An attack on press freedom by LDS

The postings here extracted from the facebook page, ‘Seychelles Daily’, clearly show sthe level of intimidation that is being applied on persons with an opinion different to that of the LDS. This cannot be democracy no matter how you look at it – it is purely and simply an attack on press freedom in this case.

The SPPF/PL is well known for their lack of tolerance in the past, it is well documented over the years. However, in 2017 we have a situation where the past victims of intimidation, harassment and persecution have now become the perpetrators of these same crimes. This situation is fully encouraged and endorsed by the LDS top executive members – it is common knowledge that persons in the leadership of the party have fake profiles on facebook for the sole purpose of intimidating and insulting people with a different point of view or people who simply doesn’t agree with a statement they have made. Here at The Independent we term this situation democracy through intimidation – in fact both (PL/LDS) sets of supporters are guilty of that vile behaviour.

The Independent newspaper has been under attack since it first started in 2014; the Editor is insulted on a daily basis by LDS supporters in public, which hardens his resolve.   The retailers that sell the paper in their shops are more often than not harassed by LDS supporters and in some shops they have to hide the newspaper under the counter to avoid being confronted by aggressive (LDS) customers. Several shops refuse to sell the paper because we write articles criticizing LDS. Is this the democracy we have been fighting for forty years? Is this the kind of free press we fought SPPF for? Or are they (too) afraid of the truth? What will an LDS government do to newspapers that criticises them? These are relevant questions that must be reflected upon in this process of change and new ideas in 2017.

Independent