The International Press Institute (IPI) has thrown its support behind the Nation Publishing Company and wants an end put to the criminal charges brought against the publisher, editor-in-chief and news editor of the newspaper.
Nearly two weeks ago, police charged Publisher Vivian-Anne Gittens, Editor-in-Chief Roy Morris and News Editor Sanka Price with publishing an alleged indecent photograph of two minors in connection with a story about sexual activity in a secondary school.
The three were released after posting $5 000 bail each. They are to reappear in court on March 11. They face up to five years in prison if convicted of the charges.
“While the tactfulness of the photograph has been called into question by some, we unequivocally support The Nation’s right and, I dare say, its duty, to provide the public with critical – if sometimes difficult – information about society, its values and its governance,” IPI executive director Alison Bethel McKenzie said in a statement from the IPI’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria.
