Was Ameer al-Halbi injured when a policeman was beaten with a baton?
This is what the Paris prosecutor's office will try to determine, which opened a judicial investigation on April 8 for willful violence by a person holding public authority.
The Syrian photographer was covering the demonstration against the text of the law "Global security" Place de la Bastille at the end of November 2020 when he "was wounded in the face by a baton", affirmed at the time on Twitter Christophe Deloire, secretary general by RSF (Reporters Without Borders).
Place de la Bastille, ajd, the young freelance photographer of Syrian origin Ameer al Halbi, a collaborator of @ AFP and @polkamagazine, was wounded in the face by a baton.
Identifiable as a journalist, he covered the #marchesdeslibertes (Photo Gabrielle Cezard) pic.twitter.com/3SJUm4C4Ii
- Christophe Deloire (@cdeloire) November 28, 2020
This AFP and Polka collaborator was covering the event on a freelance basis.
“During a charge against the black blocs, Ameer al-Halbi was clubbed,” RSF said in a tweet, also recalling the police violence against Brut journalist Rémy Buisine.
AFP news director Phil Chetwynd also stressed that at the time of the events, Ameer al-Halbi "was exercising his legal right as a photojournalist covering the demonstrations in the streets of Paris" and that he "was with a group of colleagues clearly identified as journalists ”.
The 24-year-old photographer's lawyers had lodged a complaint and an investigation by the IGPN (General Inspectorate of the National Police) had been opened for "research into the causes of the injuries".
It aims to shed light on the conditions in which the photographer suffered a serious facial injury - broken nose, open brow bone.
A truncheon from a police officer could be involved.
An internal administrative investigation had also been opened to establish the circumstances, carried out at the request of the police hierarchy.
