(JED/IFEX) – On 9 February 2004, Radio Brakos director Vatankhah Tchanguis was arrested and severely beaten by order of the Bahr police chief. The journalist was released 48 hours later. He is reportedly in critical condition and requires urgent medical attention. According to information received by JED and confirmed by the Chadian Union of Private […]
(JED/IFEX) – On 9 February 2004, Radio Brakos director Vatankhah Tchanguis was arrested and severely beaten by order of the Bahr police chief. The journalist was released 48 hours later. He is reportedly in critical condition and requires urgent medical attention.
According to information received by JED and confirmed by the Chadian Union of Private Radio Stations (Union des radios privées du Tchad), Tchanguis’s arrest followed Radio Brakos’s airing of an interview with a Chadian opposition figure. Radio Brakos is a private station based in Moissala, a town located 600 kilometres from the capital, N’djamena.
In a 13 February protest letter to the interior and security minister, copied to President Idriss Deby, the prime minister and the president of the High Council on Communications (Haut Conseil de la Communication, HCC), JED condemned the arrest and assault on Tchanguis. The organisation noted that “nothing can justify the ill-treatment of a journalist because of his opinions or work,” and described the police action as “practices from another era that bring shame on Chad and Africa.”
JED called on the Chadian government to “respect its national and international commitments regarding human rights in general and press freedom in particular by publicly condemning this attack.” The organisation also urged the HCC to “do everything possible to ensure the perpetrators of this attack are severely punished.” Should no action be taken, JED warned that it would “view this arrest as both a deliberate attempt by the Chadian authorities to silence a journalist and media outlet that are bothersome because of their professionalism and a clear attack on free expression.”
