Licensing plan for East Timor journos: A United Nations-sponsored lawyer has recommended that journalists in East Timor be licensed to practice and that defamation be included in the country's criminal code. [...]
That proposal has already triggered a stern response from East Timor's Journalists Association.
Spokesman Virgilio Guiterres said journalists were "appalled" that defamation could be included in a penal code.
East Timor's deputy chief government prosecutor, Ivo Jorge Valente, supported the inclusion of defamation in the penal code but said it should not be considered in isolation.
