Ghanaian investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas, who received the Investigative Reporting prize at the maiden AIPS Sport Media Awards ceremony in January 2019, has been awarded USD$18 million (£14 million) in damages after a US court ruled that he was defamed by former Ghanaian MP Kennedy Agyapong.
AIPS President Gianni Merlo said: “We would like to congratulate Anas for this victory. When we chose him as the first Investigative Reporting winner of our awards, it was a very difficult time for him and his team because he had just lost his right-hand man. Even to bring him to our Congress that year in Lausanne was a big risk. We will continue to stand with journalists who are under attack. We are happy that our support in that difficult moment might have led to this positive outcome.”
The defamation case originated from the remarks Agyapong made following Anas’s 2018 BBC investigation into football corruption across Ghana and Africa – an investigation that led to the death of his friend and colleague, Ahmed Hussein-Suale in January 2019.
In a 2021 podcast, Agyapong, among other accusations, called Anas a “criminal” and falsely linked the journalist to the murder of Ahmed Hussein-Suale. Anas took legal action, filing a lawsuit in the US state of New Jersey where Agyapong has a property.
Anas’s victory against the politician was confirmed on 18 March following a unanimous decision by an eight-member jury in Essex County Superior Court in New Jersey. The $18m in damages included $8m in punitive damages.
“Justice has prevailed. This victory is not just for me, but for truth, press freedom, and every journalist who risks everything to expose corruption and wrongdoing,” Anas said in response.
“No amount of intimidation or falsehood will silence the pursuit of accountability even in the face of assassination. Our work continues, undeterred and unafraid.”
Anas, whose face is hidden behind a curtain of pearls, has won multiple international awards for his reporting and remains dedicated to exposing corruption. Back in 2019 when he received the AIPS recognition in Lausanne five days after the death of his comrade, he said: “I am very happy to have been able to dedicate this prize to him. No matter where he is now, he has certainly seen me from up there and I think he is proud of me. Ahmed was a soldier of the truth. He fell in battle.”
Credit: AIPS Media
