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Court adjourns trial of two Nigerian journalists


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Nigeria's high court on Tuesday adjourned the trial of two journalists charged with sedition until October, AIT television reported.

The two journalists -- Gbenga Aruleba and Rotimi Durojaiye -- working for independent media organisations, have filed a suit challenging their trial, arguing that the law under which they were being prosecuted was no longer in existence.

Aruleba and Durojaiye, working respectively for AIT television and Daily Independent newspaper, were arrested last month and charged with sedition over their reports on a presidential jet bought last May.

In their reports, they allegedly suggested the plane was not airworthy.

The government said it viewed the reporting as "a seditious act against the president".

Both journalists were arraigned in June before judge Babs Kuewunmi, who remanded them in in custody before later granting them bail.

"We want to see how our client (Aruleba) fell foul of the law, the sedition law having been declared dead," his lawyer, Chris Uche, told journalists outside the courtroom.

The court adjourned the case until October 10.

Many local and international human rights bodies have criticised the arrest and trial of the journalists.

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AFP 252028 GMT 07 06

COPYRIGHT 2004 Agence France-Presse. All rights reserved.

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