The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) argues that the President of the Republic should not enact changes to the anti-terrorism legislation without asking parliament to amend the clause that could criminalize terrorism reporting in the north of the country.

Last June 3, the draft amendment to the anti-terrorism legislation was sent by Parliament to Filipe Nyusi for his assent, António Boene, president of the National Assembly's Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee, told CPJ via message, quoted in the organization's statement.

The bill, already approved by parliament on May 19, aims to amend Mozambique's 2018 anti-terrorism law by including a clause that will penalize, with imprisonment for between two and eight years, anyone who publicly reproduces false statements related to terrorist acts, according to media reports and a statement from the Mozambican section of the regional press freedom group of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) - Mozambique.

"Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi should not ratify the anti-terrorism amendment, but rather return it to the National Assembly to correct the defects and ensure that reporting on the insurgency in Cabo Delgado is not criminalized or censored," said Angela Quintal, CPJ's Africa program coordinator, quoted in the statement.

"MPs have already toned down other controversial clauses in the bill, but the President must ensure that they go further to protect press freedom and the public's right to information, rather than trying to control the narrative in the ongoing fight against terrorism in Mozambique," he added.

The government has argued that the changes are necessary to strengthen the legal framework for fighting terrorism, due to the insurgency and ongoing terrorist attacks in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado, according to reports by Mozambique's state news agency (AIM) and a government document, consulted by CPJ, that was presented in the National Assembly in March 2022, the statement said.

On May 18, the parliament approved the draft amendment to the anti-terrorism law, stating that anyone who intentionally disseminates information about a terrorist act, if they know the information to be false, can be punished by imprisonment for between eight and 12 years.

MISA-Mozambique on May 17 called on parliament to change these clauses, arguing that they threaten press freedom.

Furthermore, it held that criminalizing the publication of classified information penalized journalists and ordinary citizens, not officials who failed in their duty to protect state secrets.

The organization also opposed the false information clause, arguing that its wording was ambiguous and had the potential to be applied arbitrarily.

At the bill's second reading on May 19, the National Assembly's Constitutional and Legal Affairs Committee diluted these two clauses by criminalizing the disclosure of confidential information only by public servants, not citizens in general, and reduced the prison sentence to between two and eight years for violating the false information clause.

The head of MISA-Mozambique, Ernesto Saúl, told CPJ that despite the National Assembly's efforts to change some of the clauses, the proposed law could still harm the exercise of journalism, especially by punishing those who publicly reproduce statements about acts of terrorism.

Emília Moiane, director of the information office of the Mozambican government, for her part, said in a telephone statement to CPJ that she does not believe that the proposed law violates the right to freedom of the press, since one of the principles of journalism is to publish only the truth.

"We believe that journalists follow that principle. Terrorism is not a matter to talk about without certainty," said Moiane, who did not advance when the President is expected to consider the bill.