The Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) has condemned the assault on three Ghanaian Times reporters by the officers of the Ghana Police Service in Accra on Thursday, March 14, 2019, and called for swift investigations into the incident and punish the perpetrators of such crime.
According to the GJA, a police officer riding on an unregistered motorbike hit a vehicle belonging to the Ghanaian Times near Kinbu Traffic Light in Accra around 8.45am and sped off.
“The Police Officer had allegedly jumped traffic and while meandering his way out, his motorbike hit the bumper of a Nissan saloon car belonging to the Ghanaian Times, breaking the mirror and windscreen of the car in the process. His pillion rider who saw what had happened beckoned him to stop but the police officer rode on†the statement explains.
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“The driver of the Ghanaian Times vehicle then chased and managed to block the motorbike of the police officer a few meters away from the accident scene, whereupon Malik got off the vehicle and started video-recording the incident with his mobile phone. Angered by that action, the police officer attempted to snatch the mobile phone from the reporter and when he did not succeed, he allegedly punched the face of the reporter, as blood gushed out from his nostril. Other police officers and a soldier in uniform allegedly joined in the beating of the reporter, pushing, kicking, slapping and punching him,†the statement added.
Mrs Raissa Sambou Ebu and Salifu Abdul Rahaman the report noted were heckled and in the process, Raissa, a nursing mother, collapsed and was rushed to the Greater Accra Regional Hospital for treatment.
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The police officers the GJA said in their statement demanded the mobile phone of Malik and subsequently handcuffed and bundled him into a police vehicle.
“They then sent him to the Ministries Police Station and detained him for about four hours. The police were said to have ignored several pleas from the reporter to send him to hospital for medical treatment,†the statement stressed.
Source: Ghanaweb