CJA deplores criminal libel charge against leading Samoan journalist

May 26, 2025 –

The Commonwealth Journalists Association (CJA) deeply deplores the criminal libel charge filed against a senior Samoan journalist and urges the government of Samoa to repeal the country’s criminal defamation legislation to comply with internationally recognised good practice.

The Prime Minister of Samoa, Fiame Naomi Mataafa, is currently Chair-in-Office of the Commonwealth. The CJA urges her to honour and respect this important leadership position and set an example to other Commonwealth nations by removing the criminal defamation provisions from Samoa’s Crimes Act 2013 completely and urgently.

Talamua Online journalist Lagi Keresoma, who is also president of the Journalists Association of Samoa (JAWS), was charged on May 18 in connection with an article she published on May 1 alleging that a former police officer had appealed to Samoa’s Head of State seeking to have a charge against him withdrawn. Lagi Keresoma is due to appear in court next month.

JAWS said the country’s criminal defamation law should not be used to silence journalists and called for it to be repealed immediately. The Pacific Media Watch organisation described the charge against the Samoan journalist as “a clumsy attempt to intimidate and silence in-depth investigation and reporting on Pacific governance.”

The criminal libel law was removed by the Samoan government in 2013 but it was reinstated in 2017.

The April 2021 report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression said: Criminal law should be used only in very exceptional and most egregious circumstances of incitement to violence, hatred or discrimination. Criminal libel laws are a legacy of the colonial past and have no place in modern democratic societies. They should be repealed.

In October 2024 Samoa hosted the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in the capital, Apia. At that meeting leaders of the 56 member countries adopted the Commonwealth Principles on Freedom of Expression and the Role of the Media in Good Governance, which affirm that any restrictions on freedom of expression should be in accordance with standards established in international human rights law.

“We urge the Samoan Prime Minister to recognise that the Crimes Act 2013 is in conflict with the adoption of these principles and show leadership in immediately abolishing this cruel and outdated vestige of colonialism.”

CJA President: Chris Cobb
CJA Media Freedom: William Horsley