Reporters Without Borders

Afghanistan - Radio station technician and host murdered in Kapisa Valley

2013-05-21T16:01:15Z

Reporters Without Borders is saddened to learn that the body of Mohammad Hassin Hashemi, a 30-year-old employee of local radio Nadjhrab in the northeastern Kapisa Valley, was found near his home yesterday, 18 days after he disappeared.

Hashemi was apparently shot in the head the day after he went missing. His body also bore the marks of blows.

“We offer our condolences to his family and fellow workers, and we urge the authorities to establish the circumstances of his murder,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The perpetrators and instigators of this crime must be arrested and punished.”

Hashemi had been radio Nadjhrab's chief technician for the past four years. He also hosted two of its programmes, its press review and “Morvaride hay honar” (Pearls of the Arts). Radio Nadjhrab is the Kapisa Valley's most popular station.

His wife said he was threatened several times before his disappearance. The police seem to be working on the assumption that the motive was of a personal nature and have arrested three members of his family without explaining why.

Radio Nadjhrab director Abdol Mutalib Hame told Reporters Without Borders: “It is still too early to talk about a motive but I was not aware of threats being made against him. None of our journalists has been threatened recently. He was good and professional, and a technical genius.”

Uganda - Police raids on two Kampala newspapers

2013-05-21T15:49:54Z

Reporters Without Borders is appalled by raids, on Monday (May 20), by police on two Kampala-based newspapers, the forced closure of their printing presses and the closure of two radio stations.

The raids were carried out in the morning on the headquarters of Pepper Publications, which publishes the newspaper Red Pepper and two other weekly magazines, and the headquarters of Monitor Publications Limited (MPL), which publishes the Daily Monitor.

In the afternoon, the police continued their offensive against freedom of information by closing two radio stations – KFM Radio and Dembe FM – which are sister stations and broadcast from the MPL's premises.

Reporters Without Borders already wrote to President Yoweri Museveni on 23 April, a month before these latest incidents, voicing deep concern about an increase in threats against journalists and about the campaign to intimidate the media that the authorities have been waging for months.

“This national police offensive is the latest in a series of grave violations of freedom of information in Uganda since late 2012,” Reporters Without Borders said. “These actions are symptomatic of a terrible climate for news providers and reflect the government's desire to stifle media independence.

“We offer our full support for the news media being targeted by the authorities and we join Uganda's human rights NGOs in calling for an end to media freedom violations by the security forces. We urge the government to respect Uganda's constitution, which protects freedom of expression.”

The raid on MPL headquarters was carried out by police armed with Kalashnikovs, who were acting on orders from the Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Directorate (CIID) with the aim of identifying the sources for a 7 May report in the Daily Monitor.

Three Daily Monitor journalists – Don Wanyama, Richard Wanambwa and Risdel Kasasira – were already questioned about the same article for nine hours on 14 May and on two consecutive days afterward.

During the raid, the police shut journalists inside their offices, blocked access to the premises, and confiscated Daily Monitor journalists' material. The police also used tear gas to disperse a crowd that began to gather and protest outside the MPL's headquarters in support of media freedom.

According to information obtained by Reporters Without Borders, the police raid on the MPL was linked to the Daily Monitor's publication of a confidential letter by Gen. David Sejusa about a plot to assassinate senior Ugandan officials, either members of the government or senior army officers.

The aim of the plot is said to have been the elimination of senior officials opposed to President Museveni's rumoured intention of installing his son, Brig. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, as his successor.

The publication of the leaked letter about the so-called “Project Muhoozi” triggered a wave of panic within the government. The raids on the MPL and Red Pepper, which also published stories about the affair, followed a government announcement that no more stories about the “Project Muhoozi” would be tolerated.

Accusing the media of not being “professional and impartial,” the Ugandan Communications Commission also announced that it would withdraw the licence of any news outlet that continued to cover the affair.

The authorities have not offered any grounds for closing KFM Radio and Dembe FM, the two stations that operate out of the MPL's premises, but the closures seem to be part of the blackout imposed on MPL news outlets.

More information on media freedom in Uganda.

Haïti - Motive not yet known in radio journalist's fatal shooting

2013-05-21T15:14:14Z

Reporters Without Borders hopes that the reason will soon be known for radio journalist Pierre-Richard Alexandre's fatal shooting by an individual identified as Baudelaire Augustin in Saint-Marc, in the north-central department of Artibonite, on 17 May.

A correspondent for the national radio station Radio Kiskeya and the host of a daily political discussion programme on local Radio Delta, Alexandre died of his gunshot injury to the stomach on the night of 19 May after initially appearing to recover in hospital.

“Alexandre's professionalism as a journalist was widely acknowledged and we express our full support for his wife, two children and colleagues,” Reporters Without Borders said.

“Following his alleged killer's arrest, the police should be able to quickly establish whether or not his death was linked to his work as journalist. In either case, journalists' safety continues to a matter of concern in Haiti, where the political climate is a source of intermittent tension.”

Alexandre, 40, was in his Saint-Marc home when the fatal shot appeared to have been fired as a result of a neighbourhood incident. Was he hit by a stray bullet or was he deliberately shot? This is up to the police to determine.

Alexandre's death follows the murder in March of fellow journalist Georges Honorat, a former member of the management of the weekly Haïti Progrès who had of late been working for the press department at the prime minister's office.

Although Haiti is ranked 49th out of 179 countries in the latest Reporters Without Borders press freedom index – an improvement on previous years – its journalists still experience recurring security problems.

Reporters Without Borders reiterates its call for the truth about the April 2000 murder of Radio Haïti Inter director Jean Dominique, noting that Radio Télé Ginen journalists were attacked in Port-au-Prince on 8 May, the day that a judge questioned former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide about the Dominique murder.

Vietnam - “Decision 20” silences 16 foreign TV channels

2013-05-21T13:00:45Z

Reporters Without Borders is shocked by a government decree, called Decision 20/2011/QD-TTG, which has prevented local retransmission of four categories of foreign TV channels since 15 May by requiring them to pay for simultaneous translation of all their programming into Vietnamese.

Vietnam Satellite Digital Television Company (VSTV), a pay-TV operator launched by French broadcaster Canal+ and Vietnam's national TV broadcaster, suspended retransmission of 21 TV channels including CNN, BBC and Star World as soon as the decree took effect.

“We call for the immediate withdrawal of this decree, which clearly aims to force foreign TV channels to pull out of Vietnam,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Complying with the decree would be too costly for all of the channels. But aside from the costs involved and the difficulty of implementation, this decree opens the way to all kinds of censorship.

“We are very worried by the reduction in availability of news and information in Vietnam that may result from this decree if the international channels concerned and the companies in charge of their local retransmission do not do everything in their power to continue.”

