Nat’l Security dismisses torture allegations by ModernGhana editor

The National Security Council Secretariat has flatly denied allegations that it subjected one of the arrested journalists of online news portal Modern Ghana to acts of torture. “We consider it to be a clear and deliberate attempt by the suspect to discredit the investigations and the case against him,” the Council said in a statement issued on Monday. After he was picked up together with reporter Emmanuel Biritwum last Thursday, editor Emmanuel Ajarfor Abugri, as reported in a Facebook post by Multimedia journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni, accused the National Security of subjecting him to inhumane treatment. The post said after being asked to delete the articles that apparently impugned the National Security Minister, “they were tortured and asked to confess who was behind those articles”. “They also say they were slapped and tortured with electric shock and subjected to physical assaults,” Manasseh Azure Awuni wrote. But the Council insists that the suspect “was never manhandled, neither was he subjected to any form of forced physical contact”. It said the the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police Service, which was notified about the situation and handed the suspect, has requested a medical investigation “immediately”. “We are confident that the results of the medical examination will present the truth in the matter, so as to inform the appropriate steps to be taken.” It assured the public that it will work within law in handling the issue. Last Friday, the Secretariat justified the raid of the offices of Modern Ghana. Source: editors.3news.com|Ghana