IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa journalist is on trial on Monday for charges of covering up a protest against racial injustice, a case prosecutors have pursued despite international convictions by free media lawyers who say they have he was doing the job.
The case of Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri, who was sprayed and arrested with pepper while reporting a clash between protesters and police, will highlight an aggressive response by Iowa authorities against those who organized and participated in protests. broke out last summer and sometimes became violent.
Sahouri and her ex-boyfriend are accused of failure to disperse and meddling in official documents, offenses that could lead to fines and up to 30 days in prison. They are facing a two-day trial at Drake University regarding the US Press Freedom Tracker says he could be the first for a journalist working nationally since 2018.
Sahouri’s newspaper, Iowa Freedom of Information Council and Amnesty International he is among the media supporters who have asked Polk County to drop the charges, which they call abuse of power in violation of the First Amendment to the Constitution.
“It simply came to our notice then. Reporting to a place of protest as an active member of the media is not a crime. It is a right that must be protected, “Amnesty International said.
But Des Moines police and county prosecutor John Sarcone’s office say Sahouri did not wear press credentials and appeared to be attending an illegal rally, saying journalists did not have a free permit to ignore dispersal orders. The only such order identified in court documents was issued about 90 minutes before his arrest.
At a preliminary hearing on Friday, prosecutor Bradley Kinkade argued that Sahouri’s employment as a reporter “is irrelevant to his allegations.”
“This is a standard misdemeanor trial,” he said.
Sahouri, recently honored by the Iowa Newspaper Association as one of the state’s best young reporters, continued to cover public safety as the allegations surfaced.
While 126 journalists were arrested or detained during the 2020 riots, most were not charged or dropped charges, says Press Freedom Tracker. Fourteen are still facing charges.
The decision to prosecute Sahouri baffled observers, who note that Iowa courts have an outstanding number of cases of crimes caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Critics say authorities appear to be seeking a conviction to justify an officer’s decision to use force unnecessarily against a reporter known for building trust in crime victims and underrepresented communities.
“It’s like someone with a hand in the cookie jar: I can’t admit they made a mistake,” said Des Moines’ civil rights lawyer Glen Downey, who is not involved in Sahouri’s case. “The case is important because of its journalistic aspect, but it is also emblematic of the way it treats all protesters.”
Sahouri, 25, was covering a Black Lives Matter protest at Merle Hay Mall when tensions rose between participants and police. Her then-boyfriend, Spenser Robnett, accompanied her for safety reasons.
Protesters vandalized a Target store, broke windows, blocked an intersection and threw water bottles and rocks at officers in riot gear.
Sahouri covered the protest live on Twitter, reporting that officers loaded into a shoe store with rifles and fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.
Sahouri said he was running out of gas when Robnett was hit by a projectile and stopped short to check it before continuing around the corner to a Verizon store. Then Officer Luke Wilson approached, shot pepper spray in her face and restrained her with ties, she says.
Sahouri repeatedly identified herself as a press officer, but was nevertheless taken to prison. she reported arresting her directly from behind a police van.
Wilson claimed she did not know Sahouri was a reporter until he detained her and Robnett intervened, saying he worked for the Registry and tried to remove her. Wilson says he failed to activate his body camera.
Judge Lawrence McLellan on Friday ordered prosecutors to provide instructional materials for Sahouri’s defense camera, which he said should have been handed over in response to a previous court order.
The defense claims that Wilson could and should have recovered the videos of the arrest after the fact, but refused to do so, possibly to avoid embarrassment. McLellan said he would rule later if he instructed jurors that the evidence had been destroyed.
Des Moines Register executive editor Carol Hunter said Sahouri’s lack of press credentials, which he left in his car, was a “red herring” because police immediately knew she was a journalist and not a press badge is required to enjoy constitutional protections. Reporters must be free to attend the protests and hold the participants and the police accountable, Hunter said.
“Freedom of the press is based on gathering news,” she said. “This is really an attack on a fundamental part of the ability to bring people the news.”
The newspaper finances Sahouri’s defense, led by former US prosecutor Nick Klinefeldt.
Prosecutors have obtained and may try to show jurors text messages between Sahouri and protest leader Matè Muhammad a week after her arrest. Her lawyers claim the texts are irrelevant and show that a reporter routinely gathered with a source.
Muhammad, who fought The charges stemmed from the protests, saying she did not know Sahouri when she was arrested, but the two have since developed a professional relationship. He called it “extremely diligent” in verifying information and collecting various perspectives.
“We like to work with her not because we consider her an activist or on our side,” he said, “but because we see her as fair.”