(WAJA/IFEX) – On 14 December 2002, Libasse Ndiaye, a cameraman for African Television News (ATN) and Senegal correspondent for the Agence Internationale d’Images de Télévision (AITV) and TV5, was assaulted by security forces at the end of a demonstration. The protest was held by relatives of individuals who perished in a 26 September shipwreck. More […]
(WAJA/IFEX) – On 14 December 2002, Libasse Ndiaye, a cameraman for African Television News (ATN) and Senegal correspondent for the Agence Internationale d’Images de Télévision (AITV) and TV5, was assaulted by security forces at the end of a demonstration. The protest was held by relatives of individuals who perished in a 26 September shipwreck. More than 1,000 people who were travelling on the vessel Joola died on that day.
Ndiaye was taken to the main Dakar hospital, where he is being treated for facial injuries and extensive bruising to both eyes. He is on a temporary, 15-day leave from work.
Alpha A. Sall, secretary-general of the Senegal Information and Communications Professionals’ Union (SYNPICS) and WAJA secretary-general, expressed indignation over the incident and strongly condemned the gratuitous violence against Ndiaye, whom the police reproached for having carried out his duty by filming the crackdown on the demonstrators. Protesters had gathered at the train station and were making their way towards the Presidential Palace.
“This act of aggression is all the more intolerable,” Sall said, “since it occurred at the end of the demonstration – hence it was deliberate and premeditated.”
He called on Senegalese authorities to respond to the incident and identify those responsible. Sall reiterated his appeal to the interior and defence ministers, who are in charge of security, calling on them to ensure that press freedom is respected and that media workers can carry out their duties freely.
