A schoolgirl walks past campaign posters in support of Nigeria’s
President Goodluck Jonathan along a road in Ikoyi district in Lagos February
13, 2015. Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters
Al
Jazeera is calling for the immediate release of their two Nigerian journalists
who were detained early Tuesday while on special assignment to cover Nigeria’s
upcoming presidential election.
According
to military statements, journalists Ahmed Idris and Ali Mustafa worked without
proper ”protection, accreditation or due clearance” and suspicion of
“loitering.” Al Jazeera issued
a statement late Wednesday, saying that both journalists received
accreditation from the Independent Electoral Commission in Abuja to report
anywhere during election period and call for their release “without
conditions.”
We call
on the Nigerian authorities to release Ahmed Idris and Ali Mustafa; they have
all the relevant paperwork to report on the Nigerian elections and stories
related to the election. Both men had just finished filming a story on the
military with their cooperation. They were not ‘loitering’, but were in the
hotel room and had only passed through the restricted areas of Yobe and Borno
State to get to Maiduguri.
Both
journalists were detained in Maiduguri in Borno State and currently remain in
their hotel room, contrary to military statements of the journalists
“loitering.”
Prior to
the March 28 election, Nigeria has imposed increased security measures, sealing
the country’s inland and coastal borders in response to the threat of Boko
Haram.
