RSF flays police torture on newsman | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

RSF flays police torture on newsman

KARACHI (PPI): Reporters Sans Frontieres RSF (Reporters Without Borders), the Paris based international organization of journalists has condemned the severe beating which reporter Aoun Sahi of “The News” daily newspaper and his brother, Ali Muslim, received from police in Daska, in Punjab, on 5 February 2008.

Sahi said they were stopped by police as they were traveling by motorcycle to Sialkot. The pollice began hitting them when Sahi objected and showed his press card. One of the policemen reportedly said – “We know what to do with journalists; you think we are afraid of you.”

The two brothers were then taken to the Daska police station where they were again beaten by policemen using belts and iron bars until relatives and other police officers intervened.

.The Sialkot police chief suspended two officers and promised to investigate and punish those responsible for the assault. Federal human rights minister Ansar Burni has sent a report on the incident to the Punjab government.

A recent Reporters Without Borders press release listed police violence as
one of the five major problems to be solved before the 18 February parliamentary elections.

JOURNALIST DEPLORE ALLEGED ABDUCTION
The Journalists community Saturday deplored the alleged abduction of cousin of a local journalist, who was taken away by some unknown person on February 2, from the limits of Police Station Waleed, Larkana.

The journalists of different print and electronic media organisations, including Shams Kerio, Amar Guriro, Agha Syed Karam Ali Shah and others have deplored the incident and called for registration of the case and immediate action for recovery of the abductee, Mazafar Ali Abbasi, 22, a private contractor.

According to eyewitnesses, some unknown armed kidnapers taken away Mazafar from Eis farm, situated in Larkana. The abductee is missing after the reported kidnapping incident, took place on February 2, 2008. The journalists have called for immediate removal of the District Police Officer Larkana.
Source: The Nation
Date:2/10/2008