ANKARA
Global media rights groups have strongly condemned the mistreatment of an Anadolu Agency journalist by U.S. police in the riot-hit Missouri town of Ferguson.
Bilgin Sasmaz was threatened, manhandled and detained for five hours while covering disturbances in the St Louis suburb Tuesday. A police officer has been suspended from duty in relation to the incident.
The town has seen repeated confrontation between police and protesters, after an 18-year-old black male called Michael Brown was killed in a confrontation with a white police officer on August 9.
Barry White, from London-based Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom, described the mistreatment as a "disgrace."
Sarah Kavanagh of the National Union of Journalists, the British and Irish reporters’ trade union, said that she was shocked to hear a journalist from the Anadolu Agency had been detained and threatened.
Camille Soulier of Journalists Without Borders condemned Sasmaz’s mistreatment and called for a swift investigation into the incident.
Steven M. Ellis, a senior adviser at the International Press Institute, called the detention of Sasmaz "unacceptable" and said the U.S. had set a "bad example to the countries expected to show respect to press freedom".
He added: "The footage we saw in Ferguson makes us question the loyalty of state institutions to this freedom. Also, it unfortunately may give an example for other regimes on weakening press freedom."
International Federation of Journalists President Jim Boumelha stated that his organization was "angered by [the] shameful treatment of journalists during unrest in Ferguson," while Reporters Without Borders' Head of Americas' Desk Camille Soulier expressed "deep concern" to the Anadolu Agency over what she called the "deliberate targeting of journalists."
"We demand an investigation to be put in place to punish those responsible among law enforcement as well among protesters... these crimes must not go unpunished in order not to happen again," she told the AA.
Boumelha called the incident "a serious attack on the right to know of U.S. citizens," adding that it "marks a significant threat to a free press that is supposed to be protected and [is] a violation of the First Amendment."
The president of Greek Union of Photojournalists, Marios Lolos, called for solidarity with the Turkish journalist. Lolos described police treatment to the Turkish journalist as "unacceptable."
Chairman of the Azerbaijan Press Council Eflatun Amashov also condemned the mistreatment of the AA journalist.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe urged the United States law enforcement authorities to respect the rights of journalists reporting on the demonstrations in Ferguson.
OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic said: "I call on the authorities to thoroughly review the circumstances behind these incidents and to ensure that journalists covering news in Ferguson can work freely and safely."
Journalists Scott Olson, Ansgar Graw and Frank Herrmann, who were covering demonstrations in Ferguson, were arrested Monday in separate incidents. All three were later released.
On 13 August, local police arrested Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery and Huffington Post reporter Ryan J. Reilly; an Al Jazeera TV crew was sprayed with tear gas while reporting on the demonstrations.
Mijatovic stated that she was aware of the sensitive situation in the district but said the rights of the press should be taken into consideration when law enforcement officials maintain public order.
"Journalists should not be intimidated by police," Mijatovic said. She also pointed to President Barack Obama’s condemnation of the arrests of journalists in Ferguson last week.
Clashes between police and protesters spread over the weekend following the release of the name of the white officer -- Darren Wilson -- who shot unarmed Brown, igniting racial tensions in the predominantly black city.
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