Reporters Sans Frontières

Colombia - Journalists still in danger

2010-02-09T17:43:14Z

The Day of the Journalist that Colombia celebrates today will inevitably be overshadowed by the fact that press freedom is making no progress. Despite government boasts about “successful” measures for protecting the media, endangered journalists insist that they are not any safer and this will not change until the president takes a clear position.

Paradoxically, the government has become one of the biggest threats to the media, which continue to suffer from the effects of measures taken by the Department for Security Administration (DAS) – an intelligence agency overseen by the president's office – which developed a manual for spying, threatening, intimidate and discrediting “troublesome” journalists.

The targets of a DAS unit called Strategic Intelligence Group 3 (G-3) included journalists Hollman Morris and Claudia Julieta Duque, who were spied on and threatened and who were the victims of smear attempts, some of them by President Álvaro Uribe himself. Duque was benefitting from an interior ministry protection programme until she realised her bodyguards were passing information about her on to the DAS.

Both say there is nothing to celebrate and a lot to complain about. The prosecutor-general's department has evidence of the president's role in spying and reprisals. The DAS received presidential orders to treat critical journalists as the “allies of terrorism.” Documents were found that show that G-3 spied on more than 300 people including journalists critical of the government.

As a result of scandals involving the DAS, four of its five chiefs have had to stand down during Uribe's presidency because of allegations of illegal spying, political persecution and collusion with paramilitary groups (providing them with lists of people to be murdered).

These lists included the names of at least 10 journalists, who were seriously affected as result. Morris and Duque say they and their families continue to be in danger. Reporters Without Borders supports their view that only judicial action and a clear directive from the president would be able to improve the security situation for them and their colleagues. Reporters Without Borders calls for a response from the government and for progress in the investigations into serious violations of freedom of expression. A wide range of media, including online media, are affected by censorship. The fact that elections are due to be held soon makes the situation all the more disturbing.

Photo : AFP

Cameroon - Authorities urged to account for two journalists held incommunicado by intelligence agency

2010-02-09T16:20:25Z

Reporters Without Borders calls on National Security Chief Emmanuel Edou to immediately explain what has happened to two journalists, Simon Hervé Nko'o and Serge Sabouang, who were arrested by members of the General Directorate for External Investigation (DGRE), an intelligence agency, on 5 February. There has been no news of them since then.

“The unacceptable manner in which these two journalists have been arrested resembles the ‘abductions' of journalists in Zimbabwe at the height of the repression orchestrated by Robert Mugabe,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Such practices have no place in a country such as Cameroon which claims to respect the rule of law.”

The press freedom organisation added: “The authorities must publicly state what offence these journalists are alleged to have committed and where they are being held. The journalists must also be allowed to communicate with their families.”

It is believed that Nko'o, a reporter for the Douala-based weekly Bebela, and Sabouang, the editor of the fortnightly La Nation, are being held at DGRE headquarters in Yaoundé. When Nko'o was arrested, his home was searched from top to bottom and was ransacked shortly thereafter.

Bebela publisher Henriette Ekwé said Nko'o was arrested “because he had a document that is compromising for powerful people in Cameroon,” adding that this included Laurent Esso, the secretary-general of the president's office. The document, about a questionable transaction, has been described by Esso as a fabrication designed to discredit him.

Agence France-Presse reported that, according to a local source who requested anonymity, the publishers of two other privately-owned newspapers, Bibi Ngota of the Cameroun Express and Robert Mintsa of Le Devoir, were also briefly detained in the same case on 5 February.

Four journalists – Ananie Bindzi, Alex Azebaze, Thierry Ngongang and Aboya Manassé – were meanwhile questioned today by the public prosecutor in connection with the comments they made on the STV programme “Cards on the Table” in June 2008 about judicial proceedings in an anti-corruption drive known as Operation Sparrowhawk.

The four journalists are facing up to three years in prison and fines of 5 million CFA francs. The case has been adjourned until 9 March because additional defence attorneys have been named.

China - Heavy jail sentences for activists who wrote about plight of Sichuan earthquake victims

2010-02-09T14:59:16Z

Reporters Without Borders condemns the long jail sentences that judges in Chengdu (in the southwestern province of Sichuan) have imposed on two human rights activists and netizens in the past 48 hours. A three-year sentence was upheld for Huang Qi yesterday while Tan Zuoren was given a five-year sentence at a hearing today during which police arrested and manhandled nine Hong Kong journalists.

“Bloggers and human rights defenders who dared to contradict official reports about the victims of the May 2008 earthquake in Sichuan are being treated like criminals,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We deplore the severe jail sentences that have been passed without due process and we appeal to the supreme court and justice ministry to review these two cases and to investigate the use of violence against the Hong Kong journalists who wanted to cover Tan's hearing.”

The press freedom organisation added: “After convicting human rights activist Liu Xiaobo on Christmas Day, the authorities are now using the Chinese New Year period to announce very harsh sentences for dissidents who are well known in China and abroad.”

Tan, who was tried last August, seemed to be in good shape when he appeared in court today to hear the court's verdict and sentence. According to one of his lawyers, he thanked those who have supported him, reaffirmed his innocence and described the proceedings as “illegal.” The court imposed the five-year sentence after finding him guilty of subverting state authority. His lawyers said they would appeal.

