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Editor of online news portal, modernghana.com claims he was subjected to electric shock and other forms of torture by national security operatives after his arrest last Thursday.

He told JoyNews Monday, he was beaten up, slapped for unconvincing answers.

The National Security Ministry had said the arrest of three staff of the news portal was in connection with alleged cyber crimes.  

Gun-wielding operatives stormed the company’s office in Accra without a warrant and strapped the heads of two of the staff in black polythene bags, a staff has claimed. They were then whisked away.
 
“All we knew was that we were in a building,” editor Emmanuel Ajafor Abugri said following his release Saturday. He said there was no question about alleged cyber crimes. Their captors focussed exclusively on the publication of two articles.

 One of the articles related to a protracted conflict at the University of Education, Winneba. The website published a story on National Security Minister, Albert Kan Dapaah and governing New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Member of Parliament for Effutu constituency, Alexander Afenyo-Markin.

Emmanuel Abugri explained, he received the articles under the name that included ‘Constance’ and published after it met their editorial policy. He stressed to the operatives “I am not the one who wrote it”, an answer he alleged, offended the operatives.

The journalist said, the operatives did not believe he could go ahead and publish an opinion from an unacquainted source and concluded the article was authored by him.

“They beat me a lot,” he claimed.

Private Newspaper Publishers Association of Ghana has condemned the detention of the journalists by National Security operatives describing it is a clear sign the country is lagging behind when it comes to press freedom.

Ghana lost its place as Africa’s bastion of press freedom in the 2019 World Press Freedom Index. Ghana fell four places to 27th out of 180 countries.

Executive Secretary at PRINPAG Nii Laryea Sowah said the operatives at national security do not want to learn and explained the National Media Commission exists to resolve complaints against errant journalist.

He said the Association will petition the President.