por ALFREDO AZCARATE VARELA
THE BAJA POST/EDITOR
A reporter from the Des Moines Register was found not guilty by an Iowa jury, Andrea Sahouri had been arrested during a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020, days after George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis, her case has drawn the attention of international press, and First Amendment advocates have stated that there is a considerable growth in recent arrests of journalists in the United States.
Sahouri, a 25-year-old reporter, was doing her job at the George Floyd´s killing protests, when a Police officer pepper sprayed her, and proceeded to lock her wrists with plastic zips, even when she had identified as a journalist.
“I shouted ‘Press, Press’, but the police officer didn´t care and charged against me”, she explained in court, but the officer answered, “That’s not what I asked” while he sprayed her and locked her wrists with a plastic zip. According to the prosecutor, she had failed to dispersed, when asked to do so by the Police, but she said that she was only doing her job.
But Police body cam showed that, as she was trying to deal with the spray attack she shouted “I´m just doing my job”, but the policeman carried on, a vivid image of what the oppress has to endure and this has called for the attention of international freedom of press and free journalism defense organizations.
The police who pepper sprayed and tied Sahouri, is an indenified as Luke Wilson, she said she was trying to run away from a squad wearing riot gear and shooting tear gas, when she saw Wilson running towards her, and she even stopped and raised her hands, and (again) claiming out loud that she was just a journalist doing her job.
DES MOINES REGISTER reporter found not guilty
