CPJ calls for drop of all charges against Whatsup News editor in chief

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on authorities in Ghana to as a matter of urgency drop all charges against the Editor of Whatsup News, David Tamakloe.

The nonprofit organization noted that Mr Tamakloe was arrested on a false charge.

CPJ's Africa Program’s coordinator, from New York, Angela Quintal, has called for an end to what she termed as an "intimidation of journalists" in the country.

She noted that “Authorities in Ghana should ensure that the criminal charge against journalist David Tamakloe is dropped and that he is permitted to work freely.”

Adding: “Ghana’s police have a pattern of trying to intimidate journalists, which must end.”

According to earlier reports, Mr Tamakloe was picked up by some personnel of the Ghana Police Service after refusing to honour a police invitation on a back of a publication by his website.

But, in a news item by Committee to Protect Journalists, David Tamakloe in a phone interview indicated that "the officers claimed they had an arrest warrant and showed him a piece of paper from a distance, but did not allow him to read it. The officers took him to the nearby Tenaso police station, before handcuffing and driving him six hours to another police station in New Edubiase, a district in the Ashanti region, where he was detained overnight and released on bail on October 8 with a 10,000 cedis ($1,721) bond and two sureties."