The four categories affected by the decree are movie channels, news channels, channels offering scientific and education programmes, and documentaries, and channels offering entertainment, sport and music.

VSTV, which offers a mix of local and international satellite stations called K+, was the first broadcaster to implement Decision 20. VSTV spokesman Mai Nguyen told Agence France-Presse he would resume broadcasting the channels that were ready to pay to comply with the decree.

To continue local retransmission, the international channels are required to register with Vietnam's information and communication ministry and obtain a licence that allows that to be provided with translations by an agency approved by the government.

On 17 May, licences were granted to Cinemax, AXN HD, Star Movies HD, AXN and Fox Sports Plus allowing them to resume broadcasting legally in Vietnam.

The 16 other K+ channels affected by the decree – Eurosport, Channel V, Eurosport News, CNBC, NGC HD, Star World, MGM, CNN, Discovery World HD, Diva Universal, Luxe TV, Channel News Asia, NHK World, Arirang, BBC and TLC – have not been retransmitted since it took effect.

Support for Press Freedom Day debates in North Kivu

2013-05-17T17:22:21Z

Reporters Without Borders provided funding for two round-table meetings that local journalists' groups organized for media personnel in the cities of Butembo and Goma, in the Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern province of Nord-Kivu, on 3 May, World Press Freedom Day.

The subject for debate at the meetings was “Speaking without fear and guaranteeing press freedom in all the media.” The meetings also provided an opportunity for dialogue with the authorities, who were invited to attend.

“We are proud to have supported journalists in Butembo and Goma,” Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. “We hail the vitality and commitment of the Nord-Kivu journalistic community and we take note of the active participation by regional officials in these debates.

“Given the complexity of the environment for the media in the eastern DRC, we fervently hope that these World Press Freedom Day meetings will have helped to establish the bases for a constructive dialogue that will enable all of Nord-Kivu's journalists to work freely and safely.”

Recent months have been particularly difficult for the media in the eastern DRC. Caught in the crossfire between government troops and militias fighting for control of the Kivu region, local media and journalists have been constantly hounded during the past six months. The many violations of freedom of information in Nord-Kivu have included the illegal suspension of broadcasting by radio stations in Goma in November, the ransacking of media offices, and other forms of harassment by M23 rebels, as well as arbitrary arrests of journalists by both government forces and militias.

More than 100 journalists took part in the round-table organized in Butembo. The local officials attending included the city's mayor, who delivered the opening address.

A painting specially done for the event was signed by the mayor and representatives of eight Butembo journalists' organizations as a symbol of the debates and the mutual undertakings by local authorities and media. On behalf the authorities, the mayor undertook to respect media rights and freedoms, while the journalists reaffirmed their commitment to media ethics and professional conduct. The mayor reportedly plans to name one of the city' streets as “Media Freedom Street” by the end of May.

The discussions focussed on the situation of the media in Nord-Kivu, the consequences for the media of the fighting between rebels and government forces, and the situation of women journalists. Widely covered by the local media, the event ended with a consensus among the various local journalists' organizations, one that could pave the way for the creation of a single platform capable of voicing the concerns and demands of Butembo's journalists.

Support in Goma for detained journalist

Representatives of the National Union of the Congolese Press of Nord-Kivu were among the journalists participating in the event in Goma, which local government officials also attended.

The discussions focussed above all on security issues, respect for journalists' rights, and media ethics, with frequent reference being made to the reports on freedom of information in the DRC published by Reporters Without Borders and its partner organization, Journalist in Danger.

The case of Blaise Bahisha, a journalist detained by the Nord-Kivu military court since 17 April, was debated at length, in part because it is a good illustration of the kind of problem the media have to endure in the eastern DRC.

All the journalists attending the meeting expressed their support for Bahisha and called for his release. The military prosecutor in charge of his case, who also attended the meeting, said he was awaiting instructions from Kinshasa on how to proceed with the case.

This action was made possible by the support of The French Development Agency (FDP)

Syria - Rights activists face terrorism charges - Free Award-Winning Journalist, Colleagues

2013-05-17T09:30:10Z

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(Amsterdam, Beirut, Cairo, Copenhagen, Damascus, Dublin, Geneva, London, New York, Paris, The Hague, Utrecht - May 17, 2013)

The international community should urge the Syrian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release and drop all charges against a freedom of expression activist and two of his colleagues, 19 regional and international human rights organizations said today. Mazen Darwish and two of his colleagues from the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), Hussein Gharir and Hani Zaitani, are facing trial on terrorism charges for their peaceful activism, the groups said.

The three activists along with two of their other colleagues, Mansour Omari and Abdel Rahman Hamada, who were conditionally released on February 6, 2013, are scheduled to appear before the Anti-Terrorism Court in Damascus on May 19. During the trial, the judge will decide whether to pursue the charges brought against them by the Syrian Government's Air Force Intelligence.

The Syrian justice minister recently told an international delegation that he would free 72 activists, including the three detained SCM members. Other countries, including allies of the Syrian government, should press the government to drop the charges and free them, the human rights organizations said.

Syria's Air Force Intelligence detained the three men over a year ago, holding them in incommunicado detention for several months, on charges related to SCM´s work to promote and protect human rights in Syria. Air Force Intelligence officials subjected them to torture and other ill-treatment in detention according to former detainees who had been held with the men. The organizations said the charges violate freedom of expression by being solely based on the three men's peaceful activism.

The organizations expressed serious concern for the physical and psychological well-being of the three activists, given the treatment they have apparently been subjected to in detention and the length of their arbitrary imprisonment.

The February 27 indictment against all five staff members accuses them of “publicizing terrorist acts” under Article 8 of the Anti-Terrorism Law, enacted by President Bashar al-Assad in 2012. If convicted the men may be imprisoned for up to 15 years.

The indictment states that these charges were brought against Darwish as the head of the SCM and the four other men for their activities as SCM staff members, including monitoring online news by the Syrian opposition, publishing studies on the human rights and media situation in Syria, and documenting names of the detained, disappeared, wanted and killed within the context of the Syrian conflict. The indictment further states that an investigative judge in Damascus considered these actions part of an attempt to “stir the internal situation in Syria and so provoke international organizations to condemn Syria in international forums.”

The trial of the activists illustrates the government's repression against critical voices in Syria and fits in a wider pattern of systematic censorship and repression against professional journalists, media workers, citizen journalists (including bloggers) and media activists who defend freedom of expression in Syria, the groups said. An attorney working on behalf of political detainees in Damascus told the organizations that to his knowledge at least 35,000 political detainees were being tried before the terrorism court. He believed that the terrorism court was set up specifically to target the opposition in Syria.

