Reporters Without Borders has pledged to continue campaigning for justice in the 1998 murder of leading independent journalist Norbert Zongo after learning that the judge in charge of the investigation, Wenceslas Ilboudo, has dismissed the case against the only person ever charged.

 "This is an outright scandal, a disgrace," the press freedom organisation said. "After eight years of campaigning, this decision makes the reign of impunity in Burkina Faso official. It is a terrible blow for all those citizens who have ceaselessly demanded to know the truth about this murder."

Reporters Without Borders continued: "This has always been a highly political case. Zongo was killed by members of the presidential guard. François Compaoré, the brother of President Blaise Compaoré, is implicated. The authorities never stopped protecting the killers. The president has got what he always wanted - injustice."

The organisation added: "Despite this decision , we will continue to campaign for justice in this case. We will never forget Norbert Zongo and we will press on tirelessly with our campaign alongside his family and friends."

Judge Ilboudo's decision to dismiss the case against presidential guard member Marcel Kafando - the only person ever charged with Zongo's murder - was issued yesterday at the request of the Faso public prosecutor, who claimed there was insufficient evidence against him.

Zongo family lawyer Bénéwendé Sankara said the decision meant the case was now closed and would remain so unless new evidence came to light. He intended to appeal, he added.

Zongo was an investigative journalist and editor of the weekly L'Indépendant. His charred body was found in his car on 13 December 1998. At the time of his death he had been investigating the circumstances in which David Ouédraogo, the chauffeur of President Compaoré's brother François, died at the hands of members of the Presidential Security Regiment (RSP) after being arrested on suspicion of stealing from his employer.

Kafando was one of three RSP members who were convicted in August 2000 of kidnapping Ouédraogo and torturing him to death. The public prosecutor charged him in February 2001 with murder and arson in connection Zongo's death. But despite the gravity of the charges, Kafando was allowed to continue living at his home.

The International Press Institute (IPI) has been criticised by some African journalists who attended the special Africa caucus meeting at the organisations May 28-30 2006 Annual General Assembly and International conference for ignoring press freedom violations in countries such as Zimbabwe, Swaziland and elsewhere in Africa in their resolution on the deteriorating press freedom situation in Africa.

The press freedom watch dog, Reporters Without Borders, has said it has published photographs showing the marks left on the body of a journalist from the blows he received from members of the National Guard while detained earlier this year in Gambia, where two journalists are still in detention.

The organisation noted that the journalist's identity and the circumstances of his imprisonment are known but are being withheld to protect him. Gambia's National Guard is an elite corps that is under President Yahya Jammeh's direct orders and has its headquarters next to the presidential building.

Condemning a broadcasting bill passed by Senegal's national assembly on 21 December as "poorly drafted, ambiguous, unfair and repressive," Reporters Without Borders has urged Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade to refuse to sign it into law in order to restore some calm to the ongoing debate about press law reform.Approved by just 11 votes to 2 in a 120-member parliament, the law would create a National Council for the Regulation of Broadcasting (CNRA) which, in Reporters Without Borders' view, would probably threaten press freedom.