The Attorney General of Guinea Bissau has ordered the cancellation of a scheduled popular radio programme and summoned the Director General of the state broadcaster Radio Guinée Bissau (RGB) to appear at the Ministry of Justice for “a working meeting” on December 8, 2015.
A subpoena dated on December 4, signed by the Attorney General, António Sedja Man, summoned Francisco Muniro Conte and called off the programme at the same time.
According to the MFWA correspondent, the aborted programme is a weekly platform which discusses important issues affecting the country.
The correspondent reported that there was angry reaction to the incident. The president of the Journalists’ Union of Guinea-Bissau, Mamadu Cande strongly condemned the decision and warned that both internal and external mechanisms will be employed to resist the “attempt to silence an organ of information ”.
The media regulatory body in the country, the National Council for Social Communication (Conseil National de la Communication Sociale (CNCS), also condemned the Attorney General’s action, adding that he “has no right to suspend any media programme”.
The MFWA joins the media in Guinea Bissau to condemn this act of interference in the work of the media and harrasment of a media professional. We call on the authorities in the country to ensure that Muniro Conte’s freedoms are not violated by the Attorney General of of the Republic.
