Amnesty Int’l calls for launch of journalist jailed over feedback on police

Amnesty International has referred to as for the instant launch of 23-year-old Nagarta Radio journalist Farida Isiak, who was sentenced to 4 years in jail with the choice of a N1.75 million tremendous after a Facebook publish criticizing cops in Kaduna State.

The rights group said that her arrest and punishment “were clearly because of her attempt to expose abuses by the police.”

“Sentencing a journalist to 4-years in prison after a sham trial is a travesty of justice,” the organisation mentioned.

According to Amnesty International, the ordeal began from a minor dispute over a N100 change between Isiak’s mom and a neighbor throughout a charcoal transaction. Police initially arrested her mom, detained her father when he went to safe her launch, and used them as leverage to power Isiak to the station.

Although Isiak deleted the crucial Facebook publish and apologized beneath strain, officers stored her in custody and arraigned her earlier than a Sharia Court in Kawo. The presiding choose handed down the sentence for defamation whereas “completely ignoring the initial police misconduct and the abusive actions that led to the incident.”

Amnesty International condemned the motion as “a flagrant abuse of power by the police and weaponization of the judicial system to silence free speech and intimidate journalists.”

The organisation demanded that the Kaduna State Police Command and judicial authorities instantly launch Isiak, drop all expenses, cancel the tremendous, and launch an impartial investigation into the officers concerned.