Media Foundation for West Africa (Accra)
14 March 2008
press release
On 11 March 2008, Atizar Mendes Pereira, journalist and director of "Última Hora", a privately-owned Bissau-based newspaper, was arrested and detained by the Intelligence Service of the Ministry of Interior of Guinea Bissau.
Media Foundation for West Africa's (MFWA) correspondent reported that Pereira was interrogated for nearly six hours, before being released.
The correspondent said the arrest of the journalist followed the publication of an article in "Última Hora", which said that the Chief of Staff of the country's Armed Forces, General Baptista Tagme Nawaie, had assumed the role of promoting police officers.
Pereira later told the media that despite the psychological torture he suffered, he still stands by his story and that he would not retract even a comma.
Two organisations, the National Union of Journalists and Social Communications Technicians and the Human Rights League, have condemned the arrest and detention of the journalist.
According to the Human Rights League, the action of the State Intelligence was illegal and violates the principle of the rule of law of the country.
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