(MFWA/IFEX) – On 27 March 2007, a member of the Autonomous Presidential Security Battalion (BASP), the presidential guard of Guinean President Lansana Conté, attacked Abdallah Baldé, a reporter with the privately-owned Conakry-based newspaper “Guinée-News”, for taking photographs of the first couple. The guard also seized Baldé’s digital camera and damaged it before returning it to […]
(MFWA/IFEX) – On 27 March 2007, a member of the Autonomous Presidential Security Battalion (BASP), the presidential guard of Guinean President Lansana Conté, attacked Abdallah Baldé, a reporter with the privately-owned Conakry-based newspaper “Guinée-News”, for taking photographs of the first couple.
The guard also seized Baldé’s digital camera and damaged it before returning it to the journalist the following day.
The journalist, who had gone to the headquarters of the ruling party Parti Unité et du Progrès (PUP) to cover a news conference, was beaten up by supporters who chased him off the premises.
The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) correspondent reported that the incident occurred when Baldé took photographs of President Conté and his wife, Henriette Conté, while he (Conté) was addressing the conference.
The correspondent said when it was clear that Baldé was from the private press, the presidential guard attacked him and seized the camera.