Tan's wife was not allowed into the courtroom for today's hearing, while nine journalists who had come from Hong Kong to cover the hearing were briefly detained and roughed up, and their press cards were taken. Two of the journalists were injured. The press cards were returned after the hearing.

Tan, who had urged fellow netizens to come to Sichuan to cover the plight of the families of the earthquake victims, was arrested in March 2009. Several journalists and activists were manhandled when they tried to attend his trial in August.

Yesterday's decision by a Chengdu intermediate court to reject human rights activist Huang Qi's appeal against his three-year sentence was taken without any hearing being held, thereby denying his defence lawyers a chance to present arguments. Huang was notified by letter that his sentence had been upheld.

His lawyers, including Mo Shaoping, have repeatedly complained of irregularities in the proceedings and submitted to a petition to the court last month listing their complaints, including the fact that they were being denied access to case documents.

Huang's wife, mother and son were allowed to see him in prison today. They reported that he was calm but his state of health appeared to have deteriorated as a result of the stomach and chest tumours he is suffering from. He said he had not been mistreated while in detention.

The editor of the Tianwang human rights website (http://www.64tianwang.com/), Huang was arrested on 10 June 2008 for highlighting the plight of earthquake victims. The three-year sentence was imposed on 23 November 2009 on a charge of “illegal possession of state secrets.”

More information about Huang Qi: http://www.rsf.org/Cyber-dissident-accused-of-illegal.html http://www.rsf.org/Court-urged-to-show-clemency.html

A Beijing appeal court is due to issue a ruling on Liu Xiaobo's case on 11 February. Reporters Without Borders urges the judges to demonstrate their independence by treating this leading intellectual and human rights activist humanely. Liu was given an 11-year jail sentence on 25 December on a charge of “inciting subversion of state authority.” In practice, all he did was display a commitment to free expression.

See the French text of a joint appeal by Reporters Without Borders and other organisation to the Beijing court to quash Liu's conviction: http://www.rsf.org/Appel-commun-pour-un-non-lieu-dans.html

Iran - Number of journalists and netizens in prison now tops 65

2010-02-09T09:19:45Z

Reporters Without Borders deplores the fact that, as a result of arrests in the past few days, the number of journalists and netizens detained in Iran now exceeds 65. “This is a figure that is without precedent since Reporters Without Borders was created in 1985,” the organisation's secretary-general, Jean-François Julliard, said. “The detainees include journalists based in Tehran and the provinces.”

At the same time, the Internet has been experiencing a great deal of disruption since the evening of 6 February and some mobile phone companies are no longer allowing users to send SMS messages. The measures appear to be part of a concerted effort by the authorities to prevent opposition protests during the Islamic Revolution's 31st anniversary celebrations on 11 February.

Intelligence ministry officials arrested at least eight journalists yesterday and the day before and took them to unknown places of detentions. Those arrested include:

Akbar Montajabi of Etemad-e Mell (a daily closed by the authorities)

Ahmad Jalali Farahani (arrested a day after being fired from the Meher News agency)

Mahsa Jazini of the Isfahan-based daily Iran

Somayeh Momeni of the monthly Nasim Bidary

Zeynab Kazem-Khah, an arts reporter for the ISNA news agency

Amir Sadeghi, a photographer with the daily Farhangh Ashti

Hassan Zohouri of the Mirass Farhanghi news agency

Ehsan Mehrabi of the daily Farhikhteghan

Vahid Pourostad of the daily Farhikhteghan

Reporters Without Borders has not received any news of several other journalists and netizens who were also reportedly arrested in recent days.

The press freedom organisation has learned that Ali Mohammad Islampour, editor of the Qasrnews blog and editor of the Navai Vaghat newspaper, was arrested on a charge of “publishing false information liable to upset public opinion” on 3 February after being summoned by a revolutionary court in the western city of Kermanshah.

In a press release yesterday, the intelligence ministry announced the arrests of seven journalists for “collaborating with Zionist satellite TV stations.” The journalists are accused of “receiving professional training abroad in the preparation of a velvet revolution,” disturbing public order and “collaborating with Radio Farda (Radio Free Europe).” A senior Radio Farda representative denied the allegation and said the station had no journalists in Iran.

In an open letter to international media that have been invited by the Iranian authorities to cover the 31st anniversary celebrations, ten Iranian exile journalists said they had detailed information from Iran about the government's plans to give the impression that it is supported by most of the population. It not only wants to prevent an opposition rally on Azadi Square, where President Ahmadinejad will give his speech, but also to ensure that there will only be government supporters in the square, the letter said.

Inviting foreign journalists to cover the Islamic Revolution's official anniversary was a trap, the journalists wrote. A government that has already arrested, jailed and charged journalists working for foreign news media, now wanted to demonstrate its popularity to the entire world and thereby conceal the protests, they said.

The letter added: “You are going to Iran not only as media representatives of the free world, but also as representatives of your Iranian fellow journalists who are either in prison or in exile outside Iran. Your host is a government that is anti-freedom, anti-free media, and one that violates the most basic human rights of its people.”

Reporters Without Borders wrote to United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay on 4 February voicing concern about the situation in Iran and requesting an interview. The organisation also wrote to the foreign ministers of the European Union's 27 member countries urging them to recall their ambassadors from Tehran “to protest against the arbitrary repression of government opponents, denounce the judicial farce of the Stalinist-style show trials and publicly express your concern about the imminent risk of executions.”

