The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has asked President John Dramani Mahama to ensure that nobody seizes or searches the devices being used by media practitioners for their work in the country.
The CPJ made the request in a letter written to the president after learning that Ghanaian security forces have acquired some “digital investigations tools designed to access and extract information from phones and computers” seized from journalists.
Headquartered in New York City, United States of America (USA), the CPJ is an independent non-profit organisation that promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists around the world.
The committee is concerned that such seizures and unwarranted access is not only a violation of media practitioners’ right to privacy but also could expose their sources to endanger.
The two-page letter, signed by the CPJ’s Africa Regional Director Angela Quintal, also highlights the committee’s concerns about some laws being used to criminalise the press in Ghana.
“For example, Section 208 of Ghana’s Criminal Offenses Act, which relates to the publication of false news and carries a penalty of up to three years in prison, has been used to charge journalists in connection with their work.
“False news is also criminalized under Section 76 of Ghana’s Electronic Communications Act, carrying a prison term of up to five years. Local press freedom advocates have issued calls to reform these laws,” the letter partly reads.
Another concern expressed in the CPJ letter is “persistent cases of attacks, murders, arrests and other threats against journalists.”
“Perpetrators of such attacks on press freedom include security forces, politicians, and their supporters. The January 2019 murder of journalist Ahmed Hussein-Suale Divela sparked outcry from the Ghanaian media and government officials, but no one has been held accountable in his case.
“Over the four years following his killing, CPJ similarly found a broad pattern of impunity in the cases of at least 30 Ghanaian journalists and media workers who faced abuses in connection with their work. Such attacks have continued, including during this first period of your tenure. Your intervention is needed to reverse these patterns,” the letter stressed.
Source: Edward Adeti/Media Without Borders/mwbonline.org/Ghana
