Hundreds in Gagged March Against Kenya Media Bill

Hundreds of Kenyan journalists taped their mouths shut in silent protest on Wednesday against a new media bill that would force them to disclose their sources for any story that gives rise to a legal dispute.

Roughly 300 reporters, editors and members of civil society groups marched in silence from Nairobi's Uhuru Park to the nearby attorney general's office.

Gagged with tape and carrying placards reading: "Protect our sources, Say no to media bill!" the demonstrators urged President Mwai Kibaki to send the proposed law back to parliament.

But in a sign parliamentarians may already be preparing to back down, Information Minister Muthai Kagwe told journalists on Tuesday the legislature had requested Kibaki send the bill back to be re-examined.

Also on Tuesday, Attorney General Amos Wako said he had urged Kibaki not to enact the bill, although the president has yet to make a decision.

"If the bill is passed, we are going back to the old ages where there was no freedom of expression," mumbled Lucianne Limo, a reporter with the Standard newspaper, from the corner of her mouth -- otherwise sealed with strips of masking tape.

The media has had greater freedom under Kibaki than during the 24-year rule of his predecessor Daniel arap Moi, when reporters were routinely harassed and sometimes tortured.