The Syrian government should not use its overbroad terrorism law to punish peaceful activists for their legitimate work, the organizations said. Further, their trial should not be held in the Anti-Terrorism Court, which does not afford defendants basic due process rights according to international fair trial standards.

This court is responsible for prosecutions under the Anti-Terrorism Law, which defines an act of terrorism as “every act that aims at creating a state of panic among the people, destabilizing public security and damaging the basic infrastructure of the country by using weapons, ammunition, explosives, flammable materials, toxic products, epidemiological or bacteriological factors or any method fulfilling the same purposes.”

The law also stipulates that promoting “terrorism,” including by distributing literature, or other information, is punishable by imprisonment with hard labor. Financing terrorism includes supplying, directly or indirectly, money, weapons, ammunition, explosives, means of communication, information, or “other things” to be used in the implementation of a terrorist act.

Although the Syrian authorities technically lifted a state of emergency law on April 21, 2011, they enacted Legislative Decree 55 on the same day. The decree limits the time that a person may be lawfully held in detention without judicial review to 60 days for certain crimes, including terrorism offenses. A former detainee told Human Rights Watch that high-ranking officers explained to him while he was in detention that they were using this provision and the Anti-Terrorism Law to hold detainees legally for up to 60 days, pending judicial review.

This limit does not meet the requirement in international law that judicial review of detention should take place “promptly,” the groups said. Furthermore, several former detainees interviewed by the organizations said that they had been held without judicial review even longer than the 60 days permitted by Syrian law.

A source close to Darwish's family told the organizations how challenging it has been for him to fight the charges against him under the terrorism law and before the terrorism court. He did not have access to a lawyer or any family members for nine months and 20 days before being sent to Damascus Central Prison, commonly known as ‘Adra prison. He was not informed that he would be tried before a terrorism court until November 30, the date an investigative judge in the terrorism court began interrogating him. Even then, he was not informed of the charges against him until an indictment was issued on February 27, over a year after he was detained.

On May 15, the United nations General Assembly passed a resolution, calling, among other things, for the Syrian government to release Mazen Darwish and the other imprisoned SCM staff. The resolution stressed the importance of ending impunity and holding to account all those responsible for serious violations or abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law.

The resolution requires UN member states to apply concrete pressure on the Syrian authorities and their allies to drop the charges against these men. The Syrian authorities should respect the UN resolution and drop the charges against Darwish and his colleagues in SCM, the organizations said. The Syria authorities should also drop all charges against tens of thousands of detainees charged merely for their peaceful activism and held in detention centers throughout Syria.

On May 9, an international peace delegation led by the Irish Nobel prizewinner Mairead Maguire, in conjunction with quasi-governmental Mussalaha, met with the Syrian justice minister, Dr. Najm al-Ahmad, and presented a petition for the release of 72 non-violent activists, including Darwish, Gharir and Zaitani. Dr. al-Ahmad announced in his meeting with the delegation that the government had in principle approved the release of all the prisoners on the list, pending review of their cases. The organizations urge the relevant authorities to follow through with this commitment and release the detainees.

Co-signing organizations in alphabetical order:

1. Alkarama Foundation

2. Amnesty International (AI)

3. Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI)

4. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)

5. Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

6. Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN)

7. Free Press Unlimited

8. Front Line Defenders

9. Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)

10. Human Rights Watch (HRW)

11. Humanist Institute for Cooperation with Developing Countries (Hivos)

12. IKV Pax Christi

13. International Media Support (IMS)

14. Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR)

15. PEN International

16. Reporters Without Borders (RSF)

17. SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom

18. Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM)

19. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT)

United States - Recommendations for a federal law protecting journalists' sources

2013-05-17T08:25:30Z

The U.S. Department of Justice's seizure of Associated Press phone records has highlighted the urgency of the need for a shield law guaranteeing the protection of journalists' sources at the federal level in the United States, a need that Reporters Without Borders has been emphasizing for years.

Following reports that the White House is supporting the reintroduction of a proposed federal shield law in the Senate, Reporters Without Borders has drafted detailed recommendations for such a law.

“There is no freedom of information worthy of its name without protection of journalists' sources,” Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. “Spying on journalists' investigative reporting violates democratic principles.”

1 – The future shield law must reaffirm the principle of the protection of sources as a pillar of freedom of information, guaranteed by the First Amendment.

The bond of trust between journalists and their informants depends on the former being able to protect the latter's anonymity, especially if the information is sensitive in nature. The lack of such a guarantee makes it much harder for journalists and news media to fulfil their duty to provide information. The possibility of violating the confidentiality of journalists' sources should exist only in exceptional cases specified by the future law (see below).

2 – The future law should strictly limit exceptions to the protection of sources.

Any departure from the rule of source confidentiality must be the subject of a specific, detailed and notified request. There must be a possibility of appeal, and there should be no implementation without prior judicial control.

An exception to the confidentiality of sources can be envisaged if:

Identification of the source is essential in order to prevent an attack on the physical integrity or life of one or more persons.

Identification of the source is essential in order to prevent an imminent attack on the nation's territory or vital interests (which was not the case with the Associated Press's sources, as the agency's May 7,2012 story was about a bombing that the CIA had foiled).

3 – The future law must extend the categories covered by protection of sources.

The protection of sources must apply not only to journalists but also to all media employees and to all those who help to gather, process, prepare, produce or disseminate news and information, regardless of the media. The protection of sources should also apply to documentary filmmakers, the authors of books of a journalistic nature (even if they are not “journalists”), bloggers and netizens who provide information.

4 – The future law should extend the range of content covered by protection of sources.

The protection of sources must apply not only to the identity of the person who was the source of the information, but also to information that could lead to that person's identification. The protection of sources must also cover content that has not been published or broadcast, and personal information (including telephone data and emails) that could facilitate identification.

5 – The future law should penalize violations of the protection of sources.

“Violating the confidentiality of a journalistic source” should be made a crime by the future law. Such violations should include trying to identify a source, using any information concerning a source, and revealing the source's identity, especially publicly. Holding a public position should be regarded as an aggravating circumstance for offenders.

Azerbaijan - New legislative amendments further erode rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly

2013-05-16T17:06:41Z

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The International Partnership Group for Azerbaijan (IPGA) strongly condemns a series of repressive legislative amendments that Azerbaijan's National Assembly (Milli Majlis) adopted on 14 May 2013. The amendments were submitted by the prosecutor-general's office to a parliamentary commission two weeks before and are being enacted in the run-up to October's Presidential election.

The existing draconian penalties for criminal defamation and insult have been extended to online content, including Azerbaijan's vibrant social networks, and public demonstrations. The permitted length of “administrative” detention – detention without referring to a court – is now much greater for many offences.

“The amendments seek to ban criticism and increase the cost of dissent. They are designed to silence all those who continue to speak out despite the already and increasingly repressive climate,” the undersigned organisations said.

