MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th May, 2019) The Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency on Wednesday called on the Sudanese authorities to thoroughly investigate the attack by the African country's military police on a Sputnik correspondent in the capital city of Khartoum.
Earlier in the day, Sputnik's correspondent in Sudan, Mohamad Al Fatih, said the military police beat him up when he was reporting from the streets of protest-torn Khartoum. The journalist said one of the soldiers broke his mobile phone, while another group of five military personnel hit his head and torso with batons even though he told them he was a journalist and reporting on the situation at the request of the newsdesk.
"Unfortunately, attacks on journalists by law enforcement officers have become more frequent. On May 1, police beat up a RIA Novosti correspondent in Paris, while today our colleague suffered from police [brutality] in Sudan while performing his duties ... We call on the Sudanese authorities to carry out a thorough investigation into this incident, and on rights organizations and NGOs to monitor this issue," the agency's press service said.
Sudan has experienced months of anti-government protests, which culminated in a military coup on April 11. The ruling Sudanese Transitional Military Council came to power and pledged to hold a new election within two years. Former President Omar Bashir, who had been in power for 30 years, was overthrown and then imprisoned. However, the protests continued.
The attack on a Sputnik correspondent comes two weeks after a reporter for RIA Novosti was similarly beaten up by police while covering a May 1 rally in Paris. Both outlets are part of the Rossiya Segodnya news agency.
Russia's Foreign Ministry has demanded that France probe the attack. The female journalist, Viktoria Ivanova, suffered concussion and bruises to her arm and shoulder after police hit her with a baton as she was filming a demonstration on her mobile phone. She said she was attacked despite wearing visible "press" signs.