Nepal - TV magnate shot dead, police urged not to rule out media activities as motive

2010-02-08T17:02:07Z

Reporters Without Borders urges the Nepalese authorities not to rule out the possibility that yesterday's murder of media owner Jamim Shah was linked to his media activities. The head of satellite TV station Channel Nepal and cable TV company Space Time Network, Shah was shot dead in the centre of Kathmandu yesterday.

“Although a controversial figure, Shah made a major contribution to media development in Nepal by enabling many Nepalese to gain access to TV stations all over the world,” Reporters Without Borders said.

“So far nothing points to Shah's media activities as the motive, but he was a very influential person as a result of his pioneering role in broadcast and cable television in Nepal,” the press freedom organisation added. “Both the perpetrators and instigators of this deliberate murder must be identified, arrested and brought to trial.”

Reporters Without Borders welcomes the fact that the police have assigned considerable resources to the investigation. A police spokesman said dozens of officers were working on the case and all roads out of the capital were being checked. Eighteen arrests have been made.

Shah was gunned down on a major thoroughfare in the early afternoon by two men on a motorcycle with the licence number Ba15Pa8733. The killers got away without difficulty although the murder took place just yards from several embassies. Shah was fatally shot in the head and chest, while his driver, Mathuraman Malakar, was seriously injured.

A journalist who worked for Shah told Reporters Without Borders: “He was very humble and always tried to keep a low profile although his media company was very big.”

Shah used to run two newspapers, Space Time Dainik and Space Time Today, but closed them for financial reasons.

The Federation of Nepalese Journalists has called on the authorities to arrest those responsible for Shah's murder, while Television Broadcasters Nepal, an association chaired by Shah, has threatened the government with a campaign if it does not do what is necessary to catch the killers.

Some Indian news media have mentioned previous allegations linking Shah to both the Pakistani intelligence services and to leading figures in the Indian underworld including Dawood Ibrahim, India's most wanted man. Shah, who was off Kashmiri origin, always denied the allegations.

China - Did Gao Zhisheng die under torture in detention?

2010-02-05T18:55:29Z

Reporters Without Borders calls on the Chinese authorities to produce evidence that detained human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, of whom there has been no news since 4 February 2009, is still alive.

“We fear the worst,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The authorities must provide his relatives with proof that he is still alive. They must give the family details about his current place of detention and must allow his wife to have direct contact with him.”

The press freedom organisation added: “If anything has happened to him while in detention, the authorities will be held responsible and those who had a direct hand in it must be identified and punished. The uncertainty about his fate has gone on long enough.”

After being sentenced for the first time to three years in prison in 2006, he was released and then rearrested several times. He was arrested for the last time in his home in Shaanxi by Public Security Department officials on 4 February 2009. When later asked what had happened to him, the police said he “disappeared” in September 2009.

As a defence attorney, Gao's clients included Zheng Yichun, a journalist and former professor who was sentenced in 2005 to seven years in prison because of what he had written. Recognised by the justice ministry as “one of the country's 10 best lawyers” in 2001, Gao also defended members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement and Cai Zhohua, a protestant pastor who was given a three-year sentence for printing and distributing bibles.

He was one of a group of activists (including Hua Jia) who staged a rotating hunger strike for human rights in 2006. Participants in a total of 29 provinces and abroad took it in turns to fast for 24 hours. Several of them were arrested.

In an open letter written in November 2007 and published in February 2009, he described one of the torture sessions he underwent as follows: “ ‘Gao Zhisheng! You mother****er! Your date with death is today! Brothers! Let's show the bastard how brutal we can get. Kill the bastard.' A leader of the group screamed. Then, four men with electric batons started to beat my head and body with ferocity. Nothing but the noise of the beating and my moaning could be heard in the room. I was beaten so severely that my whole body began shaking uncontrollably on the floor.”

Belarus - Authorities step up pressure on independent journalists

2010-02-05T17:37:23Z

The Belarusian police are increasingly harassing and intimidating independent journalists by charging them with relatively minor offences. This practice should stop at once if the government really intends, as it claims, to turn Belarus into a democracy.

In the latest case, Ivan Shulha, a journalist who works for the privately-owned satellite television station Belsat TV and who is an active member of the independent Belarus Association of Journalists (BAJ), was sentenced to 10 days in prison by a Minsk court yesterday on a charge of “minor hooliganism” in connection with an incident the day before, when he was arrested.

Judge Aksana Relyava's refusal to allow a witness of the incident to testify is indicative of the way the courts are used by the authorities to silence independent media.

Shulha's arrest came when a police unit tried twice to force its way into the apartment of another Belsat TV journalist, Mihas Yanchuk, on the afternoon of 3 February. The police, who had no warrant, said they were responding to a complaint from neighbours about noise. The journalists present in the apartment refused to open on the grounds that Yanchuk was absent. A nearly two-hour siege ensued in which the police cut off the apartment's power supply.

Shulha, who had left the apartment seconds before the police arrived, reportedly called his colleagues by means of the intercom at the building's entrance to alert them to arrival of the police. The police claimed that he attacked an officer. Their statements initially mentioned torn braid on the officer's uniform and later talked of a broken leg. The police refused to say where they were holding Shulha until the start of the trial at noon the following day.

Like Belsat TV, which broadcasts from Poland, the BAJ is one of the few remaining entities that enable independent journalists to work in Belarus. As well as monitoring and denouncing violations of free expression, the BAJ issues press cards to its members that allow them to avoid the strict procedure for accrediting news media and journalists. It also offers a legal assistance unit to journalists who have problems with the police.

