Two Ghanaian journalists arrested and interrogated, one of them reportedly tortured in detention

The Ghana Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice should immediately launch an independent investigation into the arrests of Modern Ghana Editor Emmanuel Ajarfor Abugri and journalist Emmanuel Yeboah Britwum and allegations of torture in Ajarfor by security forces, and held officials accountable, said today the Committee for the Protection of Journalists.

On June 27, in Accra, in the capital, officers of the Ministry of National Security arrested Abugri and Britwum at the offices of their employer, the private news site. Modern Ghana, interviewed them at the offices of the Ministry of National Security and confiscated their laptops and phones, according to Britwum, who spoke to CPJ by phone and local news. Officers questioned journalists about Modern Ghana A recent report on National Security Minister Albert Kan Dapaah accuses him of obtaining information about Kan Dapaah by hacking an email account, Britwum said. Britwum told CPJ that the police did not submit a warrant at the time of their arrest.

Abugri told Ghanaian broadcaster Joy News and a local news site Citi Press Room The police tied his hands, slapped him and shocked him with a stun gun during his interrogation. The agents also asked reporters to connect to their phones and computers and examine their files, Britwum told CPJ.

Britwum was released on June 28 and Abugri on June 29, announced Britwum. He told CPJ that the police had returned their phones but their laptops were still in detention.

"The arrests of Emmanuel Abugri and Emmanuel Britwum, and the allegations of torture of Abugri at the hands of agents of the Ministry of National Security, are only the latest attack by the security services. security against journalists in Ghana, "said Angela Quintal, coordinator of CPJ's Africa program. "This dangerous trend is aggravated by the repeated inability to bring to justice the perpetrators of attacks on the press." The Ghana Human Rights and Administrative Justice Commission is expected to take action. deal seriously and continue the trial of Britwum and Abugri. "

The Ghana Human Rights and Administrative Justice Commission is a body appointed by the President to investigate human rights violations and abuses of power, in accordance with its charter. founder.

The arrest of journalists comes a day after Modern Ghana it's consistent with the June 26 request of the Ministry of National Security to make a decision Kan Dapaah's critical article published on the website on June 25, Britwum told CPJ.

On 1 July, Ghanaian police summoned Abugri and Britwum to a local police station to make statements about the events surrounding their arrest. The journalists were re-summoned on July 2 and 3 for a re-examination at the headquarters of the Police Criminal Investigation Department, according to Samson. Lardi Anyenini, the lawyer from Ajafor, who spoke to CPJ via a messaging application.

Also on 1 July, the Secretariat of the National Security Council of Ghana issued a statement, which CPJ reviewed, claiming that Abugri's allegations of torture were "false", that he "did not" never been abused "during the interrogation, and that the journalists had been arrested for" … indulging in cyber-crimes. "

During his interrogation, Britwum told the police that he had obtained information about Kan Dapaah from documents sent to an e-mail address registered by the local private broadcaster Peace FM, which he had been authorized to access, Britwum told CPJ. . Officers accused him of having hacked the account, Britwum said.

On July 5, prosecutors filed cybercrime charges against Britwum, Abugri and Peace FM editor Yaw Obeng Manu for alleged illegal access to an email account, according to Anyenini.

Later in the day, however, Chief Prosecutor Stella Ohene Appiah and Judge Afia Asare Botwe, High Court of Accra Supreme Court, dropped charges against journalists, according to Anyenini and a report from Joy News.

According to local news site reports Ghana WebThe Ghana Journalists Association, an independent professional badociation, and the OneGhana Movement, a local civil society group focused on promoting official accountability, have both called for an independent investigation into alleged torture. 'Abugri.

On July 8, Ghanaian police spokesman David Eklu told CPJ by telephone that he was unaware of specific details regarding the arrests and interrogations of Britwum and Hussein. Abugri by agents of the Ministry of National Security, and reported that the investigation on cybercrime had been transferred to the country's police.

CPD's repeated calls to Kan Dapaah went unanswered. Eklu told CPJ that he was aware of calls for an independent investigation into allegations of abuse by agents of the Ministry of National Security, but that he did not had no information on the likelihood of such an investigation.

Kan Dapaah has been appointed to head the newly-created Ghana National Security Ministry by President Nana Akufo-Addo in early 2017 with the mandate to increase public accountability of security services, according to media reports. # 39; era. Nevertheless, according to CPJ research, investigations into attacks on journalists have been delayed in recent years.