Rwandan media denounces law on cartoons

The Rwandan media has denounced a new law criminalizing the publication of satire and political cartoons of politicians.

The law that came into force on Thursday has generated a lot of controversy in the country’s press.

The new law calls for a two-year prison sentence and a fine of more than a thousand dollars for any offender under the Act.

According to media professionals, this is a huge blow to the profession and will greatly hamper their work.

Media actors equally denounced the sanctions provided for and consider them too harsh.

These restrictions on freedom of expression have been criticised by some human rights organisations who say the lack of press freedom has forced many Rwandan journalists to flee the country.

The latter fear reprisals from the authorities, often suspected in cases of disappearances and imprisonment of journalists.