National Security Begins Probe Into Alleged Assault Of Citi FM Journalists
A four-member committee set up by the Minister for National Security, Albert Kan Dapaah, to probe claims of assault and violation of the fundamental human rights of Caleb Kudah and Zoe Abu-Baidoo Addo, broadcast journalists at Citi FM/Citi TV, have started work.
The two journalists at the heart of the controversy appeared before the committee Tuesday 18 May 2021. They were accompanied by their lawyers.
Sources at the National Security Ministry who are familiar with the ongoing probe indicated that all other persons who were directly or indirectly involved in the arrest and interrogation of Caleb Kudah and Zoe Abu-Baidoo Addo, have also appeared before the committee to testify.
The Committee according to our sources will be meeting the management of Citi FM/ Citi TV later today 19 May 2021.
Kudah was arrested by national security operatives on Tuesday, May 11, 2021, for allegedly taking pictures of vehicles parked at the National Security Ministry. Mr. Kudah later explained that he was at the Ministry to verify a claim by an official of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) that action had been taken on some vehicles he reported on some time ago. The said report indicated then that the some MASLOC vehicles had be abandoned and left to rot.
Kudah, upon his release after he was interrogated by national security officials claimed that he was brutalized and tortured during the process. Caleb Kudah in an interview with Bernard Avle on “The Point Of View” on Citi TV indicated that he was slapped several times by security officers. He also insisted that he was hit in the groin by one Lieutenant Colonel Agyeman.
The Minister for National Security according to our sources is determined to get to the bottom of happenings from the time of the arrest of Mr. Kudah, the visit of security operatives to the premises of Citi FM/ Citi TV and the alleged physical abuse of the journalists by national security operatives.
Wilberforce Asare