“By extending the offences of criminal defamation and insult to a broader range of public expression, including online expression and public demonstrations, Azerbaijan is breaking the commitments to reform made by President Ilham Aliyev and moving against the international trend to decriminalisation. At the same time, the police are given a free hand to administratively detain anyone for up to two months for organising an unauthorised protest or for disobeying them.”

“With just months to go to a presidential election in October, the authorities are clearly more determined than ever to intimidate critics of the regime, in particular online. The environment for freedom of expression is declining by the day as journalists, bloggers and opposition activists are subjected to mounting pressure that includes increasingly repressive laws, arrests, physical attacks and smear campaigns.”

“The international community must, as a matter of urgency, remind the Azerbaijani government of the undertakings it has made to protect the right to freedom of expression, including online, and ensure Azerbaijan implements the legal reforms necessary to meet these commitments.”

Regressive provisions on defamation and insult

The offences of criminal defamation (article 147 of the penal code) and insult (article 148 of the penal code) have been amended to include expression on the Internet and expression at public demonstrations. The maximum penalties for both offences remain six months imprisonment, although this may be extended to three years imprisonment for aggravated instances of defamation (Article 147.2 of the penal code).

The inclusion of all expression on the Internet broadens the scope of criminal defamation significantly, suggesting that communications on social network sites could give rise to criminal liability. This is particularly concerning since constraints on political activism and a lack of media diversity have made the Internet the main refuge of freedom of expression and political dissent in Azerbaijan.

“The amendments to the criminal code passed by the parliament are a blatant political move and a shabby attempt to hijack online freedoms amid a mounting pre-election crackdown', said Emin Huseynov, chairman of the Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS).

These amendments have again proven what little importance the Azerbaijani government has attached to its pledges to decriminalize defamation. President Aliyev has been undertaking to do this since 2006, and according to the “National Programme for Reinforcing Human Rights,” adopted in 2011, it should have been done in 2012.

These amendments also directly contradict undertakings that Azerbaijan has given to the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Restrictions on right to protest

The other amendments adopted on 14 May lengthen the permitted period of administrative detention for many offences, including those relating to the expression of dissent. The penalty for “organizing an unauthorized demonstration” (Article 298 of the code on administrative offences), for example, has been increased from 15 to 60 days. The penalty for “disobeying the police” is increased from 15 to 30 days (Article 310 of the code on administrative offences).

This move further limits the climate for Azerbaijani citizens to exercise their right to freedom of assembly. No protests have been sanctioned in the centre of the capital Baku since 2006, leading many to feel that they have no choice but to participate in unsanctioned protests. In November 2012, amendments were made that exorbitantly increased the administrative fines for those participating or organising unsanctioned protests. For example, the maximum fine for participating in unsanctioned public gatherings was increased from 955 EUR to 7,600 EUR.

In January 2013, the same month the November 2012 amendments came into effect, there was a wave of public protests both in Baku and elsewhere. More than 20 people were issued fines while a number of people were sentenced to several days in administrative detention, including the well-known blogger, Emin Milli (who received the then maximum of 15 days). An opposition leader and potential presidential candidate, Ilgar Mammadov, was arrested on 4 February 2013 after travelling to Ismailli, the site of another recent protest, and was charged with “organising mass disorder” and “violently resisting police”. He has remained in pre-trial detention ever since and his appeal for bail was denied on 8 April. More than 50 Azerbaijani civil society organisations believe Mammadov's arrest to be politically motivated.

Harassment of the media

The legislative vice has been tightened at a time when journalists and bloggers are being constantly harassed. Yafez Akramoglu, a reporter for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's (RFE/RL) Azerbaijani-language service reported yesterday that he was threatened by a Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic security official five days ago while reporting on the Nakhchivan diaspora in Istanbul.

RFE/RL issued a public protest a few weeks ago about the harassment of two of its journalists, Khadija Ismayilova and Yafez Hasanov. The intermittent smear campaign against Ismayilova resumed at the end of April 2013 with the posting of obscenely doctored photos on a new pro-government propaganda site. Hasanov, who is based in Nakhchivan, has since 4 April been the subject of attempts by the Nakhchivan security services to get him collaborate with them or stop working as a journalist.

The opposition daily Azadlig's main bank account has been blocked again since 16 April, after it was ordered to pay astronomic damages for supposedly libelling the Baku subway authority chief. Transport ministry inspectors attacked two Azadlig journalists, Seymour Khazyev and Khalig Garayev, while they were doing a report on 27 April.

Tolishi Sado editor Hilal Mammedov's trial is continuing, while Avaz Zeynalli, the editor of the newspaper Khural, has appealed against a nine-year jail sentence. Both are still detained.

Growing pressure on Internet users

The authorities also clearly have their sights on Internet users. The blogger Reshad Hagigat Agaaddin's family reported that he was arrested on 10 May on a trumped-up charge of possessing drugs.

Agaaddin often posted comments on Facebook calling for justice and freedom, criticizing the government's anti-religion policies and mocking the president's plans for a third term, suggesting that he “clearly wants to get into the Guinness Book of Records.” One of his blogs referred to the Aliyev regime as “devilish.”

Seven young members of the opposition movement N!DA (Shout) have been in detention since their arrests in March and April 2013 on unsubstantiated charges of possessing drugs or firearms. They are above all known for their activism on online social networks. Similarly, a youth activist with the Popular Front Party (AXCP), was arrested in March for drug possession following a series of critical posts on Facebook and other social media. He was known to participate regularly in public protests. All eight activists remain in pre-trial detention.

Three more young activists – Turgut Gambar, board member of N!DA, Abulfaz Gurbanly, Chairman of the Youth Committee of the Popular Front Party, and the activist, Ilkin Rustamzade. a member of the “Free Youth” organisation who was involved in organising the “end soldier deaths” protests held earlier this year through Facebook – were arrested on 30 April 2013 and sentenced to 10 days administrative detention for participation in a memorial rally for victims of a 2009 terrorist attack.

The blogger Nilufer Magerramova died in a fall from her balcony in the northern city of Mingachevir on 7 May 2013. Her friends said the police had been harassing her during the preceding weeks, but this was denied by the prosecutor's office, which said her death was suicide.

Azerbaijan was ranked 156th out of 179 countries in the press freedom index that Reporters Without Borders published in January. The situation has worsened steadily since then.

The undersigned organisations call on the Azerbaijani authorities to:

• Respect and promote the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, including online;
• Honour their commitment to decriminalise insult and defamation;
• Abolish administrative detention as a penalty for organising or holding an unauthorised assembly;
• Stop using bogus criminal or administrative penalties to punish the expression of dissent;
• Cease the practice of harassing media workers and bloggers;
• Immediately and unconditionally release Hilal Mammedov, Avaz Zeynalli, Zaur Gurbanli, and all other journalists, bloggers and activists currently detained or imprisoned in connection with exercising their right to free expression.

