Lands and Natural Resources Minister, John Peter Amewu, on Wednesday visited a member of his Ministry’s press corps, Latif Iddris of Joy News, one of the Multimedia Group Limited’s platforms, who was beaten by some police officers at the Headquarters of the Police Criminal Investigations Department on Tuesday.
Latif Iddris, who has been on admission at the Lighthouse Mission Hospital in Accra, sustained injuries on his ribs and neck.
[contextly_sidebar id=”MaqaxvzfAEkI9lw2YlkvUCuyEPpQH6Xs”]Latif Iddris on Tuesday night, had gone to cover protests at the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service on March 27, 2018, where a Deputy General Secretary of Ghana’s main opposition party, NDC, Koku Anyidoho, was being held on treason charges.
The journalist approached one policeman and asked him the name of one of the anti-riot vehicles that had been deployed to control the crowd.
To his shock, the innocent question angered the policeman who ordered him to get away. The police officer subsequently grabbed the retreating journalist from behind and slapped him for “asking a stupid question.”
“He then pushed me into a crowd of other police officers who had no clue what had transpired between the two of us but also started beating me up,” Iddris later narrated.
The police officers, now numbering about eight, took turns to assault the journalist.
One of them hit him in the rib with a stick; another officer used the butt of his gun to hit his head about three times. Some of the officers also kicked him.
After about seven minutes of manhandling, the reporter was rescued by another senior officer. Iddris was rushed to the Light House Hospital at North Kaneshie, a suburb of Accra, where he received treatment for the swellings on his face and bruises on his body.
Lands Minister John Peter Amewu, who condemned the action by the police, encouraged Latif not to be distracted by such acts as a journalist.
He also donated an unspecified amount of money to him to aid his treatment.
The Minister was accompanied by the Public Relations Officer of the Lands Ministry, Abraham Otabil, CitiNews’ Kojo Agyeman, Kwabena Adu Gyamfi of TV3 Network, Kweku Stephen of Oman FM, and Clara Mlano of Ghana Television.
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By: Kojo Agyeman/citifmonline.com/Ghana