Journalist Beaten By Police

...for Questioning Their Interference With Press Coverage of Sporting Event

On 1 June 2008, Samuel Ebo Bartels, sports reporter for Citi FM, an Accra-based independent radio station, was violently attacked by a group of police officers deployed at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi, Ghana's second largest city. A photojournalist who took pictures of the attack was also beaten by the same police officers.

The incident occurred after a World Cup qualifying game between the Ghanaian national football team and their Libyan counterparts.

MFWA's correspondent reported that the police prevented a number of journalists who had gone to the inner perimeter of the stadium from conducting interviews after the game. Bartels was shocked at this decision by the police and therefore queried them about it, since he had accreditation that allowed him to enter any part of the stadium.

In response, the officers, numbering about four, charged Bartels and beat him mercilessly.

After photographing the attack on Bartels, a photojournalist of the Ghana Football Association was also violently attacked by the officers.