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Alert

Newspaper journalist assaulted, briefly detained by police officer

(MFWA/IFEX) - On November 16, 2006 Alpha Camara, a reporter for "L'Observateur", a privately-owned weekly newspaper, was attacked by a police officer from the criminal investigations department (Direction de la Police Judiciaire) in Kaloum district, southwest of Conakry, the capital.

The journalist was detained for an hour in custody and was released on the intervention of the chair of the National Council for Communication (CNCC), Boubacar Yacine Diallo.

Media Foundation for West Africa's (MFWA) correspondent said Camara had gone to cover the general meeting of the Conseil National du Patronat Guinéen, the employers' council of Guinea. On reaching the venue, the officer asked him to leave because he had not been invited to the meeting.

According to MFWA's correspondent, Camara alleged that on his way out of the meeting, the officer pursued him, assaulted and dragged him to the station and then locked him up. In the scuffle, Camara lost his cellular phone.