Florence Uwaeme
A civil society organization, Amnesty International has condemned the arrest and interrogation of the Editor of thePortcitynews by men of the Rivers State Police Command.
The editor, Okenyi Kenechi was arrested on Friday on the orders of the commissioner of police, Joseph Mukan, over an exclusive story detailing allegations of age falsification by the CP.
The police boss later forced him to publish a rebuttal to say that the story was false.
But the organization in a statement titled “POLICE: STOP GAGGING THE MEDIA” said “Amnesty International condemns the arrest of Kenechi Okenyi, news editor of the ‘Port City News,’ -an online medium, over a story which was deemed too critical of the Rivers State commissioner of police.
“Okenyi, was arrested at about 3.12 pm on Friday 13 November and taken to the state police command where he was detained and interrogated for about 8-hours. His phones were taken away and he was not allowed access to his lawyer. He was granted bail around 11:10 pm only after he was forced to write a rebuttal to his initial story.
“This shocking pattern of harassing journalists is unacceptable. Nigeria has an obligation to respect & protect the right to freedom of expression and the rights of journalists to hold opinions and disseminate information”
Meanwhile, Digital Lawyers Initiative has promised file a fundamental human right suit challenging the illegal arrest.
The group said demanding for the source of his story is an infringement of on his right to freedom of expression and the press. The right protects the SOURCE of your story as a journalist.
According to them, further asking him or compelling him to write a rebuttal is censorship and this is a clear violation of your right to freedom of expression and the press and also the PUBLIC RIGHT TO KNOW.
“At this stage, his RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND THE PRESS has been infringed upon, the RIGHT OF THE PUBLIC TO KNOW has been violated too”.
Amnesty International condemns the arrest of Kenechi Okenyi, news editor of the ‘Port City News,’ -an online medium, over a story which was deemed too critical of the Rivers State commissioner of police @PoliceNG #PressforFreedom #Nigeria pic.twitter.com/6UBraVM0cZ
— Amnesty International Nigeria (@AmnestyNigeria) November 14, 2020
