Accra, Ghana - US-based media watchdog, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), has condemned the detention of a Cameroonian journalist for asking questions about arrests of two people and demanded his immediate release. In a statement received by PANA in Accra on Saturday, CPJ said using a vague criminal code provision allowing authorities to detain individuals deemed a threat to public order, a provincial governor in Cameroon threw a journalist in prison on Wednesday for inquiring about the arrests of two employees of a state-run palm oil company. The local press union Network of Journalists of The North said Adamawa Governor Enow Abraham Egbe ordered a five-day detention of the journalist, Lamissia Adoularc, a correspondent for the daily Le Jour to “ensure the protection of the journalist.”

“Jailing a journalist for asking a question and then pretending that the detention is for the reporter’s own safety is beyond belief,” said CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita.

“The governor of Adamawa Region must order the release of Lamissia Adoularc immediately. We hold him responsible for our colleague’s welfare.”

The statement said Adoularc was being held without charge at the central prison in the northeast town of Ngaoundéré, Denis Nkwebo, the paper’s editor-in-chief, told CPJ. The governor did not explain why the journalist would need protection.

It said agents with the intelligence bureau, DGRE, took Adoular into custody after he had made routine inquiries at the bureau about the arrests of two employees of Pamol Plantations Limited, a grower of oil palm trees, according to local journalists.

DGRE agents intercepted the two employees as they transported 150 youths from the Extreme North province to work in Pamol’s plantations in Southwest province, according to the same sources.

DGRE agents briefly detained the Pamol employees on accusations of “fomenting a rebellion against the government”.

CPJ said Adoular was held under “administrative detention,” an exceptional power of arrest given to local authorities to address emergency situations such as threats to public order or organised crime, Cameroonian lawyer Jean-Marie Nouga told CPJ. The vague wording of the provision and the absence of any check could lead to abusive interpretation, he said.

CPJ said DGRE had been involved in abusive detentions of journalists and had been accused of engaging in torture.

CPJ said nervous about the potential for protests similar to those in North Africa and the Middle East, Cameroonian authorities banned a SMS-to-Twitter service last month.

Pana 02/04/2011