Thomas Naadi, the BBC reporter in Accra has confirmed that he was arrested by police along with his cameraman.
“I was among some members of the media who were also detained, but we were later released at the central police station,” he wrote in a report to the Africa LIVE page on Friday.
Later in his report on Focus on Africa TV, Naadi reiterated that he was part of journalists who were arrested by the police.
After reiterating the illegal arrest of 49 people on September 21, all of who were later granted bail, he added: “some journalists were also arrested. I was among those who were arrested.”
The Ghana Police Service on the day released an entire statement on reports that Naadi had been arrested.
A statement signed by the Head of Public Affairs Unit of the service stated that that the speculations are untrue.
“The attention of the police has been drawn to an erroneous report by a section of the media that a BBC reporter and his camera have been arrested.
“The police would like to put on record that the report is false and should be disregarded,” the statement said.
According to the police, two people among those who were arrested identified as journalists and were allowed to go immediately.
The service emphasized that it is committed to upholding security, law and order in the discharge of its duties, thus, the public must be circumspect in spreading false information.
“The facts are that in dispersing the illegal demonstrators, a group of them were picked up and sent to the police station. During their screening process, two persons two identified themselves as journalists were immediately allowed to go.
“While we assure the public of our commitment to work with all stakeholders in our quest to ensure security law and order, we want to urge all other stakeholders to be circumspect in the discharge of their responsibilities since they have implications on the image and reputation of other stakeholders,” the statement by the police added.
So Ghana police service denied the arrest of BBC journalist. Here is Thomas Naadi, the BBC journalist who was arrested by @GhPoliceService#OCCUPYJULORBIHOUSE https://t.co/1wuQuFO6QX pic.twitter.com/45NoCGkHo4
— AMG_Abor 🇦🇪🇬🇭 (@VandalAbor) September 23, 2023
Source: ghanaweb.com
