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Newspaper correspondent
arrested, detained incommunicado
On 30 June 2005,
Haruna Acheneje, the correspondent for "The Punch" newspaper in Akwa
Ibom
State
in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, was arrested by agents of Nigeria's
intelligence service, the State Security Service (SSS) in Uyo, the State
capital.
Acheneje was arrested by three SSS agents who arrived at the newspaper's
premises in a Peugeot 504 Station Wagon at about noon. He was thereafter
taken to the SSS office in Uyo where he was detained. The SSS officials
who arrested him only told him that the State Director of the SSS wanted
to see him.
Since his arrest, no one has been allowed access to him and no reason has
been given for his arrest and detention.
He was later
released without charge.
Acheneje has been a regular
guest of both the police and SSS in the State. He had earlier been ordered
to leave the state by the state House of Assembly, an action which was
roundly condemned prompting the House relent in its decision to expel him. |
