Staunch New Patriotic Party Party (NPP) Hajia Fati has been ordered by the Accra High Court to pay a total of GH¢9000 as damages for her conduct towards Adom FM reporter, Akosua Sakyiwaa aka Ohemaa.
The Court held that Hajia Fati violates the fundamental human rights of the reporter to free expression in the exercise of her profession as a journalist.
She is therefore ordered to pay a total of GH¢9000, ¢2000 being punitive damages for her reprehensible conduct.
The Court said her action is a threat to media freedom which ought to be punished to serve as an example to others who may be minded to interfere with media rights freedom.
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The court observed that the protection of such rights and freedoms was critical to a properly functioning democracy.
It will be recalled that in May 2018, Hajia Fati became the talk of the town after she assaulted the Adom FM reporter when she attempted taking a photo of her at the party’s headquarters in Accra.
This was after Hajia Fati had earlier prevented Sammy Crabbe, a suspended Vice Chairman of the party from picking up forms to contest for the party’s chairmanship position.
She subsequently explained that she thought the reporter was a member of Sammy Crabbe’s camp who had been sent to take pictures for ulterior motives.
According to her, the reporter looked like an “onion seller†not a journalist.
She later rendered an apology for her behaviour but the matter traveled to the court which they say she had shown remorse and rendered apologies for her conduct.
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