{"id":2125,"date":"2012-09-26T13:12:15","date_gmt":"2012-09-26T13:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/praag.org\/?p=2125"},"modified":"2012-09-26T14:34:58","modified_gmt":"2012-09-26T14:34:58","slug":"2125","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praag.org\/?p=2125","title":{"rendered":"Sanef to SAPS: Leave journos alone!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/praag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/pressfreedom.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-2126\" title=\"pressfreedom\" src=\"http:\/\/praag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/pressfreedom-300x182.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"182\" srcset=\"https:\/\/praag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/pressfreedom-300x182.jpg 300w, https:\/\/praag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/pressfreedom.jpg 570w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 85vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>The SA National Editors Forum (Sanef) on Wednesday expressed concern over journalists being forcibly removed from the court where axed ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema was appearing.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8220;We have asked the SAPS [SA Police Service] for an explanation and for an undertaking that journalists will be guaranteed access to the proceedings without the threat of harassment or intimidation,&#8221; Sanef said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8220;Should reporters on the scene face further exclusion from the courtroom, or the use of force by SAPS or other security personnel, we will take legal action.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier on Wednesday, journalists, photographers and television camera crews were kicked out of the Polokwane Regional Court where Malema was appearing on charges of money laundering.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Certain media houses made applications to be allowed into the court, but reporters were removed after officials insisted that the applications were for individuals and not crews.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Pandemonium broke out when the journalists were forcibly removed. One was physically dragged out by two security guards.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Some journalists were later allowed back inside.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sanef said it understood that only news camera crews and photographers had to apply for permission to use their equipment in court.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8220;But this was used as a pretext to compel the removal of all reporters, including print and radio journalists who were not in possession of such equipment,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">&#8220;Some, but not all, were subsequently readmitted.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Sanef said the principle of open justice was fundamental to the credibility of the country&#8217;s legal system. &#8211; Sapa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The SA National Editors Forum (Sanef) on Wednesday expressed concern over journalists being forcibly removed from the court where axed ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema was appearing. &#8220;We have asked the SAPS [SA Police Service] for an explanation and for an undertaking that journalists will be guaranteed access to the proceedings without the threat &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/praag.org\/?p=2125\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Sanef to SAPS: Leave journos alone!&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2126,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-south-africa"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/praag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/pressfreedom.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2125"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2128,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125\/revisions\/2128"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}