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Mourners stand next to the grave of murdered Ghanaian investigative journalist Ahmed Husein Suale who was shot dead in January while returning home to Accra. By RUTH MCDOWALL (AFP)
Ghana's reputation as a beacon of media freedom in an otherwise turbulent region has been threatened by a series of attacks against journalists.
Earlier this month, journalist Raissa Sambou was rushed to hospital after being badaulted by police in Accra, the capital. Two of his colleagues were also attacked.
This happened just two months after unknown gunmen shot and killed an undercover journalist.
Ghana prides itself on being one of the most stable democracies in West Africa.
The West African nation ranks 23rd in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index – the top spot in Africa, and worth more than Spain, France, the United States. Britain and the United States.
But this high rank is now threatened.
Muheeb Saeed, program manager at the Media Foundation of West Africa (MFWA), said he is "deeply concerned" by the latest attacks.
"This could encourage journalists to self-censor and thus kill the fight against corruption," he told AFP.
The most notorious case concerns the badbadination of Ahmed Hussein-Suale in January. He worked for Tiger Eye, who exposed corruption deeply embedded in West African football and the Ghanaian justice system.
Among the other attacks, the murder of a radio reporter in 2015 and another alleged badault of the police in 2018, which left the photographer Latif Iddrisu with a fractured skull.
& # 39; Barbarian & # 39;
Ghanaian Times reporters said they were attacked for filming an altercation with the police following a traffic violation in the capital on March 14.
One of them said that he had been beaten and left wounded in a cell, before finally being taken to the hospital.
Sambou, who is recovering from a caesarean section, was reportedly beaten in the stomach and should have received medical treatment.
Ghanaian Times editor David Agbenu said he had never seen such a level of violence against the media during his 26 years of experience.
The Ghana Association of Journalists said it considered the attack "barbaric in the rule of law era, when the police were supposed to enforce the law rather than violate the law."
"This incident should not be added to the list of unresolved cases of journalist attacks by police.This culture of impunity must stop now!" he added.
"Twenty-seven years (since the end of the military regime), it is important for the police to understand that we live in the respect of the law and not of the law of the jungle."
On Wednesday, police announced the suspension of three officers accused of involvement in the attack. The publication asks the police to lay criminal charges.
Rare pursuits
But the lawyer Samson Anyenini said that criminal prosecution against the police was rare in Ghana.
"We often do not trust the criminal process so much," he said, adding that civil proceedings seemed to be a more reliable way of ensuring justice in attacks against the media.
"The state is not interested in prosecuting its people," said Anyenini, who has represented the media in civil proceedings against the state.
He plans to sue the police on behalf of photographer Iddrisu and his company. The Ghanaian Times is also trying to bring the case to court.
According to local media, there have been no criminal prosecutions in more than 20 attacks on the press by the police and the army since 2006.
The undercover journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas, who never appears in public without the masked figure, accused the police of "apathy". By CRISTINA ALDEHUELA (AFP) Many incidents appeared to concern journalists who filmed or photographed security guards at work.
Ghana's police spokesman, David Eklu, said the information was "a matter of major concern" but pointed out that there were often no complaints filed.
Although no law prevents shootings of police officers serving in Ghana, Mr. Eklu said that it was a "gray area" concerned with the protection of the police. privacy and that the videos were afraid of being falsified.
Researcher for Africa's Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Jonathan Rozen, said he was investigating reports of the latest "violent altercation."
"Freedom of the press in Ghana can not flourish when journalists are repeatedly attacked and impunity prevails," he added.
Hussein-Suale's boss, Anas Aremeyaw Anas said that he had become disillusioned with the murderer hunt of his murdered colleague for launching his own investigation into the shooting.
The distinctive clandestine journalist, who never appears in public without the masked figure, accused the police of "apathy".
"People are not strong enough," he said in an interview with the International Press Institute, suggesting that football personalities were "making sure that we do not find the murderer ".
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