P2 - The Murder of Ahmed Divela | Deep Dive: Exploring Organized Crime

Part 2: "The truth will triumph".

The description of Ahmed's murder showed that the killers were professionals, trained in the use of firearms. But despite the crowds that witnessed the killing, no one has ever been prosecuted for the crime.

Since the assassination of Ahmed, press freedom in Ghana has suffered. He is one of a number that have been attacked, harassed and arrested over the last few years, sparking fears for the future of press freedom in the country.

Much of the violence has been committed by state forces, either the police or the military, and yet impunity reigns and consequences are minimal.

We will look at the organized crime landscape in Ghana, and how alongside the traditional illicit markets such as drug trafficking and illegal mining, organized crime is at the forefront of the commercialization of violence.

Speaker(s):

Anas Aremeyaw Anas – Multi-award winning Ghananian Investigative Journalist and founder of the TigerEye PI, an investigative organisation in Ghana – famous motto “name, shame and jail”.

Muheeb Saeed, the program manager for Freedom of Expression at the Media Foundation for West Africa, the MFWA, which is a press freedom and media development organization based in Accra, but working across the West African sub-region.

Gideon Ofosu-Peasah, Analyst at the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime.

Jonathan Rozen, Senior Africa researcher at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

Ana Paula Oliveira – Analyst and Manager of Assassination Witness Project, GITOC.

Liliane MOUAN – Senior Advisor on Corruption and Human Rights – West and Central Africa for Amnesty International.

Additional Reading:

Assassination Witness Project

Ahmed Divela - Faces of Assassination

Global Assassination Monitor

The Ripple Effect: the impact of contract killings (Podcast)

Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) - Four years since murder of Ahmed Hussein-Suale Divela, Ghana’s journalists still attacked with impunity.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Freedom of the Press Index

(GITOC Paper) The business of killing: Assassinations in South Africa

(GITOC Paper) Killing in silence: New research uncovers sheer magnitude of assassinations linked to organized crime

Murder of journalists in Mexico a threat to democracy: El asesinato de periodistas en México pone en peligro la democracia

(Deep Dive Podcast) Killing the Power of the Pen: Violence against journalists in Mexico - Part 1; Part 2.

(Deep Dive Podcast)