(PPF/IFEX) – Two press photographers covering a rally organised by opposition parties were manhandled by police officers in Karachi on 1 September 1999. Saeed Iqbal of the Sindhi-language newspaper “Hilal–Pakistan” and Mohammed Farooq of the Associated Press (AP) were beaten up. Iqbal was beaten so severely that he had to be admitted to the hospital. […]
(PPF/IFEX) – Two press photographers covering a rally organised by
opposition parties were manhandled by police officers in Karachi on 1
September 1999.
Saeed Iqbal of the Sindhi-language newspaper “Hilal–Pakistan” and Mohammed
Farooq of the Associated Press (AP) were beaten up. Iqbal was beaten so
severely that he had to be admitted to the hospital.
The incident occurred when Iqbal, along with other journalists, was taking
photographs of the arrest of leaders and others who had come to participate
in the rally. The police tried to stop Iqbal from taking pictures, and when
he refused, they started beating him with their fists and kicking him.
Farooq was slapped twice by a police officer while he was taking pictures of
another procession of women protesters trying to reach the site of the
planned rally.
The police action caused anger among many journalists, who staged a protest
in front of the chief minister’s house. The Karachi Union of Journalists
(KUJ) and the Pakistan Association of Press Photographers (PAAP) have
demanded that criminal cases be registered against the police officers
responsible for causing injuries to the two journalists.
