The Committee to Shield Journalists (CPJ) on Friday called on Liberian authorities to analyze the bodily assault and violent arrest of Liberia journalist Kesselee Sumo on March 11 and to drop the fees in opposition to him.
Sumo hosts a every day radio speak present from the Bong Mine Group in Liberia. Just a few days earlier than his arrest, on March 7, he had reported on an alleged unlawful detention of area people leaders by a Justice of the Peace, Sulonteh. Sumo stated officers got here to his office a day later and summoned him to courtroom, the place he claims he was instructed that Sulonteh demanded cash as “compensation” for his report. After he left with out assembly her, the CPJ acknowledged he was charged with “interference with judicial issues” and “prison coercion,” which incorporates defamation below part 14.27 of the Liberia penal code. The Press Union of Liberia blamed Sulonteh for authorizing Sumo’s arrest.
The CPJ requested Sulonteh for remark, however she “declined to reply CPJ’s questions, saying that she is ‘not answerable to CPJ.'” She additionally acknowledged, “We would not have journalists in Liberia” and “[w]hat now we have are [a] bunch of liars and unprofessionals.” Liberian authorities commented that the officers assaulted Sumo “due to his refusal to correctly adhere to regulation enforcement directions” and since he “resisted coming with them.”
The CPJ is a journalist rights group that stories on threats to, assaults on, and detention of journalists around the globe.
In 2023, Liberia ranked 66 out of 180 on the Press Freedom Index, up from 75 in 2022 and 98 in 2021. However a better rank doesn’t at all times imply a greater efficiency; Liberia’s index dropped to 64.34 in 2023 from 66.64 in 2021.
Journalists are going through rising assaults throughout the globe. The CPJ discovered file ranges of journalist imprisonment in 2021 and 2023 and increased killings in 2022. Journalists are notably in danger when reporting on elections, resembling in Bangladesh, or on worldwide conflicts just like the Israel-Hamas war. They’ll even have their belongings taken, as in Russia. They usually put their life on the road in international locations with oppressive regimes, like Myanmar, Iran and Afghanistan.
Source / Picture: jurist.org
