AYV News, May 8, 2025
The Guild of Newspaper Editors in Sierra Leone strongly condemns the violent assault on Journalist Prince Christopher Kamara, Editor of Open Space Newspaper, allegedly by multiple staff members of the state broadcaster, Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) on Tuesday, 6th May, 2025.
“On Tuesday, 6th May, 2025, I received a report about an alleged strike action in progress at the Sierra Leone Broadcasting Corporation. I went to investigate and interviewed the Deputy Director General, Asmiu Bah, in the presence of Sheku Sumaila. After we spoke, he directed me to meet the Director General for more information. On arrival at the floor of the DG, I met a large crowd of SLBC workers talking loudly. I greeted and as I tried to make my way through the crowd to reach the DG’s office, one woman whom I can identify pointed at me, telling her colleagues that I am the journalist who had written about the SLBC. Before I could realise the threat I faced, the group encircled me and beat the daylight out if me, threw me down the stairs, beat me with sticks and canes before carrying me shoulder high out of Broadcasting House into the compound and threw me out of the gate onto the street. In the process, I sustained a wound on my head, and I am now suffering from pain all over my body. I have formally reported the matter to the SLBC DG, Police and SLAJ. Please help me.”
In a press statement, the Secretary General of the Guild, Ishmail Saidu Kanu, said Prince was at the SLBC premises to verify reports of a staff strike when he was identified by some employees as the author of a critical article. He was then beaten by over a dozen individuals and sustained a head injury before being forcibly removed from the compound.
Ishmail described the act as one which constitutes a gross violation of journalistic freedom and a breach of Mr. Kamara’s constitutional and legal rights. He said the Guild views the assault as a dangerous precedent for freedom of expression and the safety of
journalists in Sierra Leone.
The Guild has urged the SLBC leadership to immediately launch a thorough and impartial investigation and hold all perpetrators accountable.
Chairman of the Guild, Thomas Josephus Dixon, said: “The media that is always probing and giving opinions of others should be more tolerable when the beam light is turned on itself. Media gangsterism should not be encouraged. We are trained to use our pens and microphones intelligently. Let us reject media gangsterism”.
The Guild calls on all media institutions to uphold the rule of law, professionalism, and tolerance, even in the face of criticism, stating: “We stand in solidarity with Mr. Kamara and reaffirm our commitment to defending the rights, dignity, and safety of all media professionals in Sierra Leone”.
