{"id":41111,"date":"2025-05-21T10:23:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T21:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/talamua.com\/?p=41111"},"modified":"2025-05-21T10:23:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T21:23:12","slug":"jaws-stand-by-president-charged-with-criminal-libel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/talamua.com\/?p=41111","title":{"rendered":"JAWS stand by President charged with criminal libel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Apia, Samoa \u2013 21 May 2025<\/strong> &#8211; The Executive Board of the Journalists Association of Samoa (JAWS) &#8220;stands in full solidarity with our President, Lagi Keresoma, who has been charged with criminal libel (Defamation) in relation to an article she authored.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In a media statement last night, JAWS said the charge, brought under Section 117A of the Crimes Act 2013, is a troubling development for press freedom in Samoa.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is deeply concerning that a journalist of Lagi Keresoma\u2019s integrity and professionalism is being prosecuted under a law that has long been criticized for its negative effect on Press Freedom,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n<p>As the Executive Board of JAWS, we:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Stand firmly with our President, Lagi Keresoma, and affirm her right to report freely and without fear of criminal prosecution.<\/li>\n<li>Reject the use of criminal libel laws as a means to silence journalists or discourage investigative reporting.<\/li>\n<li>Call for the immediate repeal of Section 117A of the Crimes Act 2013, and for Samoa to return to a legal framework that protects press freedom and resolves defamation through civil remedies.<\/li>\n<li>Reaffirm our commitment to defending the rights of all journalists in Samoa to work without intimidation or legal harassment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cWe urge the @Government of Samoa &amp; the Ministry of Police &amp; Prisons, to uphold their constitutional and democratic obligations to Protect the Freedom Of Expression &amp; The Press.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJournalism is not a crime, and no journalist should be treated as criminals for fulfilling their duty to the public,\u201d said the Executive Board\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Apia, Samoa \u2013 21 May 2025 &#8211; The Executive Board of the Journalists Association of Samoa (JAWS) &#8220;stands in full solidarity with our President, Lagi Keresoma, who has been charged with criminal libel (Defamation) in relation to an article she authored.&#8221; In a media statement last night, JAWS said the charge, brought under Section 117A [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":41112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[177,209],"tags":[5144,5143,59,263,5142],"class_list":["post-41111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest","category-media","tag-criminal-libel","tag-defend-press-freedom","tag-featured","tag-jaws","tag-press-freedom-not-a-crime"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>JAWS stand by President charged with criminal libel - Talamua Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/talamua.com\/?p=41111\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"JAWS stand by President charged with criminal libel - Talamua Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Apia, Samoa \u2013 21 May 2025 &#8211; 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