(MISA/IFEX) – The following is a joint MISA and Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) alert On 7 January 2004, journalists Alphonso Toweh, Janet Johnson, Gibson Jerue, of the Reuters news agency, Radio Veritas and “Analyst” newspaper, respectively, were assaulted by a security officer working for the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL). The journalists […]
(MISA/IFEX) – The following is a joint MISA and Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) alert
On 7 January 2004, journalists Alphonso Toweh, Janet Johnson, Gibson Jerue, of the Reuters news agency, Radio Veritas and “Analyst” newspaper, respectively, were assaulted by a security officer working for the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).
The journalists were accosted when they went to the UNMIL offices to cover the weekly briefing session on the mission’s operations in Liberia.
Press Union of Liberia (PUL) officials told MFWA that the security officer who assaulted the three journalists was known for bullying journalists on assignment at the UNMIL offices.
According to the PUL, another journalist, James Boeh, was attacked by a Liberia National Police traffic officer while he was covering a motor vehicle accident. The union said the police officer seized the journalist’s identification card and claimed that he had no right to report on the accident. The PUL described the incident as “unhealthy for media-police [relations].”
MFWA and MISA share the PUL’s concerns over the actions of some Liberian police force members and UN peacekeepers in the country. The organisations appeal to the National Transitional Government of Liberia (NTGL), headed by Gyude Bryant, as well as the UN secretary-general’s special representative to Liberia, Ambassador Jacques Paul Klein, to investigate these incidents and stop the perpetuation of acts of impunity in the country. Liberians, and media practitioners in particular, need and deserve a respite from the types of harassment and persecution perpetrated under the 14-year dictatorship of President Charles Taylor.