It was these functions that deputy justice minister Aliaksandr Simanau took issue with in a 13 January directive. Arguing that it was not a news media, he ordered the BAJ to stop using the word “press” (and therefore stop issuing press cards). He also said its legal assistance unit was illegal as the BAJ statutes contained no provision for it.

BAJ vice-president Andrei Bastunets insists that the legal unit is envisaged in the BAJ statutes, which were approved by the justice ministry. “It is hard to image what violations the ministry has suddenly discovered in regulations that have been in place for the past seven years,” he said. The BAJ was initially given a month to comply but it has challenged the order and has requested clarification.

Since its introduction a year ago under a new media law, the accreditation procedure has served the authorities as an effective mechanism for vetting news media. After citing many different pretexts for not considering Belsat TV's request for accreditation, the foreign ministry turned down its request for the second time in December.

Under a decree promulgated by President Alexander Lukashenko this week, the Internet is to be subjected to the same controls as the traditional media from 1 July. The regime appears to be clamping down on all forms of access to news and information in the run up to local elections in April and a presidential election to be held in early 2011.

Vietnam - Writer who was assaulted gets three-and-a-half-year sentence on trumped-up assault charge

2010-02-05T16:15:32Z

Reporters Without Borders condemns the three-and-a-half-year sentence which a Hanoi court passed today on writer and human rights activist Tran Khai Thanh Thuy on a trumped-up charge of assault. Analysis of some of the prosecution's evidence against Thuy and her husband, Do Ba Tan, who was given a suspended sentence, shows that it was fabricated by the police.

Thuy and her husband assaulted no one. On the contrary, they were the victims of violence on the part of the security forces, which have been making their lives impossible for years.

The court convicted the couple of assaulting two neighbours on the evening of 8 October 2009, the day that Thuy tried to travel to Hai Phong (to the east of Hanoi) to attend the trial of six pro-democracy activists. The police intercepted her while she was en route to Hai Phong and escorted her back to the capital.

In the evening, two individuals who were clearly in cahoots with the police entered the couple's home and hit Thuy with a brick, injuring her. Her husband took her to hospital where they were arrested by the police. The next day, the state media carried reports accusing the couple of attacking two neighbours.

The police file includes a photo that is supposed to show the injuries that one of the neighbours received at the hands of the couple. But it can be established from an IT analysis of the photo that it was taken in February 2005 and not October 2009, as the police claim (see photo and results of analysis).

Col. Vu Cong Long and the other officers in charge of the case clearly fabricated the evidence in order to punish a well-known government critic. Instead of trying her under article 88 of the criminal code, which concerns dissident activities, they preferred to accuse her of violating article 104.

“The hidden motive for this grotesque trial and verdict was the desire of the police authorities to silence a critic for a long time, a critic who has never ceased to peacefully defend human rights,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The security forces mounted a Machiavellian response to Thuy's courage.”

Reporters Without Borders has just sent a letter to the European Union's leaders, including Catherine Ashton and the Spanish presidency, asking them to suspend its human rights dialogue with Vietnam in protest against the recent wave of arrests and trials of pro-democracy activists.

Thuy was transferred on 19 October to Hoa Lu prison near Hanoi, where the authorities have denied her the medical attention she needs for the diabetes and advanced tuberculosis she suffers from. Reporters Without Borders already condemned the government's “criminal” refusal to release Thuy despite the deterioration in her health in a release in November: http://www.rsf.org/Information-abou...

Thuy was already jailed in 2007 for writing articles critical of the government for websites and dissident publications: http://www.rsf.org/Leading-woman-wr.... She was freed in February 2008 but the political police kept her under surveillance and continued to harass her.

Another woman writer, Pham Thanh Nghien, received a four-year jail sentence a few weeks ago in Hai Phong on a charge of “propaganda” against the regime under article 88 of the criminal code.

Mauritania - Court imposes new two-year sentence on website editor

2010-02-05T11:04:14Z

Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the harsh, two-year jail sentence which a court passed yesterday on Hanevy Ould Dehah, the editor of the website Taqadoumy, at the end of an incomprehensible and arbitrary trial. Dehah, who was not freed in December on completing a six-month sentence of a charge of violating public decency, was convicted this time on charges of violating public decency, inciting revolt and “criminal publication.”

The press freedom organisation, which met the Islamic Republic of Mauritania's president, Mohammed Ould Abdel Aziz, last October, requests a new meeting with the president. It also requests permission to visit Dehah in prison.

“We fail to understand how the judicial authorities could reach such a decision at the end of this farcical trial,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Why didn't they just give Dehah a 2½-year sentence in the first trial? This is a disgrace! The position of the Mauritanian authorities is confused. On the one hand they send positive signals but, on the other, they allow the principles of press freedom to be trampled on.”

The organisation added: “President Abdel Aziz was reassuring when Dehah's case was raised during our meeting in October and the media legislation that Mauritania adopted in 2005 is the best in the sub-region. Dehah's treatment at the hands of the courts is a major step backwards. This case has damaged Mauritania's image and could discourage its international partners, especially if it goes before the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights. It is in the general interest to acquit him on appeal and release him at once.”

Dehah was kept in prison illegally after he completed the original six-month sentence on 24 December. Arrested in June and unjustly convicted in August, this new trial was supposed to have retried the entire case but an opportunity was missed to clear him.

