Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), in a letter to Juan Orlando Hernandez, President of Honduras has expressed concern over the attack on a Radio Progreso press team on the road that leads from the city of El Progreso to the municipality of Tela, department of Atlantida.

PPF Secretary General Owais Aslam Ali has condemned this act and has urged authorities and police to stop attacking journalists and allow them to do their jobs freely. PPF also urges an investigation into the incident.

According to the Committee for Free Expression (C-Libre), on September 7, a Radio Progreso team went to cover a protest organized by students of two Perla Del Ulua institutes, the Eduardo Hernandez Chevez Institute and the Jose Trinidad Reyes, at the Quebrada Seca bridge.

A police officer sprayed pepper spray on the face of journalist Inmer Gerardo Chevez while he was covering the protest. The spray not only caused the journalist pain but he also had trouble breathing. Karen Paredes, a colleague of Chevez was also affected by the spray.

Gerardo Chevez is a recipient of Precautionary Measures, granted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH), since 2010, after receiving death threats on his mobile phone, for his coverage of the coup d’état in 2009.