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| The Star reporter Justus Ochieng recording statement at Kisumu Central Police Station after three CID officers allegedly assaulted him after his arrest last Wednesday. Photo/JUSTUS OCHIENG |
Last month, police threatened and briefly detained Justus Ochieng, a reporter for the privately owned daily The Star, in connection with a story he wrote that alleged criminal activity by police officers in the region, the journalist told CPJ.
Ochieng
told CPJ that in Kisumu on October 2, three police officers with Kenya's
Criminal Investigations Department threatened him with "dire consequences for exposing
their colleagues." The Star reporter said he filed police reports
with the Kisumu Central Police Station and the National Police Service
Commission, requesting an investigation into the threats.
He
said that when he returned to the police station on October 29 to follow up on
the police reports, he was arrested and held for eight hours. One of the
arresting officers was from the same group that had threatened him earlier that
month, he said.
Police
said Ochieng was arrested after being accused of libeling James Oswago, the former chief executive of the
electoral commission, in a story in June, according to local journalists and news reports. Ochieng had written about a woman who alleged
she had been swindled out of money by Oswago. In subsequent news reports, Oswago
denied that he had swindled the woman.
News
reports citing police said that Ochieng had been arrested on the orders of the
director of public prosecutions but also cited unnamed sources at the
prosecution office saying the director had no knowledge of the order.
Ochieng
told CPJ that he is scheduled to appear in court on November 10, where he will
be officially charged with libel.
The
police harassment follows a series of stories Ochieng wrote in September and October that alleged a police
officer at Kisumu Central Police Station had robbed members of the public, including another police
officer. Police are investigating the allegations, Kisumu County Criminal
Investigations Department Commander Moses Dindi told CPJ.
"Instead of arresting criminals, Kenyan
police arrest those who report on criminal activity," said CPJ East Africa
Representative Tom Rhodes. "We call on authorities to enforce the rule of
law in Western Kenya, which includes allowing journalists such as Justus
Ochieng to do their work without being harassed, threatened, or arrested."
Kenyan
police have a history of intimidating the press. In May, Star journalist
Lynda Ngoolo received phone threats from who she alleged were police in Mwingi
Town, central Kenya, and went into hiding for three months, Ngoolo told CPJ. The threats
occurred after she wrote a story in April that urged police to investigate claims that
terrorists were using a home within the town as a safe house.
CPJ
continues to call on Kenyan authorities to investigate the 2009 killing of Weekly
Citizen journalist Francis Nyayuri. Local journalists told CPJ they had been
told that Nyaruri was killed on orders of high-ranking officers. The murder
remains unsolved.
Source: www.cpj.org
CPJ is an
independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom
worldwide.
Contact:
Sue Valentine
Africa Program
Coordinator
Peter Nkanga
West Africa
Representative
Email: pnkanga@cpj.org
Tom Rhodes
East Africa
Representative
Email: trhodes@cpj.org
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