The Journalists for Business Advocacy (JBA) has called for the immediate release of Mr Ajafor Azunungu Emmanuel, one of its members, and one other journalist, Mr Emmanuel Bretwum, who were arrested Thursday night by national security operatives…
The Journalists for Business Advocacy (JBA) has called for the immediate release of Mr Ajafor Azunungu Emmanuel, one of its members, and one other journalist, Mr Emmanuel Bretwum, who were arrested Thursday night by national security operatives.
In a statement co-signed by Suleiman Mustapha and Kofi Ahovi, President and Vice-President respectively, the group described the arrest of the journalists as “arbitrary”.
The security operatives raided the office of news website and bundled at least three editors away, according to the Editor-In-Chief William Beeko, who said the arrest followed the publication of a story about National Security Minister Albert Kan-Dapaah and New Patriotic Party MP Alex Afenyo-Markin.
Mr Beeko said laptops belonging to the online media outfit were seized in the raid and the whereabouts of his colleagues remain unknown.
“We don’t know where they are now”, Beeko told journalist.
The JBA statement said: “Personnel who identified themselves as operatives from the National Security arrested the two journalists in their office in Accra without any proper explanation”.
JBA said “violence against journalism and journalists by the security agencies” must end, adding that the authorities must rather “ensure a safe working environment for journalists” and also guarantee “freedom of speech in the country”.
“The arbitrary detention of these journalists is not an isolated case. In recent times, journalists have been under threat while others have lost their lives while performing their rightful duties. These include attacks on journalists and photojournalists, closure of some media enterprises and the destruction of equipment of journalists. The names of the late Ahmed Hussein-Suale and Manasseh Azure Awuni immediately come to mind”.
JBA, therefore, “condemns the detention of our colleagues who were discharging their professional duties. We demand their immediate release from those who are detaining them. We also call on the government, the National Media Commission (NMC), the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and civil societies to take these outrageous violations seriously. We reiterate our call to all parties involved to enforce the constitutional rights of journalists in this country to end the unnecessary attacks.”