https://www.myjoyonline.com/freelance-journalist-re-arrested-by-national-security/-------https://www.myjoyonline.com/freelance-journalist-re-arrested-by-national-security/

A Freelance Journalist, Sacut Amenga-Etego, has been re-arrested by operatives of the National Security shortly after he was discharged by the Criminal Court 4 Division of the High Court.

Sacut Amenga-Etego was arrested last week Thursday by the National Security for filming court proceedings.

Her Ladyship, Lydia Osei Marfo, who was presiding over the extortion case that Sacut Amenga-Etego filmed, ordered the journalist’s detention and asked him to hand over his phone and provide his passwords to enable investigation into his conduct.

According to Her Ladyship, the conduct of the journalist is a threat to the Court if not the country at large.

The National Security operatives, after investigations reported their findings to the judge on Tuesday.

The judge, upon going through the report and attached annexures, said she “purposed to cause Sacut to read a bit of what he had said on his WhatsApp page against me as a person, but for the respect I have for my learned friends who have come on his behalf, I will not let him read it.”

However, she captured excerpts of Sacut’s WhatsApp communication about her to an unidentified person as follows:

“Judge is clearly against the state prosecutor”. In another, he went like, “but she is biased against the foreigners”. Then he went ahead, “she is using the fact that they are foreigners”, “hopefully she does not oppose bail application."

Another message read “she is a small girl”; “she is granting bail”, “she also refuses them bail, of course on the basis of being foreigners”, “she is a bitch”, among others.

The Court denied a request by the National Investigations Bureau (NIB) to retain his phone for further investigations.

“For purposes of the exercise we are doing today, I am unable to grant the request. However, the investigators know the right process to have these gadgets investigated. In the interim, however, those phones can be kept for the next five days after which if they have not approached any Court for an order to extract information thereon, the same should be given back to the owner.

“I have not cited Sacut for any contempt of the Court. I have no desire to do so, although he has bruised my ego. I will hereby discharge him to go out of my Court as a free man. I am very grateful to his lawyers as well for the respect they have given to this Court,” Her Ladyship, Lydia Osei Marfo, ruled.

But after the ruling, the National Security operatives arrested him.

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DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.



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