Two European journalists were fined on Friday by a court in Namibia for filming the annual seal hunt along the coast of the southern African nation, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported quoting their lawyer.
From the AFP report: [Link]
British investigative journalist Jim Wilckens and South African cameraman Bart Smithers were found guilty of violating the Marine Resources Act by entering a restricted area without permission, lawyer Raywood Rukoro said.
Both were released after paying a fine of 5,000 dollars (625 US dollars) each, he said, adding that they intended to leave Namibia soon, even though they are not being deported. "We are happy this is over and we will leave as soon as possible," Wilckens told reporters afterwards.
The duo was arrested by police whilst documenting the Namibian seal cull. They were kept at police cells at Henties Bay, about 400 kilometres (250 miles) from the capital Windhoek. Wilckens, a reporter with the British-based Eco-Storm agency, and Smithers were working with the Dutch non-governmental organisation Bont Voor Dieren.
Something from a Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) report: [Link]
Bont voor Dieren director Claudia Linzen said the pair had not sought permission to film the hunt "as it was expected the Namibian government would not give such permission, because it supports seal hunting."
Namibia's Ministry of Fisheries has set a quota of 86,000 seal pups and 6,000 bulls eligible for the hunt per year for three years starting in 2007 to contain a population of an estimated 650,000 seals.
