CPJ calls on Liberia authorities to investigate assault and arrest of journalist

The Committee to Shield Journalists (CPJ) on Friday known as on Liberian authorities to analyze the bodily assault and violent arrest of Liberia journalist Kesselee Sumo on March 11 and to drop the costs in opposition to him.

Sumo hosts a day by day radio speak present from the Bong Mine Group in Liberia. A number of 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 mentioned officers got here to his office a day later and summoned him to court docket, the place he claims he was informed that Sulonteh demanded cash as “compensation” for his report. After he left with out assembly her, the CPJ said he was charged with “interference with judicial issues” and “legal coercion,” which incorporates defamation beneath 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 said, “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 reviews on threats to, assaults on, and detention of journalists all over the world.

In 2023, Liberia ranked 66 out of 180 on the Press Freedom Index, up from 75 in 2022 and 98 in 2021. However the next 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 report ranges of journalist imprisonment in 2021 and 2023 and elevated killings in 2022. Journalists are notably in danger when reporting on elections, comparable to in Bangladesh, or on worldwide conflicts just like the Israel-Hamas struggle. They will 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.