The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns firmly the physical assault and violence by security operatives and supporters of the opposition Sierra Leone people’s party (SLPP) in Bo, Southern Sierra Leone against ten journalists.

The assaulted journalists are David Jabati, Editor of Exclusive Newspaper; Sulaiman Storm Koroma of Radio Democracy FM 98.1; Idrissa Sesay, Alimamy Lahai Kamara and Aruna P. Kamara all of the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Service; Mohamed Kabbah and Bampia Bundu of Awareness Times Newspaper, Abdul Kamara of Star Radio, James Fillie of Eastern Radio and Ishmael Bayoh of Awoko Newspaper.

“This barbaric violence of against journalists is unacceptable” said Gabriel Baglo, Director of the IFJ Africa Office. “the security forces should have rather protected the journalists to work safely” he added.

The journalists were invited by the party to cover their national delegates’ conference when they were beaten up as they attempted to record and take pictures of an open session of the second day of proceedings on Saturday 27 February 2010. According to Sierra Leone Association of Journalist (SLAJ) their recording and communications equipment including digital cameras and mobile phones were seized or stolen from them by people including some high ranking members of SLPP.

Reacting to the incident, the President of SLAJ Umaru Fofana urged the Police to treat the matter with the seriousness it deserves especially at a moment when as a nation “we should be consolidating our hard won peace”. “SLAJ urges also the leadership of the SLPP to show decent character and cooperate fully with the police in investigating the incident to demonstrate their willingness to respect the rule of law. Anything short of that will not be accepted” he added.

IFJ call for a quick and objective investigation in order to identify and punish severely perpetrators of these cruel acts which constitute a setback to democracy.

For more information contact +221 33 867 95 87
The IFJ represents over 600,000 journalists in 125 countries worldwide