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Alert

Police detain, reportedly assault radio journalist

(MFWA/IFEX) - On 12 May 2011, Franklin Doloque, a correspondent for Truth FM, a privately-owned Monrovia-based radio station, was detained for four hours in Nimba, a county in the north-central part of Liberia, for allegedly challenging the police. Before his detention at the Ganta Police Station, Doloque was also allegedly assaulted by the police officers.

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA)'s correspondent reported that Doloque met his ordeal at J. W. Pearson Public School, one of the centres of the ongoing West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations in the country.

The MFWA correspondent said the reporter had gone to inquire about pregnant candidates at the school who had been denied the opportunity to write the exams against a directive by the country's educational authorities for female pregnant students to write the exams.

According to Doloque, he was forced to apologise in writing to the police officer on duty before being released.

When MFWA's correspondent contacted the police, they confirmed detaining the reporter for arguing with a police officer, but denied assaulting him.

In another development, on the night of 12 May, armed robbers broke into the offices of the privately-owned "Informer" newspaper and made away with three computers and a television set.

Although investigations have yet to be completed, the management of the newspaper suspects sabotage. D. Kaiheneh Sengbe, the paper's managing editor, wondered why attackers had singled out only the "Informer"'s office for attack in a building complex housing ten other offices.