Mauritania's journalists have been campaigning for his release for weeks, organising rallies and pleading his case with the authorities. The Union of Mauritanian Journalists (SJM) has described the latest conviction as “a retrograde step as regards treatment of the media.”

See the previous release:http://www.rsf.org/Still-held-illegally-website.html

Watch a Reporters Without Borders interview in French with Dehah's lawyer, Brahim Ould Ebety, on 13 January: http://www.rsf.org/Website-editor-still-held-three.html

Rwanda - Independent weekly threatened with being closed for good

2010-02-04T15:42:40Z

Reporters Without Borders is very concerned about the fate of the Umuseso, one of Rwanda's leading independent weeklies, which could be closed down as a result of case brought by the public prosecutor's office accusing it of libel and invasion of privacy for reporting that a government minister was having an extra-marital affair with the mayor of Kigali. A neighbourhood court in Nyarugenge is due to issue its verdict on 22 February.

“We urge the judge to keep a cool head and to issue a fair verdict that respects press freedom,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The court must first establish whether the defendants are guilty of libel and if they are, there are much more appropriate punishments than jailing them and closing their newspaper for good.”

Reporters Without Borders fears the gradual erosion of the limited freedom available to Rwanda's privately-owned media in the run-up to the presidential election scheduled for August.

On 27 January, the Kigali prosecutor's office requested Umuseso's closure and one-year jail sentences for its publisher, Charles Kabonero, its editor, Didas Gasana, and one of its reporters, Richard Kayigamba, for an article published in issue No. 382 in November about cabinet affairs minister Protais Musoni and Kigali mayor Aisa Kirabo Kacyira. The prosecutor's office also asked that they be fined 5 million Rwandan francs (9,000 dollars).

Kayigamba claimed in the article, which was accompanied by photos of the minister and the mayor, that he caught them together in a hotel. The public prosecutor's office brought the case after the two officials denied the report.

The one-year suspended prison sentences which Umuseso's publisher and editor received in an unrelated case brought by a wealthy businessman, Tribert Rujugiro, is meanwhile due to be examined by an appeal court on 11 February.

Rwanda was ranked 157th out of 175 countries in the 2009 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index. Eritrea, Somalia and Equatorial Guinea were the only African countries that received worse rankings.

Uzbekistan - Photographer who showed Uzbek reality to be tried for “insulting the people”

2010-02-04T15:37:56Z

Reporters Without Borders condemns the upcoming trial of photographer and documentary film-maker Umida Akhmedova as an absurd and flagrant violation of free expression that is all the more disturbing for having unleashed an all-out campaign of nationalist and conservative hysteria.

Two months after being summoned for the first time to a Tashkent police station, Akhmedova was officially notified on 23 January that the authorities had completed their investigation and would soon try her in connection with her work showing women and poverty in Uzbekistan. She is accused of slandering and insulting the Uzkbek people under articles 139 and 140 of the criminal code – charges that carry a maximum sentence of three years in jail.

The authorities have focused on her documentary “The Burden of Virginity” and a collection of 100 photos called “Woman and Man: From Dawn till Night.” Showing individuals and scenes from daily life, the book was published in 2007 with support from the Swiss embassy's gender equality programme.

“This is the first time in Uzbekistan that a documentary filmmaker is going to be tried for films and photographs which, furthermore, are about subjects that are not political but social and ethnographic,” freelance journalist Aleksey Volosevich wrote in a recent article.

The prosecution case file includes the supposedly “scientific” analysis of Akhmedova's photographs that a group of “experts” released on 13 January. In Soviet-era prose, the report accuses her of presenting a deliberately distorted picture of Uzbekistan that emphasizes the negative aspects.

Reporters Without Borders is amazed by the absurdity and bad faith of the report's arguments: “Ninety percent of the photos were taken in isolated and under-developed Uzbek villages (…) Why does she not show nice places, modern buildings or prosperous villages?” At another point, Akhmedova is accused of “trying to portray Uzbek women as victims (…) giving the impression that Uzbekistan does nothing but housework (…) describing Uzbeks as barbarians.”

The persecution of Akhmedova was taken to a new stage by the “Current Affair” talk-show on the main public TV station two evenings ago. After screening extracts from her documentary, the programme showed guests denigrating her work and calling for her to be given the severest sentence for “offending the national traditions and sentiments of the Uzbek people.” Quoting President Islam Karimov at length, participants also described her work as part of “an information war waged against the country.”

Since Uzbekistan gained independence in 1991, a nationalist rhetoric glorifying an identity based on myths and traditions has been used instead of a communist discourse to legitimise President Karimov's autocratic regime.

No discussion of the country's social problems is permitted and the regime seems to be using Akhmedova as a scapegoat to whip up paranoia and perhaps to appease a conservative and religious segment of the population which is itself persecuted. By branding Akhmedova as agent of destabilisation in foreign pay, the authorities are making it clear that any debate about Uzbek society is unthinkable.

Nonetheless, civil society exasperation with the repeated attacks on civil liberties has begun to make itself felt in an unprecedented manner for a country that is such a police state (see this RFE/RL report on the reactions to journalist Khayrullo Khamidov's arrest). In Akhmedova's case, a broad campaign of support is under way and a petition has been launched on her behalf that has been relayed by the Ferghana.ru news agency, Radio Free Europe and many international NGOs.

