The following is a 17 January 2000 IFJ letter to President Rawlings, expressing the organizationâs astonishment at the detention of Kabral Blay Amihere: His Excellency Jerry Rawlings President of the Republic of Ghana The Castle PO Box 1627, Accra Ghana Telefax: 233 21 664 089 January 17th 2000 Your Excellency, I am writing on behalf […]
The following is a 17 January 2000 IFJ letter to President Rawlings, expressing the organizationâs astonishment at the detention of Kabral Blay Amihere:
His Excellency Jerry Rawlings
President of the Republic of Ghana
The Castle
PO Box 1627, Accra
Ghana
Telefax: 233 21 664 089
January 17th 2000
Your Excellency,
I am writing on behalf of the International Federation of Journalists, the worldâs largest organisation of journalists, to express our astonishment at the detention of our colleague Kabral Blay Amihere, a member of the Executive Committee of our Federation and President of the West African Journalistsâ Association.
We are informed that he was detained by armed military personnel on January 13th in the evening and was held in a military camp with other prisoners. We are told the action arises from complaints over material in The Independent newspaper of which he is the editor.
The IFJ is outraged by this action. This amounts to physical intimidation of a journalist and appears to be in direct breach of Ghana’s 1992 Constitution that provides for complaints about media to be dealt with by the National Media Commission. It is only in certain cases that the police have the power to invite a journalist to assist in the investigation of a complaint.
Even though Kabral was released the following day, his arrest and detention is a severe breach of his rights as a journalist. The incident raises profound concerns about your Government’s commitment to press freedom and to democratic standards of judicial process.
The IFJ would like to have an explanation for this action and an assurance that such intimidation and undue pressure will not be applied against journalists in future.
Yours Sincerely,
AIDAN WHITE
General Secretary
Recommended Action
Similar appeals can be sent to:
His Excellency Jerry Rawlings
President of the Republic of Ghana
The Castle
PO Box 1627, Accra
Ghana
Telefax: 233 21 664 089
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