From his place of exile, the Togolese journalist, Ferdinand Ayité makes revelations about the state of his family in the West African nation. According to the journalist prosecuted by the country’s authorities, his family has been constantly intimidated and harassed since he left Lomé.
“Since I left Togo, my little family has been the subject of constant intimidation and harassment. I didn’t want to share any because I was thinking of some fuss from some zealous few who failed to get their hands on me. But the turn that these intimidations are taking is becoming worrying, forcing me to break the silence,” read a statement published this Tuesday, June 20, 2023 on the Facebook page of the colleague.
The Publishing Director of the newspaper “L’Alternative” indicates that since the scandal of one of his investigations called PÉTROLEGATE “and the death threats that followed”, his partners have installed a video surveillance” for his house. This, according to him, helped to make some observations.
“My home is constantly being tracked day and night by unidentified individuals, either on motorcycles or in vehicles. These individuals mainly use the same vehicles at night with different license plates. The frequency of nocturnal passages is three times a week and especially after midnight. The vehicles come to park near the home for hours before leaving,” he reveals.
“On June 19, as soon as the technicians left, around 9:26 p.m., in the night, the individual in this vehicle, whose images were captured by video surveillance, went to film the house in all its aspects for 15 minutes. As they finally learned that the house is under video surveillance, he remained at a distance to film.”
“While waiting for the voices that I have mandated to speak out to inform the public with the data collected, I would like to directly inform the Minister of Security on the events in progress and especially on the safety of my family,” adds Ferdinand Ayité who therefore calls public opinion, diplomats and partner organizations to bear witness to the current threats to his family.
As a reminder, a Togolese court sentenced journalists Ferdinand Ayité and Isidore Kouwonou to three years in prison for insulting the authorities. An international arrest warrant was subsequently issued against the two convicted, outside the country at the time of the trial. Amnesty International, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and several other international organizations have called on the Lomé government to quash the convictions, but no response to this topic has been given by the judicial authorities so far.