The International Association of Art Critics has appealed to the Uzbek authorities to acquit Akhmedova while art critics in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have even issued a scathing alternative report disputing the findings of the official “expert” report and ironically calling for its authors to be tried for “lack of professionalism, incompetence (...) and ignorance, liable to discredit the Uzbek justice system.”

In a recent charm offensive targeted at the international community, President Karimov said he was determined to promote democratisation and went to so far as to criticise the “compliant” parliament and the “tame” press. It is time for him to turn these words into actions.

Links:
Watch Umida Akhmedova's documentary
Sign the petition
A statement by the OSCE

Haïti - US military must explain why marines censored Haitian photographer

2010-02-04T13:46:15Z

Three weeks after the earthquake, the Haitian press has just had its first serious run-in with the US military. Homère Cardichon, a photographer working for the daily Le Nouvelliste, had his camera confiscated by US marines yesterday while covering a demonstration by disgruntled residents outside the US embassy in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Tabarre.

We urge culture and communications minister Marie-Laurence Jocelyn-Lassègue to demand an explanation from the US military authorities.

“Six marines come up and surrounded me,” Cardichon told us. “Then they took my camera in my opened work bag and left with it. An hour later, one of them came back and photographed me. Then he returned my camera to me. I saw that the soldiers had erased some of the photos.”

There is growing discontent in Port-au-Prince with the countries involved in the humanitarian relief effort, including the United States. In this case, the US soldiers reacted in the worst possible manner in an attempt to protect their image. Aside from being a flagrant act of censorship, it has done further harm to their reputation in the eyes of the Haitian population. The government has a right to expect an explanation from the US military and to hope that such an incident will not recur.

News and information is vital for reconstruction in Haiti and for the efforts of its citizens to start rebuilding their lives. As regards the news media, it is time for Haiti's own journalists to be playing a leading role again.

Brazil - O Estado de São Paulo approaching 200th day of ban restricting press freedom

2010-02-04T11:20:57Z

The São Paulo-based daily O Estado de São Paulo and its website Estadão are approaching the 200th day of a court order banning them from publishing any information about legal matters involving businessman Fernando Sarney, the son of former President José Sarney, who is now senate speaker.

Their first six months of censorship under the 31 July order, which has set a dangerous press precedent for press freedom, was completed on 1 February.

The federal supreme court took only three months to uphold the ban although it was the same supreme court which, on 30 April overturned a draconian 1967 press law inherited from the 1964-85 military dictatorship. Its contradictory decision has been an enormous disappointment for the news media.

It was as if a new censorship mechanism had to be introduced as soon as the hangover from the repressive past had been eliminated. O Estado de São Paulo is the direct victim of this U-turn, but all the Brazilian media are likely to feel its effect.

What is there to stop other plaintiffs from obtaining bans on media coverage of their activities even if the information is of public interest? The threat will continue as long as the censorship imposed on O Estado de São Paulo has not been lifted and repudiated.

Both the form and substance of the order can be challenged:

The censorship was imposed on O Estado de São Paulo for a different reason from the one originally cited by Sarney. The ban concerns a questionable real estate operation in which he is involved but he launched his action against the newspaper after it published details of phone tapping by the federal police concerning an unrelated matter.

A week after the supreme court's 10 December decision to uphold the ban, Sarney withdrew his action against O Estado de São Paulo citing a desire not to endanger press freedom. In the absence of a plaintiff, there were no longer any grounds for censorship. Nonetheless, what the supreme court called the need to “protect dignity and honour” has taken precedence over the Brazilian public's right to be informed.

Finally, how is it possible to justify the fact that one news organisation, and one alone, is forbidden to report facts which other news organisations are able to report and which are known to the public? The supreme court is supposed to interpret the law but it is hard not to suspect a politically-motivated decision.

Spain - Court urged to acquit journalists in trial of Basque daily Egunkaria

2010-02-03T17:37:50Z

Reporters Without Borders calls on the court that is trying five journalists who ran the Basque-language daily Euskaldunon Egunkaria to acquit of them all charges of links to the Basque armed separatist group ETA.

The trial is finally being held seven years after Spanish civil guards raided the newspaper on 20 February 2003 and arrested a total of 13 journalists and members of its board on suspicion of “the crime of belonging to or collaborating with the terrorist organisation ETA.”

The raid was the result of a decision by national court judge Juan del Olmo to close the newspaper's premises, freeze its assets and suspend its activities on the alleged grounds that it pursued the same goals as ETA and helped it by creating front companies. Del Olmo has renewed the measures every six months since July 2003.

In the seven years since the case was opened, the police and judicial authorities have been unable to prove the alleged links between ETA and senior members of Egunkaria's staff. The lack of evidence is such that this week the prosecutors themselves asked the court to acquit the defendants.

“We urge the judge to take the decision to acquit and to allow Egunkaria to reopen immediately,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We also urge the Spanish authorities not to appeal against an acquittal. Such a step would contribute absolutely nothing further to this case.

“The efforts by the Spanish authorities to combat terrorism are entirely legitimate. Journalists themselves continue to be the victims of the terror campaign that ETA wages against the media. Some have to have bodyguards. Others have had to flee the Basque Country. But terrorism charges and the sanctions that accompany them cannot be brought lightly and they must not result in readers being deprived of the right to news and information.

