Journalist Allegedly “Tortured” at the Home of Sacked Minister

A journalist working for a French language daily Le Jour newspaper, has been tortured and threatened with a gun by the family of ousted Minister of Transport, Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o, journalduCameroun.com has reported.

According to our source, Caristan Isseri was tortured while he visited the home of the sacked minister of transport, Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo’o for a report in Yaoundé.

Following this mishap that befell him, the National Union of Journalists of Cameroon known by its French acronym as (SNJC) issued a statement on March 4, 2018, condemning and denouncing the attack on the journalist Caristan Isseri, while he was only carrying out his professional duty.

On Saturday, March 3, 2018, as part of the media coverage of this ministerial reorganization the day before, Caristan Isseri was assigned to the home of the said minister. "During his gathering of information in the vicinity of the former minister, he was called by guards who opened the gate.

According to sources, the journalist underwent a serious interrogation on the reasons for his presence at the home of the former minister.

From 6.30 pm to 9 pm, he was molested, tortured and thrown into one of the cages of the dog where he was locked up, before being sprayed with water by a pipe, reported journalduCameroun.com.

In an address signed by its president, Denis Kwebo, the SNJC has strongly condemned the act committed by the relatives of Edgar Mebe Ngo’o by using excessive violence on a journalist that was only doing his job.

TCR learnt that even though the minister did not personally react to the torture, his entourage is reported to have hinted that the journalist was molested on grounds of violation of the residence of the minister and even for “espionage”.

However, for its part, French language online newspaper Cameroon Info Net, reported that the journalist was never molested at the home of Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo’o.

According to CIN, even though the journalist was discovered to have lied that he was in the home of the minister to get his reaction after not being reappointed in the recent cabinet reshuffle, the former minister asked that he be set free and his phone given back to him after he was caught filming the cars, the home and taking names of the children of the former minister in his phone.

The online publication also rubbished claims that the journalist was beaten and locked up in one of the cages of the dogs in the house of former minister Edgar Mebe Ngo’o and qualifies it as the works of enemies of the minister that want to show that the ex-minister is unfriendly to the press.

We also learnt from CIN that while some 6 journalists were interviewing the former minister to get reaction to his ouster from government, the journalist was busy filming the house and cars of the former minister.

“The security forces had taken time to tell him what to say. He had a hard time saying exactly what they wanted. There is one important detail that we do not see on the video: he had a gun pointed at him. It is clear that he was frightened,” said Yannick Assongmo Necdem, journalist and staff delegate to the daily Le Jour, who spoke on this topic on Monday on the BBC.

TCR also learnt that the journalist was hospitalized in the National Emergency Center in Yaoundé but later returned home after receiving treatment for some injuries sustained. But; CIN disputes this claim saying that the journalist was pictured doing very well and was never hospitalized.

There are indications that the SNJC plans to petition the head of state on the molestation and has also warned its members not to go close to dignitaries that have been humiliated by this recent cabinet shakeup.