Signed by:

• ARTICLE 19
• Civil Rights Defenders
• Freedom House
• International Media Support
• Index on Censorship
• Media Diversity Institute
• Norwegian Helsinki Committee
• PEN International
• Reporters Without Borders

Slovenia - Blogger gets six months in jail for defamation

2013-05-16T16:30:57Z

Reporters Without Borders strongly condemns the six-month jail sentence that Mitja Kunstelj, a well-known and controversial blogger, received on 13 May on criminal charges of defaming and insulting two journalists in his blog.

“Regardless of the offending content – and we are not trying to defend Kunstelj's posts – the very possibility that someone can be jailed for abusing freedom of expression is utterly unacceptable,” Reporters Without Borders said. “It violates international conventions signed by Slovenia, including the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

“The European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly said in its rulings that the penalties for defamation and insult must be strictly limited and proportionate. Imprisonment is completely out of the question because, by its nature, it intimidates those who provide news and information. This jail sentence must be quashed on appeal.

“We urge the Slovenian authorities to decriminalize defamation, and we urge the European Union to encourage such initiatives in all member states. The EU's credibility in its relations with its neighbours is it stake, especially with membership candidates, which are told they must take the utmost care to respect freedom of information.”

A controversial figure with a troubled past in the Slovenian special forces, Kunstelj now keeps one of the country's most widely-read blogs. In the offending posts, he used extremely crude terms to describe details of the private lives of two journalists with whom he used to be close.

The court justified the sentence by referring to the blogger's announcement that he would not pay any fine and that that he would continue to post similar blog entries. Kunstelj was also ordered to pay 10,000 euros in damages to each of the plaintiffs. Two other lawsuits are meanwhile pending against him.

The sentence follows other disturbing developments for freedom of information in Slovenia.

The car of Miran Šubic, a reporter for the daily Dnevnik, was torched outside his home in the northern city of Kranj on the night of 10 April. The fire spread to his garage and caused about 50,000 euros in damage.

Šubic is convinced that the fire was meant to intimidate him in connection with his work. He has covered Kranj municipal corruption in the past and recently wrote about arms- and drug-trafficking in the region.

Reporters Without Borders urges the authorities to do everything possible to identify the attack's perpetrators and instigators. Contacted by Reporters Without Borders at the end of April, the police said they were treating it as a case of criminal “damage to the property of another person” but could say nothing else about the case for reasons of confidentiality.

A European Union member since 2004, Slovenia is ranked 35th out of 179 countries in the 2013 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

Photo: Matej Leskovsek/Planet Siol.net

Equatorial Guinea - Facebook and opposition websites blocked ahead of elections

2013-05-14T15:53:56Z

Reporters Without Borders condemns the government's blocking of access to Facebook and certain opposition websites since 12 May. The targets include the site of the main opposition party, Convergence For Social Democracy (CPDS), which is fielding candidates for the 26 May parliamentary and municipal elections.

At the same time, the website of the ruling Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE) continues to be fully accessible.

“This act of censorship at President Teodoro Obiang Nguema's behest is disgraceful and constitutes a grave violation of freedom of information,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We condemn this presidential offensive against the democratic process, especially in the immediate run-up to elections.”

Agence France-Presse correspondent Samuel Obiang Mbana reported: “Facebook has been deactivated throughout Equatorial Guinea at the request of the president's office and the government following the announcement of an anti-Obiang demonstration by students and government opponents for 15 May.”

Internet cafés in the capital, Malabo, have reported an important fall in turnover in the past two days as result of the blocking of access to online information.

President for the past 34 years, Obiang is on the list of “Predators of Freedom of Information” that Reporters Without Borders published on 3 May, while Equatorial Guinea is ranked 166th out of 179 countries in the Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

United States - Seizure of AP phone records condemned as “grave violation”

2013-05-14T11:43:23Z

Reporters Without Borders regards the US Department of Justice's seizure of the records of thousands of Associated Press phone calls as an “extremely grave violation of freedom of information.”

The DOJ notified the AP in an email on 10 May that it had obtained the records of calls made from 20 of the news agency's phone lines during April and May 2012. The email did not specify the DOJ's reasons for seizing them or the legal grounds on which they were seized.

But the purpose was presumably to identify the news agency's sources for a story, in particular, an AP report on 7 May 2012 revealing details of a CIA operation to thwart an Al-Qaeda plot to blow up an airplane bound for the United States.

The targeted phone lines were those of several AP bureaux in the United States, its main number in the House of Representatives press gallery, and the personal numbers of some of its employees, including five reporters and an editor involved in producing the May 2012 report.

“We share the view of AP president and CEO Gary Pruitt, who called it a ‘massive and unprecedented intrusion' in a letter yesterday to US attorney general Eric Holder,” Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. “We urge the DOJ to comply immediately with the AP's request for the return or destruction of the seized phone records.

“We also think that such a flagrant violation of constitutional guarantees needs to be the subject of a congressional commission of enquiry. We regret to see that the federal government has not ended the practices that prevailed during President George W. Bush's two terms, when officials sacrificed the protection of private data and, above all, the First Amendment right to be informed.”

Deloire added: “This case has demonstrated the need for a federal shield law that guarantees the protection of journalists' sources, a principle that 34 of the Union's states already recognize to varying degrees in their legislation.”

Pakistan - New York Times bureau chief ordered to leave on eve of elections

2013-05-14T09:03:18Z

Reporters Without Borders deplores New York Times Islamabad bureau chief Declan Walsh's expulsion from Pakistan on 12 May. Walsh was handed an interior ministry note on 9 May, two days before key parliamentary elections, giving him 72 hours to leave.

The note said his visa had been cancelled because of “undesirable activities” but gave no other explanation.

“Deporting a foreign journalist at the very moment when historic elections are taking place is a complete contradiction of the democratic hopes raised by the elections,” Reporters Without Borders said. “This decision can only be regarded as a deliberate attempt by senior government officials to prevent impartial coverage. Walsh is a leading Pakistan specialist, whose expulsion is deeply regrettable. It suggests that this kind of practice could recur whenever the electoral interests of senior officials are at stake. They must nonetheless realize that democracy is not going to take hold in Pakistan without respect for freedom of information.”

“Here I go. Hard to believe this is happening,” Walsh tweeted as he headed for the airport early on the morning of 12 May, accompanied by Dawn journalist Cyril Almeida and a convoy of security officials, ending his nine years in Pakistan.

The expulsion order, which police officers handed to him outside his home, consisted of two sentences: “It is informed that your visa is hereby cancelled in view of your undesirable activities. You are, therefore, advised to leave the country within 72 hours.” The interior ministry refused to give him any additional information.

