Reporter faces trial in case seen as attack on press rights
Associated PressIOWA CITY, Iowa — An Iowa journalist faces trial Monday on charges stemming from her coverage of a protest against racial injustice, a case that prosecutors have pursued despite international condemnation from free press advocates who say she was just doing her job. At a pre-trial hearing Friday, prosecutor Bradley Kinkade argued that Sahouri’s employment as a reporter “is irrelevant to her charges.” “This is a standard misdemeanor trial,” he said. “It’s like somebody with their hand in the cookie jar: They can’t admit that they made a mistake,” said Des Moines civil rights attorney Glen Downey, who is not involved in Sahouri’s case. Judge Lawrence McLellan ordered prosecutors Friday to give body camera training materials to Sahouri’s defense that he said should have been turned over in response to an earlier court order. Des Moines Register executive editor Carol Hunter said Sahouri’s lack of press credentials, which she left in her car, is a “red herring” because police knew immediately she was a journalist and a press badge isn’t required to enjoy constitutional protections.
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