On February 27, 2015, members of the Guinean Police and gendarmes arrested and detained Mahmoud Diary Diallo, a reporter and host at radio Lynx FM, and Algassimou Diallo, a reporter of Espace TV.
The MFWA’s correspondent in Guinea reported that the two journalists were arrested by police officers and gendarmes on the orders of the Deputy Prefect of Thionthian, a village 70 km away from the capital Conakry.
The two journalists had gone to investigate a large-scale deforestation exercise when they were arrested and detained by police officers.
“We had finished the investigation,” Diallo told MFWA’s correspondent. “We were on our way back when the Deputy Prefect sent police officers to arrest us upon the request of the Prefect, his immediate superior officer.”
According to our correspondent, they were detained for five hours and their working equipment was seized before their release without any explanation.
Abdourahmane Bah, a resident of Thionthian, told the MFWA’s correspondent that he suspects some people involved in the illegal deforestation of trees must have “bribed the officers to get them to arrest the journalists because they do not want their dealings to appear in the media.”
The MFWA urges Guinean security forces to respect and protect press freedom in accordance with their human rights and legal obligations. We are increasingly concerned with state violence against journalists and once again call on the Guinean gendarmerie to cease its attacks on journalists.