In a protest letter to the interior minister, New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson said the charge of undesirable activities was “vague and unsupported” and described Walsh as a “reporter of integrity who has at all times offered balanced, nuanced and factual reporting on Pakistan.”

Aged 39, Walsh had been based in Pakistan since 2004, initially reporting for the London-based Guardian newspaper. He joined the New York Times in January 2012. His reporting focused on Pakistan's political upheavals, Islamist insurrection and tension with the United States over its drone strikes.

Photo : Declan Walsh

Syria - German freelancer held by Assad regime

2013-05-14T08:29:58Z

Read in Arabic (بالعربية)

Reporters Without Borders condemns German freelance journalist Armin Wertz's detention by the Syrian authorities since 5 May.

Shortly after his arrest by government forces in the battle-torn city of Aleppo, Wertz sent an SMS to a friend from his mobile phone saying the police were holding him. He asked the friend to notify his family but not make his detention public.

He sent another message yesterday expressly asking for help and reporting that he was about to be transferred along with other detainees to Latakia, a coastal city under government control. The German foreign ministry and Reporters Without Borders were alerted.

Born in 1945, Wertz is nowadays normally based in Indonesia, where he reports for various media including the Berlin daily Tagesspiegel. He had gone to Syria to cover the civil war and, in particular, the situation of refugees, for two Asian newspapers.

A spokesman for the family of James Foley, a US journalist missing since 22 November (LINK), meanwhile reported on 3 May that he is also being held by the Assad regime. German journalist Billy Six spent 12 weeks being held by the Syrian authorities before finally being released on 5 March.

Reporters Without Borders calls for the immediate release of all Syrian and foreign journalists currently detained in Syria. At least 22 professional journalists and 18 citizen-journalists are currently held.

Thailand - Projectiles hurled at Bangkok daily after cartoonist's controversial post

2013-05-13T17:36:54Z

Reporters Without Borders deplores an attack by four men who threw various projectiles at the security box outside the Bangkok headquarters of the Thai Rath daily newspaper on 11 May, causing minor damage and slightly injuring two security guards.

The attack came a few days after one of the newspaper's cartoonists, Somchai Katanyutanan, who uses the pen name of Chai Ratchawat, posted a controversial comment on his Facebook page about Thailand's prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's sister.

“We firmly condemn this attack on Thai Rath's headquarters and we call on the police to quickly identify those responsible in order to establish their motives and bring them to justice,” Reporters Without Borders said.

The police said four men on two motorcycles threw the projectiles at the security box at around 3:20 a.m., while the security cameras were undergoing maintenance. One of the box's windows was shattered. The security guards immediately called the police, who tried to take fingerprints from some of the projectiles.

The attack came amid a dispute between Somchai and Prime Minister Yingluck's supporters about the caption of the photo of Yingluck that he posted on 30 April, the day after she addressed a democracy forum in Ulan Bator.

The caption said: “Prostitutes are not evil. They just sell their bodies. But an evil woman sells the nation.” The prime minister has filed a defamation suit over the caption.

Metropolitan police chief Kamronwit Thoopkrachang said Thai Rath's assailants may have carried out the attack at the height of the current controversy so that suspicion would fall on the government's supporters.

The prime minister's party, Pheu Thai, blamed the attack on the “Red Shirt” supporters of Thaksin, who was ousted as prime minister in 2006. Several days before the attack, Red Shirts demonstrated outside the newspaper to demand that the cartoonist be punished.

Pheu Thai has condemned the attack and has promised a thorough police investigation.

On 5 May, information technology and communications minister Anudith Nakornthap threatened websites publishing critical comments about the prime minister with closure and with prosecutions that could result in sentences of up to seven years in prison for those responsible.

But he backed down two days later, on 7 May, saying that only a criminal court could decide to close a website and that using the Internet to express an opinion could not be prohibited.

Photo : nationmultimedia.com

Turkey - Officials trying to control coverage of border town bombings

2013-05-13T15:49:25Z

16.05.2013 - Update: Reporters Without Borders is relieved by the lifting of censorship on the Reyhanli bombings. On appeal, a court in the nearby city of Antakya yesterday quashed the publication ban that the Reyhanli magistrate's court issued within hours of the bombings on 11 May.

Reporters Without Borders condemns the drastic restrictions that a magistrate's court in Reyhanli, a southern town on the Syrian border, has imposed on media coverage of two lethal car bomb explosions in Reyhanli on 11 May, outside its town hall and post office.

“The ban imposed by the Reyhanli magistrate's court is disproportionate and violates the right to information,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The bombings are among the deadliest in recent Turkish history. How could information about them not be of general interest?”

“The judicial authorities are trying to control coverage of a key story on the pretext of combatting rumours and protecting the confidentiality of the investigation. We call for the ban to be lifted at once so that the media can do their work without having to depend on official communiqués.

“The court's vague and imprecise language also prevents news providers from assessing the extent of the ban and therefore encourages self-censorship. In practice, it will prevent the media from reporting the local population's concerns and criticism of government policy towards Syria.”

Reporters Without Borders added: “Appealing for national unity is legitimate, but it should not suppress a democratic debate about the context or political consequences of the bombings.”

At least 46 people were killed and 100 were wounded in the two car bombings in Reyhanli, which has been sheltering many Syrian refugees and which is used as a base by many NGOs operating in Syria. The bombings have fuelled concern about a regionalization of the Syrian conflict.

Within hours of the two explosions, the Reyhanli magistrate's court issued its ban on the transmission by print and broadcast media and Internet users of “any information about the state of the dead and wounded, and about the investigation”

Posted on the website of the Higher Broadcasting Council (RTÜK), the “publication prohibition” also applies to “detailed images” of the scenes of the bombings and the wounded.

The official grounds for the ban, which was issued in response to a request by Reyhanli's public prosecutor, are protection of the investigation's confidentiality and protection of the privacy of the victims (under article 153 of the criminal procedure code).

The Association of Turkish Journalists (TGC) has called on the authorities to share all information of general interest with journalists and to facilitate their “already difficult” task.

Atilla Sertel, the president of the Federation of Turkish Journalists (TGF), has deplored a “tendency to issue prohibitions that offer no solution.” He said: “The publication ban will just raise more questions. It will fuel confusion and misinformation of the public.”

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government, which has been actively supporting the opposition to President Bashar Al-Assad in neighbouring Syria, has accused the Assad regime of being behind the bombings. Damascus has denied the charge.

Photo by: Bulent Kilic / AFP

Vietnam - Netizen Prize winner prevented from taking international flight

2013-05-13T14:48:10Z

Reporters Without Borders condemns the Vietnamese public security ministry's decision to prevent the well-known blogger Huynh Ngoc Chenh from travelling abroad.

