ANOTHER Rwandan journalist and a graphic designer with UMURABYO, a local tabloid, have been arrested by Police for defamation, inciting public disorder and publishing false material.
Police summoned Patrick Kambale, the newspaper designer and reporter Saidath Mukakibibi, who penned an article that appeared in the latest issue of the paper with a picture of President Paul Kagame and a Nazi swastika behind him.
Police spokesman, Eric Kayiranga, said the articles in the publication were defamatory, inciting public disorder and ethnic division.
“They wrote defamatory articles in the paper that compare President Kagame to Hitler,” Kayiranga told state television.
Kambale was grilled for intentionally ‘doctoring’ the president’s picture and fixing the Nazi emblem in it but later released.
Rwandan media law provides that only publishers and editors are held responsible for editorial mistakes.
Kambale told Police the image was given to him by the editors who picked it from the internet, the Rwanda News Agency (RNA) reported. As the designer of the paper, Kambale is responsible for image designs.
Mukakibibi was questioned for some of the articles in UMURABYO for which Uwimana faces charges. Uwimana is in detention on four counts including inciting ethnic hatred, Genocide ideology, defaming President Kagame and undermining state programs. If convicted, they face long jail terms ranging from five to 15 years.
Last Friday, Police arrested the paper editor, Agnes Uwimana, on charges of genocide denial and inciting ethnic hatred. She previously served a year jail for stirring up ethnic divisions and defamation. She is due to appear in court.
Rwandan authorities have in recent weeks battled what they deem growing extremist media in a bid to suppress potential ethnic tension in the runner-up to elections, scheduled for next month.
The move has attracted intense criticism from the opposition and human rights groups abroad, who accuse the government of causing tension ahead elections by suppressing dissent and cracking down on independent media.
The government however says there is no tension in the country and that election time is no excuse for impunity.