Ghana: CFWIJ condemns the arbitrary detention of journalist Zoe Abu-Baidoo Addo and her colleague Caleb Kudah

May 26, 2021, Accra - Police officers in the capital arbitrarily detained and beat journalist Caleb Kudah. While he was kept in custody, the officers discovered the data Kudah had shared with colleague Zoe Abu-Baidoo Addo. Addo was then tricked into coming to the police station where she, too, was detained by officials, who also confiscated her phone.

The incident took place on May 11, outside the Ministry of National Security. Caleb Kadah, at the time, was investigating potential corruption in the government’s dealings. According to the journalist, he was photography government vehicles that, he claims, were purchased at an inflated price. The police apprehended him while he was doing his job, and illegally detained him. He was allegedly physically assaulted while in custody, and the police deleted the data off his phone. 

However, during their questioning, police officers became aware of the photographs he had transferred to colleague Zoe Abu-Baidoo Addo for safekeeping. Upon finding this out, police officials messaged Addo, pretending to be Kudah and tricked her into coming to Citi FM’s headquarters, where they detained her at gunpoint. At the police station, they confiscated her phone and deleted the data on it as well. In an interview to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Kudah claimed that he was held in custody for five hours, and was handcuffed during that time. 

This is a horrifying example of police brutality and institutional overreach. Neither Kudah, nor Addo engaged in any illegal activity that could justify police action. In fact, police officers were in clear violation of the civil rights of both journalists. They were apprehended, not through a legal warrant, but through literally a threat to their life. The police officials were also acting extra-judicially while searching and deleting data from their private phones, without any search warrants or legal permission to do so.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism condemns the actions of the police in the strongest possible terms. From the very moment of Kudah’s detention, the officers were violating the law and abusing their power, and should thus, be held to account. Free press and investigative journalism are cornerstones of a thriving civil society, and any attack on these institutions is a breach of democratic principles.