Winner of the 2013 Netizen Prize, which Reporters Without Borders awards annually with support from Google, Chenh and his daughter were stopped at Ho Chi Minh City airport as they were about to board a flight to the United States on 10 May.

Reporters Without Borders regards the travel ban as a reprisal for Chenh's blogging and staunch defence of freedom of expression. His influence as a blogger is growing both within Vietnam as well as internationally and the Netizen Prize is thought to have played a role in the decision to impose the ban.

Chenh's blog is very popular in Vietnam although it is blocked by the authorities and can be accessed only by using censorship circumvention software. Reporters Without Borders has described it as “an example to follow” in a country where freedom of information is openly flouted.

When awarded the Netizen Prize on World Day Against Cyber-Censorship, Chenh said in a phone call from Vietnam: “This award represents a great deal for me. It is a new source of inspiration. It is also and above all a reward and sign of hope for bloggers and independent journalists in Vietnam, and all those who are being denied their right to freedom of expression.”

He added: “The international community's support will give us more courage to continue our struggle for freedom of information. It will help all of us to overcome our fears and speak more freely.”

Chenh's international travel ban is not isolated. Several bloggers were prevented from travelling abroad last year. They included Nguoi Buon Gio, J.B. Nguyen Huu Vinh, Huynh Ngoc Tuan and Tuan's son, Huynh Trong Hieu, who was to have travelled to the United States to accept Human Rights Watch's Hellman Hemmett Prize on behalf of his father.

“Many bloggers have, like me, been forbidden to leave the country, which is a human rights violation,” Gio told Reporters Without Borders. “Vague reasons are usually given for these bans such as national security, the reason given in my case. They are reprisals that the Vietnamese authorities use with bloggers they don't like. The bans just reinforce the feeling that a blog to press for more rights is essential.”

Vietnam is the world's second biggest prison for netizens, with a total of 31 currently detained. Bloggers and other news providers regarded as too outspoken are hounded by the Communist Party, forced to censor themselves or jailed.

Recent examples include the use of police violence against participants in “human rights picnics” on 5 May and the record jail terms imposed on bloggers such as Dieu Cay and Ta Phong Tan, who were sentenced on appeal on 28 December to 12 and 10 years in prison followed by five years of house arrest.

Vietnam is on the Reporters Without Borders list of “Enemies of the Internet” and has been ranked 172nd out of 179 countries in the Reporters Without Borders press freedom index for the past two years.

Turkmenistan - RFE/RL correspondent held arbitrarily for past four days

2013-05-10T18:07:02Z

Reporters Without Borders calls on the authorities to explain why they have been holding Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty correspondent Rovshen Yazmuhamedov (Ровшан Язмухаммедов) in the northeastern city of Turkmenabat since 6 May.

“Yazmuhamedov's unexplained detention for the past four days is completely arbitrary and represents a gross violation of his constitutional rights and the international conventions ratified by Turkmenistan,” Reporters Without Borders said.

“What is he accused of, and on what basis? When will he be tried and what are the grounds for holding him in the meantime? The authorities must answer these questions. In such a closed and repressive country as Turkmenistan, there is every reason to suspect that his detention is a reprisal for his journalistic activities.

“We are extremely worried for Yazmuhamedov because of the appalling conditions in Turkmen jails and the government's attitude to independent media. The international community must do everything in its power to find out what has happened to him and to make sure he is freed.”

Reporters Without Borders added: “In particular, we urge the European Union's representatives to raise Yazmuhamedov's detention during the next session of its ‘human rights dialogue' with Turkmenistan at the end of May, if this unacceptable situation goes on that long.”

Yazmuhamedov, who works for RFE/RL's Turkmen service, disappeared on the afternoon of 6 May. His mother was told the next day that he had been arrested and was asked to bring his passport to police headquarters in Turkmenabat.

He is now thought to be in a prison belonging to the interior ministry's Directorate No. 6, which specializes in terrorism and organized crime. His mother told RFE/RL yesterday that surveillance cameras were being installed around the family home. She could not be reached today.

“We have not succeeded in talking to Rovshen's family today,” Muhammad Tahir, the head of RFE/RL's Turkmen service, told Reporters Without Borders today. “Her phone line seems to have been disconnected. We still have not obtained any official comment [on the part of the authorities]. We are completely in the dark.”

Yazmuhamedov has worked for RFE/RL since September 2012, mainly covering social issues, which can be very sensitive in Turkmenistan.

A source familiar with his work mentioned a report he recently did about a young girl who was banned from attending a school for wearing an Islamic headscarf. The report elicited strong reactions. Independent journalism tends not to be tolerated in Turkmenistan, where all media are controlled by the state.

Despite some window dressing, Turkmenistan has made no real progress towards democracy in recent years and continues to have one of the world's most authoritarian and ruthless regimes.

As the next round in the “human rights dialogue” approaches, Reporters Without Borders urges the European Union to hold firm on the conditions that Turkmenistan must fulfil in order to have a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) with the EU.

Any relaxation of the conditions would be a betrayal of Turkmen civil society and a sign of weakness towards the authorities, one that would hurt all future negotiations.

Turkmenistan has for years shared the bottom three places in the Reporters Without Borders press freedom index with North Korea and Eritrea.

Many RFE/RL collaborators have been arrested in Turkmenistan over the past few years. For instance, read RWB statements on:

Dovletmyrat Yazkuliyev's arrest (October 2011)
Amangelen Shapudakov confined in a psychiatric hospital (April 2011)
Sazak Durdymuradov confined in a psychiatric hospital (July 2008)
Ogulsapar Muradova's death under torture (September 2006)

(Photo: Twitter)

Colombia - Death threats against eight journalists over land restitution

2013-05-10T17:35:53Z

Eight journalists have been threatened with death in a leaflet signed by a self-styled “Anti-Land Restitution Group” circulated in Valledupar, in the northern department of Cesar, on 6 May (see below).

Headed by a photo of an automatic weapon, the leaflet gave the eight journalists 24 hours to leave the city and said they would be killed if they did not stop covering subjects related to land restitution. It described the eight journalists as “military targets” and issued a warning to “all journalists.”

The eight named journalists are Herlency Gutiérrez of RCN Radio, Jaime José Daza of Maravilla Stereo, Damaris Rojas of Al Día, Renier Asprilla of El Heraldo, Katia Ospino of UNO and CM&, Óscar Arzuaga of La Tribuna del Cesar de Radio Guatapuri, Ubaldo Anaya Flórez of TV RPT and Martín Mendoza of Caracol Televisión and El Pilón.

All have been covering the process under which peasant farmers are supposed to recover land that was seized by paramilitary groups during the civil war, displacing a significant proportion of the rural population.

