Location: United States, Des Moines
Date: March 18, 2021

Following the acquittal of their journalist, Andrea Sahouri, the Des Moines Register has requested that the officers who arrested Andrea be investigated. Reportedly, Andrea was pepper-sprayed and apprehended despite clarifying that she was a journalist several times. Andrea was arrested at a demonstration for the Black Lives Matter movement.

Andrea Sahouri was arrested while covering the protest at Merle Hay Mall on May 31, 2020, for the Des Moines Register. She was pepper-sprayed, and had her hands tied despite informing the officer that she was part of the press, present of the location to do her job. Andrea was charged with “failure to disperse” and “interfering with official acts”. Despite her employer organization, Des Moines Register, publicly coming out in support, the police argued that Sahouri did not have her press credentials at the time of her arrest, and the judge refused to dismiss the charges against her.

Even though, after a three-day trial, the jury declared Sahouri not guilty on March 11, many regarded the incident as an attack on the freedom of speech. Several organizations came to Andrea’s defense, including the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Amnesty International, and The Iowa Freedom of Information Council.

Now, after Andrea’s acquittal, her organization has decided to request an inquiry into the circumstances of her arrest, and the officers who conducted it.

Andrea remarked upon the dehumanizing experience by stating that she was accused of being a protestor despite the several times she tried to clear the situation up. She claimed it was insulting that not only was she unjustly assaulted and arrested, even after her acquittal, her credentials remain a part of the debate.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism supports this request for an investigation. Targeting a journalist of colour, disbelieving her claims, and making her sit through a trial despite clarification from her employer organization is indicative of the systemic rot in the police structure of the United States. The institutionalized racism and police violence needs to be urgently addressed.

The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.

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