On 5 December 2014, the African Court of Human and Peoples' Rights delivered a landmark ruling stating that no journalist should face prison for defamation.

The watershed judgment was handed down in the case of Konaté v. Burkina Faso, which was brought on behalf of Lohé Issa Konaté, the editor of the newspaper L’Ouragan. Konaté was jailed in 2012 for reports which accused a prosecutor of corruption. He spent a year in prison and his paper was suspended. Thanks to the African Court’s decision, Konaté will now be entitled to compensation and Burkina Faso will have to change its criminal defamation laws.

The Court's ruling will have major ramifications throughout Africa. By clearing one of the major impediments to effective journalism - the threat of prison for journalists who expose corruption or criticise the government - it paves the way for a freer and stronger media. This will be welcome news not just for journalists, but for bloggers, political activists and human rights defenders across the continent who have similarly faced prison for their reporting and activism. Konaté's case was supported by a coalition of human rights and media freedom groups who had pushed the Court on the importance of the full enjoyment of freedom of expression for the development of democracy and the enjoyment of all other rights.

The African Union Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression, Pansy Tlakula, has already welcomed the judgment as a “landmark decision that will … pave the way for the decriminalization of similar laws such as insult laws and publication of false news.” Nani Jansen, legal director for the Media Legal Defence Initiative, called the ruling “justice for Konaté,” and announced that MLDI would bring more cases before other international courts to invalidate similar criminal laws that restrict press freedom.

Konaté was represented by lawyers from MLDI, who had supported his defence in Burkina Faso and brought the case to the African Court as a matter of last resort. Jansen led a legal team that included British international criminal law specialist John Jones QC and leading international arbitration lawyer Steven Finizio, both of whom took the case pro bono. They argued that the court should rule not only that Konaté’s rights were violated—he had excellent sources for his report, which he was prevented from bringing before the local courts—but that as a matter of course, no journalist should ever be imprisoned for defamation.

Konaté, for his part, was delighted with the outcome. Having spent a year behind bars simply for publishing an article, he finally feels that he has been vindicated. Outside the courthouse, he said that “the African Court has recognized the injustice I have suffered. Not only am I happy from a personal point of view, but also because this decision will have positive implications for all my fellow journalists who face great risks, including, as I did, imprisonment for reporting on issues that matter. This is a victory for the entire profession.”