“We condemn these threats by a group that is very probably linked to the paramilitaries, and we are very worried for the targeted journalists,” Reporters Without Borders said. “They must be given protection, even though two of them already receive protection, and an investigation must be launched without delay in order to shed light on the exact origin of these threats.”

Reporters Without Borders added: “The authorities must also do whatever is necessary to stop paramilitary groups from deliberately intimidating not only journalists but also human rights activists, peasant leaders, labour representatives and environmentalists.”

The leaflet is not isolated. Last month, the same group threatened leaders of the peasant movement that supports land restitution in Cesar department. Several have been murdered while others have stopped pressing for the return of their land because of the threats being made in several departments.

The threats come two years after the government's June 2011 ratification of Law 1448, which orders the return of 2 million hectares of land to 400,000 families displaced by the violence since 1991. Some armed groups opposed to the law have been trying to block the process ever since, supported by various political and economic sectors of society.

Read the Anti-Land Restitution Group's leaflet:

Belarus - Authorities jail two independent journalists again

2013-05-10T14:49:26Z

Reporters Without Borders calls for the immediate and unconditional release of independent journalists Dzmitry Halko (Дмитрий Галко) and Alyaksandr Yarashevich (Александр Ярошевич), who were arrested in Minsk on 6 May after covering the release of a group of jailed demonstrators.

“The illegal arrest of Halko and Yarashevich and the absurd charges on which they have been jailed are yet more evidence of the government's determination to crush independent journalism, and are designed to intimidate all their colleagues,” Reporters Without Borders said.

“The trials at which they were given jail terms were a complete violation of their right to due process. They should be freed at once.”

Halko, a freelancer and former employee of the independent newspaper Narodnaya Volya, and Yarashevich, a correspondent for Radio Racyja, an independent station based in the Polish city of Białystok, were arrested close to a Minsk subway station on the evening of 6 May, after covering the release of demonstrators held since an anti-nuclear march that environmentalists and anti-government activists organize every 26 April.

Without being given any explanation, Halko and Yarashevich were bundled into a police minibus and, after spending the night in police custody, they were tried the next day before the Maskouski district court in Minsk, which sentenced them to 10 and 12 days in prison, respectively, on charges of “resisting the police” and “hooliganism.”

According to the Belarus Association of Journalists (BAJ), which attended their trials, the only witnesses to give evidence were the arresting police officers, whose statements were vague and contradictory. No recording, not even an audio recording, was allowed during the trial.

This was Yarashevich's second arrest in 10 days. He and fellow Radio Racyja reporter Henadz Barbarych were sentenced to three days in prison after covering the 26 April demonstration. Just hours before being re-arrested, Yarashevich filed an appeal against his first conviction before the Minsk district court.

“Yarashevich was arrested because he is a Radio Racyja reporter who had gone to meet opposition activists [as they left prison] and because the authorities don't like him,” Barbarych told Reporters Without Borders. The station's correspondents are often refused accreditation.

In a separate development, Aleh Hruzdzilovich (Олег Груздилович), a reporter for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Belarusian service, was interrogated by the Minsk prosecutor's office on 8 May about his coverage of the government's response to the April 2011 Minsk subway bombing.

At the end of the interrogation, he was warned to stop disseminating “biased and deliberately distorted reports” and stop “discrediting” the country's judicial system.

Hruzdzilovich produced several reports about the bombing for the second anniversary and he authored a book by him entitled “Who Blew Up the Minsk Metro?” His book and reports cast doubt on the credibility of the Belarusian investigation into the bombing and the judicial system's impartiality.

The subject is very sensitive and several other journalists have been arrested or questioned for covering it.

Belarus is ranked 157th out of 179 countries in the Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

Photo: Radio Svaboda (RFE/RL)

Pakistan - Historic elections need strong support for freedom of information

2013-05-10T13:54:17Z

Reporters Without Borders has written an open letter to Pakistan's government and political party leaders on the eve of tomorrow's parliamentary elections, voicing concern that reporting is becoming increasingly difficult in some parts of the countries and urging the next government to protect news providers.

President Asif Ali Zardari
Prime Minister Mir Khazar Khan Khoso
Leaders of Pakistan's political parties

Paris, 10 May 2013

Dear President Zardari, Dear Prime Minister Khoso, Dear Political Party Leaders,

Tomorrow's parliamentary elections will be the first in Pakistan's history in which an elected civilian government completes its term and hands over to another elected government.

This will be a major advance for democracy in a country that has been used to military coups, and Reporters Without Borders, an international organization that defends freedom of information, congratulates you for succeeding in ensuring that this takes place.

However, we would like to share with our concern about the threats to freedom of information posed by the waves of violence sweeping Pakistan, which has been the world's deadliest country for journalists since the start of 2013.

News control, censorship and harassment of journalists and netizens in the Tribal Areas must be combatted, and all means possible must be used to prevent these evils from extending to other provinces and creating information “black holes.” Armed groups spreading terror must not be allowed to spoil these democratic elections.

A total of six journalists have been killed in connection with their work since the start of the year in Pakistan, four of them in the province Balochistan.

Three of the Balochistan victims – Mohammad Iqbal of News Network International and Saifur Rehman and Imran Shaikh of Samaa News – were killed in a double bombing in Quetta on 10 January. The fourth, Mehmood Ahmed Afridi of Intikhab, was killed by the Balochistan Liberation Army in Kalat on 1 March.

Elsewhere, Malik Mumtaz Khan, a reporter for Geo News TV and the Jang media group, was gunned down in North Waziristan on 27 February, while Aslam Durrani of the Urdu-language Daily Pakistan was the victim of a suicide bombing that killed 17 people at an Awami National Party meeting in Peshawar on 16 April.

The holding of these parliamentary elections seems to have raised renewed hopes for democracy in Pakistian. If these hopes are to be realized, it is up to you, senior government officials and political party representatives, to ensure respect for media freedom.

To this end, Reporters Without Borders urges you to take effective measures to ensure the physical safety of journalists and a complete end to the impunity enjoyed by those who murder news providers. The perpetrators and instigators of these murders must be identified and brought to justice.

We call on the government to end the abuses by Military Intelligence, the Intelligence Bureau and above all by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which have been implicated in many cases of surveillance, abduction, torture and murders of journalists.

We also urge you to ensure respect for all publishing and broadcasting of reports about the holding of these elections and their results, in order to guarantee the transparency that is necessary if they are to be credible.

Reporters Without Borders stands ready to support you in all these initiatives and to accompany Pakistan in its progress towards democracy. We are also available to discuss the points raised in this letter in more detail.

Sincerely,

Christophe Deloire
Reporters Without Borders secretary-general

Information about Pakistan's three “predators of freedom of information”:

Photo : A. MAJEED / AFP