“It is unacceptable that a daily newspaper has been closed and censored for seven years without a court reaching a verdict on the case. The length of the judicial proceedings and the repeated adjournments year after year are unworthy of a European Union member country. As we have said in the past, Egunkaria could have been allowed to reopen pending the outcome of the proceedings.”

Mauritania - Still held illegally, website editor is being tried again on same charge

2010-02-03T14:41:29Z

Reporters Without Borders reiterates its call for the immediate release of the Hanevy Ould Dehah, the editor of the website Taqadoumy, and the withdrawal of all the charges against him. Dehah is being retried on the same charges on which he has already served a six-month sentence. The trial opened on 1 February and the next hearing is scheduled for tomorrow.

The court should be acting as if last summer's trial never took place. It has ordered the prosecutor's office to correct procedural errors denounced by Dehah's lawyer, but it has not ruled on his arbitrary detention or, as yet, the substance of the case.

“The authorities need to realise that they are being monitored closely both within Mauritania and abroad,” Reporters Without Borders said. “They must demonstrate the independence of their judicial system by clearing Dehah and restoring him to the freedom that is rightly his.”

Dehah should have been released on 24 December on completing a six-month sentence on a trumped-up charge of “offending public decency” (http://www.rsf.org/Website-editor-gets-six-months-in.html) but the authorities, who are clearly bent on persecuting him, have continued to hold him in a manifestly illegal manner ever since (http://www.rsf.org/Website-editor-still-held-three.html).

Reporters Without Borders interviews in French with Hacen Ould Lebatt, the editor of the French section of the Taqadoumy website, on 8 January and Brahim Ould Ebety, Dehah's lawyer, on 13 January can be viewed at the foot of the 14 January release (http://www.rsf.org/Website-editor-still-held-three.html).

Venezuela - Presidential speeches should have to be broadcast by just one station

2010-02-03T14:11:46Z

A milestone in government misuse of the broadcast media was reached when President Hugo Chávez delivered his 2,000th networked speech or “cadena” yesterday on the 11th anniversary of the start of his first term.

The “cadenas” are nowadays enforced under the 2004 Radio and TV Social Responsibility Law (Ley Resorte), which in theory just ensures that the government and state agencies are given broadcast time for public announcements.

In practice, the law allows the president to deliver long-winded speeches that are broadcast simultaneously on all the terrestrial TV stations and some of the cable ones. Under pain of a heavy fine or suspension, the stations concerned have to transmit a networked signal provided by the main state broadcaster, Venezolana de Televisión (VTV).

President Chávez's total time on the air in the course of the 2,000 “cadenas” adds up to around two months of non-stop talking. This does not include the show called “Aló Presidente,” which Chávez himself hosts every Sunday on VTV.

The latest episode in the government's war with RCTV Internacional (RCTVI) has underscored the problem posed by the “cadenas.” What right does the president, who already has his own Sunday programme, have to inflict his speeches on so many stations when one would suffice? Especially when he can impose a “cadena” whenever he likes and for as long as he likes. Used in this manner, the “cadenas” violate each station's right to choose its own programming, the right to a pluralist debate, and every viewer and listener's freedom of choice.

A public figure must accept being the target of criticism and caricature. It is true that some privately-owned media went too far when they supported an attempted coup against Chávez in April 2002 but that is now being used by the government as an argument for punishing them by means of the “cadenas.”

It is also used as a justification for bringing systematic charges against outspoken media, for deliberately branding mistakes as lies, and for identifying any criticism of the government as “conspiracy against the state.”

The most recent example of this came on 29 January, when communication and information minister Blanca Eeckhout accused the daily Tal Cual of camouflaging “calls for violence” as humour. She was alluding to columnist Laureano Márquez, whose satirical comments have angered the president's office in the past and cost the newspaper fines totalling 50,000 dollars.

Similar accusations were made against Miguel Ángel Rodríguez of RCTVI when the station was temporarily barred from broadcasting by cable.

The current climate of polarisation has fuelled a series of demonstrations by students in which two students were killed and at least five journalists were injured or attacked.

(Photo : AFP)

Iran - New round of Stalinist-style trials gets under way

2010-02-03T08:58:03Z

Reporters Without Borders condemns the start of another mass trial of government opponents before a Tehran revolutionary court for their role in protests against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed reelection, including the major demonstrations on 27 December.

All of the 16 defendants in the latest trial, which began on 30 January, are accused of being “mohareb” (enemies of God) and “corrupt on earth” – charges that carry the death penalty – and of activities against national security. They include Omid Montazeri, a young reporter for various newspapers, who was arrested on 28 December because of journalistic activities that have included giving interviews for news media based abroad.

“The regime's leaders seem to think that prisoner executions will help to restore calm in Iran,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Several of the currently detained journalists and bloggers, who were arrested illegally, are accused of being ‘enemies of God' and are being subjected to considerable pressure to make confessions.”

The press freedom organisation added: “The new round of Stalinist-style political trials that has just started is a judicial farce and even violates Iran's own laws. We caution the international community that the regime is now capable of taking this macabre scenario to the bitter end.”

Montazeri, who wrote for Shargh and Kargozaran, newspapers that have been closed by the government, was arrested after responding to a summons to report to the revolutionary court. The previous day, 27 December, plain-clothes agents from the intelligence ministry searched his home and arrested his mother, Mahin Fahimi. Following Montazeri's arrest, both were transferred to an unknown place of detention.

