Following reports of the arrest of two reporters of news portal, modernghana.com, by National Security operatives, several groups have mounted pressure for the release of the journalists.
The groups including Journalists for Business Advocacy (JBA) and the Ghana WASH Journalists Network (GWJN), in separate statements, condemned the purported detention of the journalists identified as Ajafor Azunungu Emmanuel and Emmanuel Bretwum.
Personnel who identified themselves as operatives from the National Security reportedly arrested the two journalists of the online portal in their office in Accra on Thursday without any proper explanation, according to the groups.
The JBA in its statement demanded a “stop [to] violence against journalism and journalists by the security agencies and ensure a safe working environment for journalists and freedom of speech in the country.”
“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,” the group added.
The GWJN also described the security personnel’s methods as crude.
“GWJN condemns in no uncertain terms, the crude method adopted by security operatives to deal with journalists in a so-called fledging democracy. We understand their equipment and gadgets were also taken over by the said security operatives.”
Neither Government nor ModernGhana have officially commented on the matter.
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