Sony Esteus

Sony Esteus is a Haitian radio journalist. For seventeen years, he has served as executive director of Sosyete Animasyon Kominikayon Sosyal (Society for the Promotion of Social Communications, SAKS), an organization supporting Haitian community-based radio.[1] At its height, SAKS supported around 30 community radio stations around the country, though many of these faced difficulties and suspended broadcasts following the 2010 earthquake.[2] Esteus also serves as the Caribbean representative of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters.[2]

Sony Esteus
NationalityHaitian
OccupationRadio journalist
OrganizationSosyete Animasyon Kominikayon Sosyal
Known for1991 assault
AwardsInternational Press Freedom Award (1991)

During the 1991 Haitian coup d'état that deposed Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Esteus was working for radio Tropic FM.[3] While covering a political rally on 12 April 1992, Esteus was arrested by three plainclothes policemen. He was taken by taxi to the headquarters of the Port-au-Prince police, where police officials accused his station of having pro-Aristide sympathies. He was held and interrogated for five hours, during which police scratched him, pistol-whipped him, and finally forced him to lie on his stomach while being beaten with a stick. His right hand, left arm, and two fingers on his left hand were broken in the attacks.[4] In the final interrogation, the officers demanded that he confess to distributing pro-Aristide leaflets. When Esteus refused, he was released by a police captain who claimed to have just discovered that Esteus was a reporter. Tropic FM suspended its broadcasts in light of the attack and ongoing threats, while Esteus spent the next three months in bed with his arms in slings.[4]

Later in the year, Esteus was awarded an International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists for courage in reporting.[5] Esteus went on to work for Radio Haiti Inter for nearly a decade before the station's 2003 closing.[2]

Sony died March 2, 2015 from unknown causes.

References
  1. José Luis Soto. "Haiti update: SAKS' Appeal". World Association for Christian Communication. Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
  2. Jean Roland Chery (27 January 2010). "Community radio stations obliterated, off the air in Haiti". Committee to Protect Journalists. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
  3. John Libbey (1993). Reporters sans frontières 1993 report. Reporters without Borders. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
  4. America Watch Committee (1993). Silencing a people: the destruction of civil society in Haiti. Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
  5. Michael Blowen (23 October 1992). "Seriously, he's an actor". Boston Globe. Retrieved 22 June 2011.
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