A Rwandan journalist was beaten unconscious and left in a coma for hours by unknown attackers, a media rights group said on Wednesday.
Rwanda’s government has long been criticised for keeping a tight grip on the media. Kigali is accused of arresting and harassing journalists who write critical articles about the government.
Jean-Bosco Gasasira, managing editor of the independent fortnightly Umuvugizi, was beaten up as he got into his car on February 9 night, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said.
At a news conference with the president last year, Gasasira had complained that unidentified people were trailing him and that he had received telephone threats warning him about the content of his publications.
”Now that the editor has just emerged from a coma caused by a beating, strong measures must be taken as a matter of urgency,” an RSF statement said.
”This must start with a gesture from President Paul Kagame, who must finally learn to listen to the independent press instead of treating it as an enemy.”
Several other journalists have either been forced to flee while others languish in prison cells.
”This is an indication that the government is becoming more repressive on the media,” said Charles Kabonera, an editor of Umuseso, a leading independent paper. ”I think the beating was planned because Gasasira had complained previously.”
Kabonera has been held in a police cell four times and once at Kigali’s main central prison in connection to his publications.
Both the government and Rwandans routinely criticise the media, saying its work is unprofessional and that journalists are often untrained.
Rwandan police said they had finalised investigations into the beating but hesitated to reveal their findings. — Reuters