The National Media Commission (NMC) has asked the Police administration to immediately deal with the policemen who assaulted three Ghanaian Times journalists in Accra, on Thursday.
A statement issued by NMC chairman, Yaw Boadu Ayeboafoh yesterday said the police should take steps to arrest the culprits without shifting the responsibility to identify them on the journalists.
In the view of the commission, the police should not find any difficulty in identifying the policemen involved since one of the journalists was arrested and detained at the Ministries Police Station.
“The investigation should go further into the conduct of the station officer as to the reason for the detention of the journalist,” the statement said.
The Ghanaians Times reporters were assaulted on Thursday by about 10 policemen and a military man.
Malik Sullemana and Raissa Sambou were physically brutalised for engaging a policeman who had jumped traffic and broken the bumper, mirror and windscreen of the Nissan saloon car they were travelling on.
Raissa, who is a nursing mother, had to be rushed to the Greater Accra Regional (Ridge) Hospital after going unconscious as she was elbowed and punched in the tummy by one of the raging policemen.
Malik, who was thrown into a police cell for close to four hours at the Ministries Police Station, received medical attention later at the Cocoa Clinic.
A Senior Assistant Editor, Salifu Abdul Rahman, was also heckled by the men in uniform with threats to confiscate his bag and phone.
In a related development, the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has expressed shock at “the brutal assault”and has called on the police administration to investigate the incident and punish the culprits.
Referring to an assurance by the Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police Service, ACP David Eklu, that justice would be served, a statement issued by MFWA yesterday, said it would take the police by their word.
“The MFWA takes the police administration by their word and urges them to demonstrate their abhorrence of the unprofessional behaviour of the officers involved by bringing them to book. We also call on the management of the Ghanaian Times to pursue the matter to its logical conclusion,” it said.
The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) on Thursday also condemned the attack and called for swift investigation and justice delivery. Several Ghanaians including journalists have likewise expressed same sentiments on social media.
This incident comes nearly a year after a similarly brutal police assault on Joy News reporter Latif Iddris at the premises of the police headquarters. This incident which occurred on March 27, 2018, has since not been redressed despite several assurances by the police authorities.
BY TIMES REPORTER