Ghana : Reporter detained, roughed up, after photographing crackdown on street vendors

(MFWA/IFEX) - On 5 April 2011, two officers with the Accra Metropolitan Assembly’s (AMA) taskforce arrested and detained Daniel Nonor, a reporter with the independent, Accra-based newspaper "The Chronicle", for about five hours, after they caught him photographing their aggressive crackdown on a group of street hawkers in Accra.

"The Chronicle" reported in its 6 April issue that Nonor was roughed up by the guards before being dragged into their vehicle, along with the street vendors, and taken to AMA offices, where they were detained.

Emmanuel Akli, the associate editor of "The Chronicle", told MFWA that Nonor was released upon the intervention of the Accra mayor, Alfred Vanderpuije, to whom they had complained about Nonor’s treatment at the hands of the AMA officers.

Akli and two other reporters who had gone to the AMA’s office to secure the release of their colleague were insulted and driven out of the office by two female staffers, who justified the attack on the journalist.

MFWA condemns this attack on Nonor and demands an immediate apology from the AMA.

SOURCE : Media Foundation for West Africa

For more information :
Media Foundation for West Africa
PO Box LG 730
30 Duade Street, Kokomlemle
Legon, Accra
Ghana
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Fax : +233 302 221084
http://www.mediafound.org