Published: August 15, 2025
YARPAH TOWN, River Cess County – Press freedom advocates are condemning what they describe as a blatant violation of Liberia’s free speech protections after police made a second attempt in less than two weeks to arrest journalist Eric Opa Doue of Z-MaC Liberia Inc.
The August 13 incident comes despite the Kamara Abdullah Kamara Act of Press Freedom, signed into law in February 2019, which decriminalized speech-related offenses by repealing key sections of the 1978 Penal Law, including criminal libel against the president, sedition, and criminal malevolence. The law, named after the late journalist and Press Union of Liberia president Kamara Abdullah Kamara, shifted such cases from the criminal to the civil code in line with international press freedom standards such as the Table Mountain Declaration.
Police accuse Doue of “defamation of character” stemming from his reporting on a disputed land case and the alleged escape of a suspect from police custody. He was first targeted for arrest earlier this month before officers made a second attempt on Wednesday.
Advocates say the move is both unlawful and contrary to the spirit of the press freedom law. “Journalists should not face arrest or detention for their reporting,” one media rights campaigner told The Liberian Investigator. “This is a dangerous precedent.”
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