IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa journalist will be tried Monday on charges of her reporting on a protest against racial injustice, a case prosecutors have fought despite international condemnation by free press advocates who say she was just doing her job. .
The case of Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri, who was sprayed with pepper spray and arrested while reporting a clash between protesters and police, will point to an aggressive reaction by Iowa authorities against those organizing and attending protests that last summer outbreaks and occasionally turned violent.
Sahouri and her ex-boyfriend are charged with non-dissemination and involvement in official acts, crimes that could result in fines and up to 30 days in jail. They face a two-day trial at Drake University in what is the US Press Freedom Tracker says it could be the first for a working journalist across the country since 2018.
Sahouri’s newspaper, the Iowa Freedom of Information Council and Amnesty International are among advocates of the press who have demanded that Polk County drop charges, which they call abuse of power contrary to the First Amendment to the Constitution.
‘This is outrageous. Reporting on a protest scene as a working member of the media is not a crime. It is a right that must be protected, ”said Amnesty International.
But Des Moines Police and County Attorney John Sarcone’s office allege that Sahouri carried no press credentials and appeared to be a participant in an illegal meeting, saying journalists have no free pass to ignore dissemination orders. The only warrant mentioned in court documents was issued about 90 minutes before the arrest.
At a hearing on Friday, prosecutor Bradley Kinkade argued that Sahouri’s job as a reporter “is irrelevant to her allegations.”
“This is a standard criminal process,” he said.
Sahouri, recently honored by the Iowa Newspaper Association as one of the state’s top young reporters, has gone on to cover public safety as allegations loomed.
While 126 journalists were arrested or detained during the 2020 unrest, most were either not charged or the charges were dropped, the Press Freedom Tracker says. Fourteen are still charged.
The determination to prosecute Sahouri has baffled observers, who note that Iowa courts are lagging behind in felony cases due to the coronavirus pandemic. Critics say authorities appear to be seeking a conviction to justify an officer’s decision to use undue force against a reporter known for building trust among crime victims and underrepresented communities.
“It’s like someone with their hand in a cookie jar: they can’t admit they’ve made a mistake,” said Des Moines civil rights attorney Glen Downey, who is not involved in Sahouri’s case. “The case is important because of the journalistic aspect, but it is also symbolic of how they treat all protesters.”
Sahouri, 25, was reporting on a Black Lives Matter protest at the Merle Hay shopping center as tensions between participants and the police escalated. Her then-boyfriend, Spenser Robnett, accompanied her for security reasons.
Protesters destroyed a Target store, broke windows, blocked an intersection, and threw water bottles and stones at riot gear.
Sahouri took the protest live on Twitter, reporting that agents raided a shoe store with guns and tear gas to disperse the crowd.
Sahouri said she fled the gas when Robnett was hit with a projectile and paused to check on him before turning the corner of a Verizon store. That’s when Officer Luke Wilson approached, sprayed pepper spray on her face and held her with zippers, she says.
Sahouri repeatedly identified himself as a press, but was nevertheless taken to prison. She reported her arrest live from a police van.
Wilson has claimed he didn’t know Sahouri was a reporter until he held her and Robnett intervened saying she worked for the registry and tried to pull her away. Wilson says he didn’t activate his body camera.
Judge Lawrence McLellan ordered prosecutors Friday to provide body camera training materials to Sahouri’s defense that he said should have been turned over in response to an earlier court order.
The defense argues that Wilson could and should have retrieved the video of the arrest afterwards, but declined to do so, possibly to avoid embarrassment. McLellan said he will later decide whether to instruct jurors that the evidence has been destroyed.
Des Moines Register editor-in-chief Carol Hunter said Sahouri’s lack of press credentials, which she left in her car, is a “red herring” because police immediately knew she was a journalist and a press badge is not required to enjoy constitutional protection. Reporters should be free to witness protests and hold the participants and the police to account, Hunter said.
“Freedom of the press is based on news gathering,” she said. “This is really an attack on a fundamental part of the ability to get people to the news.”
The newspaper is funding Sahouri’s defense, which is headed by former American lawyer Nick Klinefeldt.
Prosecutors obtained and may attempt to show jurors text messages between Sahouri and protest leader Matè Muhammad from a week after her arrest. Her lawyers say the lyrics are irrelevant and show how a reporter routinely gathers facts with a source.
Mohammed, who fought Allegations stemming from protests, said he did not know Sahouri when she was arrested, but the two have since established a professional relationship. He called her “extraordinarily diligent” in researching information and gathering different perspectives.
“We enjoy working with her, not because we see her as an activist or on our side,” he said, “but because we consider her fair.”