Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) in a letter to Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga, Prime Minister of Mali has expressed concern over the physical assault on a journalist in Mali.
PPF Secretary General Owais Aslam Ali in his letter, condemned this brutal attack on a journalist for simply informing public about the performance of Commission. PPF urged the authorities to immediately and independently investigate the matter and hold the Colonel responsible for such vicious act.
According to Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Colonel Abdoulaye Makalou, a Malian soldier and secretary general of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (CVJR) has physically assaulted and degraded Hamidou Toure El Hadji, managing director of malimedias.com (an online news organization).
Toure was assaulted for criticizing the commission’s lack of results in a Facebook article.
The Colonel summoned Toure to his office on November 29, the editor than requested to meet the officer in a public place instead of his office. Toure’s car however stopped in the mid-way, as he was waiting for his car to get fixed, the Colonel reached on the spot and took him away to his office along with his cousin who accompanying him for security reasons.
Toure was hit several times by Makalou’s bodyguards and he was forced to drink his own urine. Toure’s cousin was also beaten in a separate room. Makalou also threatened Toure with death if he informed about the incident to anyone. Although the journalist lodged a complaint against the Colonel with the military unit of the Gendarmerie to which Makalou belongs.
