Three Nation Media Group journalists were on Thursday, May 14, 2020, dramatically arrested after they called the police on ongoing protests at Makima, Embu County.
In a video shared by the media house, the journalists are seen being escorted by police officers into an awaiting vehicle, with orders to delete the video they had taken of the officers.
"I want to know who are these media people, let us go the vehicle," an officer stated as he pushed them towards a police vehicle on standby.
The journalists had notified the police after demonstrations they had gone to cover turned chaotic.
"We are the ones who raised an alarm that there was a guy here who was almost killed. We called the county commander himself and then you showed up," one the journalists asserted.
They decried being arrested without legal cause and that their equipment had been left in a vehicle on the site of the protests.
"You cannot come and arrest me, and then later ask me who I am, what have I done. You should have asked me so before throwing me into the vehicle," another journalist wondered.
They further lamented about how the inexplicable arrest had disrupted their schedule.
The incident coming at a time when there have been rising cases of violence against journalists by police officers.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, Media Council of Kenya (MCK) CEO David Omwoyo on May 5, 2020, revealed that 36 journalists had been assaulted in the line of duty, over the last 4 months translating to at least 9 journalist-related attacks per month, with some involving mysterious deaths.
"The key perpetrators according to our data is the police, political fanatics and unknown assailants in that order.
"This worrying increase symbolises a rise of impunity within the country as a quick look across other countries will show you that countries with good and just governance are the safest for journalists," Omwoyo had stated.
Omwoyo issued a rallying call to all journalists to step up to avert the worrying trends by identifying and exposing offenders.
"The only way to save ourselves is to highlight and isolate individual perpetrators of these heinous crimes, and ensure that justice is served.
"Thinking that the rights of journalists to be protected can exist amidst rampant cases of human rights violations is a fallacy. We need to point out these perpetrators and do it repeatedly in order to effect change," he had stated.
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