered on Wednesday but made available to the media only on Thursday.
The ruling comes after editors of the local daily Monitor newspaper were charged with publishing what the state said was false news.
The paper’s attorney, James Nangwala, confirmed the ruling.
At issue was the paper’s reproduction of a report by The Indian Ocean Newsletter suggesting that the Democratic Republic of Congo paid Uganda in gold for its help in the war against former dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.
The story was reproduced under a banner headline, ”Kabila paid Uganda in gold”.
The editors were acquitted of the charges, but decided to challenge the constitutionality of the law, losing the case before the Constitutional Court before they appealed to the Supreme Court.
In the lead judgement, Justice Joseph Mulenga ruled that the section in the Penal Code was inconsistent with the country’s Constitution, which guarantees the right of expression, including the freedom of the press.
”Any person who publishes a false statement, rumour or report which is likely to cause fear or alarm to the public is guilty of criminal offence,” Section 50 of the code states.
”In this regard, Section 50 does not pass the first test of validity,” Mulenga said adding: ”I declare that it is void.”
Journalists have been in and out of prison on charges of publishing of what the state always termed as publication of false news.
The Supreme Court ruled that by using the words ”likely to cause”, the section deals with speculation rather than reality. — Sapa-AFP