(MFWA/IFEX) – Ebo Hanson, a photographer for the state-owned newspaper “The Daily Graphic”, was assaulted on 17 August 2006 by sympathizers of suspected drug baron Prince Tsibu Darko, who is standing trial for alleged drug offences. The assailants slapped Hanson several times and beat him, before taking away his digital camera. According to an MFWA […]
(MFWA/IFEX) – Ebo Hanson, a photographer for the state-owned newspaper “The Daily Graphic”, was assaulted on 17 August 2006 by sympathizers of suspected drug baron Prince Tsibu Darko, who is standing trial for alleged drug offences.
The assailants slapped Hanson several times and beat him, before taking away his digital camera.
According to an MFWA source, Hanson photographed Darko as he was being escorted into a police vehicle. The assailants immediately surrounded Hanson and slapped him from behind. They also hit his chest several times, before seizing his camera, which they attempted to destroy, but upon pleas from onlookers, they returned the camera after removing the memory chip.
William Yaw Owusu, a journalist of another state-owned daily, “Ghanaian Times”, was also threatened and insulted by the assailants. The source said Owusu, appalled by the assault on Hanson, remarked “We are not safe in this country?” Following his remark, a female official of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), who was with the assailants, replied that the photographer had not sought Darko’s consent before taking the shots. “You people are journalists and so what,” the source quoted the GIS official as saying. Another of the assailants angrily shouted, “If this incident had happened outside the court premises, I would have given you (Owusu) dirty slaps. Who are you? Stupid fool.” The source said the assailants, who numbered about 10 in all, then sped off in their various cars. Owusu confirmed the entire incident in an interview with MFWA.
Hanson has since reported the incident to the police.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Journalists Association has condemned the attacks on its members and called for security agencies to provide protection to journalists so that they might safely perform their legitimate duties.
