Cape Town
The Namibian police’s unprovoked arrest of New Era journalist Nuusita Ashipala in December last year has landed space in the latest Amnesty International report on human rights violations – launched this week in Johannesburg.
Ashipala, of New Era’s northern office, was physically assaulted before being kept in police detention for about 30 minutes at Oshakati while taking photos of the police arresting a criminal suspect at Game shopping center at the town.
She was thrown into a police van while her two-year-old son and another relative looked on. Large crowds of onlookers gathered around the police van to witness the drama.
She was ordered to delete the pictures as a precondition for her release.
Deemed an assault on freedom of the press, the incident attracted condemnation from the Namibian chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA).
Amnesty captured the incident in its latest report, which is distributed globally. The incident could affect Namibia’s ranking as Africa’s number one country in terms of press freedom – a ranking the country has enjoyed for the past four years, according to France-based organisation Reporters Without Borders.
Speaking to New Era in Cape Town yesterday, Amnesty International’s director for southern Africa Deprose Muchena described journalism as an interface between African economic development goals and an informed society.
“Southern Africa must protect journalism at all costs, especially right now when we are battling with major issues such as illicit outflows of millions of dollars from the region. We cannot get to the bottom of this unless journalists are allowed to carry out their investigative work without fear, intimidation or assault,” he said.
He described the assault on Ashipala as a sad incident, and urged authorities to embrace the media as a partner for socio-economic development.
The Amnesty report also highlighted the conclusion of the Caprivi high treason trial as well as the spate of killings of women as two of the issues that leave a dark spot on the country’s human rights record.