Various sources say Montazeri is being pressured to confess links to organisations based abroad that are opposed to the regime. His lawyer has not been able to visit him or see the prosecution case file. He has also not been told when Montazeri will appear in court and has not been allowed to go to the court.

“The regime intends to make Montazeri suffer the same fate as his father, who was murdered 21 years ago, in 1988, like many other political prisoners,” Reporters Without Borders added.

As in the previous Stalinist-style show trials in August, the defendants are not being allowed to talk to their lawyers, who are unable to find out what their clients are alleged to have done. Instead, the Tehran state prosecutor has appointed defence lawyers with the links to the intelligence services.

Reporters Without Borders has learned of the arrests of three more journalists in the past few days:

Alireza Saghafi, the editor of Rah Ayandeh (a magazine closed by the authorities in May 2008), was arrested on 1 February after responding to a summons to go to the intelligence ministry. On the evening of the same day, computers and books were seized in a search of his home. A member of the Iranian writers' association, he was previously arrested on 1 May 2009, an hour before the start of May Day demonstrations, and was freed on 10 June on payment of 70 million toman in bail. He was summoned several times before his arrest.

As ceremonies marking the 40th day of mourning for Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri's death were taking place on 29 January, police arrested several people including Ali Asharf Fathi, a theologian at the Koranic school in the religious city of Qom who edits the Tourjan website. A moderate known for criticising extremists, he is the son of a famous Revolutionary Guards commander who was killed in the Iran-Iraq war.

Photographer Mehraneh Atashi and her husband were arrested on 12 January. After working for various international media for several years, Atashi had recently decided to concentrate on artistic photography. It is not known where she and her husband have been held since their arrest.

Internet connections have meanwhile been slowed right down in several cities ahead of the Islamic Revolution's 31st anniversary, as they have been during all events likely to be used by the opposition to stage demonstrations. Several websites have been also been the targets of attacks by hackers, including the Radio Zamaneh website, which was attacked by the “cyber-army,” a Revolutionary Guards group.

Belarus - Government extends its control over all media

2010-02-02T19:04:48Z

Reporters Without Borders regrets that President Alexander Lukashenko yesterday signed a decree establishing extensive control over Internet access and online content. The decree is due to take effect on 1 July.

“The fears we expressed at the start of last month (see release below) have been realised,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The Belarusian authorities are trying to tighten their control over the Internet as they already did with the traditional media.”

The press freedom organisation added: “By subjecting online access to an identity check or to prior online authorisation that depends on the content and the applicant, this decree will force people to censor themselves. This is obviously the intention, regardless of the government's insincerely reassuring comments about online free expression.”

Decree No. 6 concerning “national Internet network improvement measures” requires that all online access devices such as computers and mobile phones be identified and registered with Internet Service Providers. This will ensure that the government controls the means by which its citizens access the Internet.

At the same time, anyone going online in an Internet café or using a shared connection (for example, in an apartment building) will have to identify themselves, while a record of all online connections will have to be kept for a year. All these measures will inevitably discourage people from visiting independent and opposition websites.

The decree also envisages the creation of an “analytic centre” attached to the president's office that will be tasked with monitoring content before it is put online – clearly establishing censorship at the highest level of government. It is this centre that will distribute domain names and thereby have control over everyone's online existence.

Every request by the centre for a website's closure must be carried out by the ISP concerned within 24 Hours. Even an ordinary Internet user's request can result in closure as the decree encourages informing.

The government made no bones about its goal of ideological censorship when it said it intended to follow the Chinese model. Usievalad Yancheuski, head of the ideological department in the president's office, also made it clear when he said: “Our ideology will have a presence on the Internet, and it will be an effective one.” Such comments give the lie to Lukashenko's claims that everyone will be free to say what they want online.

These measures appear also designed to reinforce the government's political control in the run-up to the next presidential election, due to be held in the spring of 2011.

Slovenia - Former PM sues Finnish journalist for 1.5 million euros before Slovenian court

2010-02-02T11:18:21Z

Reporters Without Borders condemns the defamation actions which former Prime Minister Janez Jansa and the Slovenian state have brought against Finnish journalist Magnus Berglund in connection the bribery allegations he made during a programme broadcast on Finnish TV station YLE on 1 September 2008.

Berglund accused Jansa, other senior officials and high ranking military officers of collecting around 20 million euros in illegal commissions in a contract with Finnish arms manufacturer Patria for the purchase of armoured vehicles worth 275 million euros.

In a civil suit before a district court in the Slovenian town of Novo Mesto, Jansa is demanding 1.5 million euros in damages, while a criminal action brought by the Slovenian state prosecutors before a district court in the capital, Ljubljana, is requesting a maximum six-month jail sentence for Berglund.

“These actions are utterly surreal,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Like any person who considers he has been defamed by a media report, Jansa could have used his right of reply before thinking of suing for such an enormous sum. The prison term requested by the Slovenian state prosecutors is completely unacceptable, especially coming from a European Union member country.

“A procurement contract for the purchase of armoured vehicles should be conducted with the utmost transparency. If Berglund's TV programme, Truth about Patria, really was defamatory, it should be easy for the Slovenian authorities and the former prime minister to prove this by, for example, allowing the press to see all the financial records. If not, the programme was in the public interest and should therefore not be the subject of any legal action.

“Jansa brought legal actions against at least 10 reporters, columnists, other indviduals and media since the September 2008 parliamentary election. Curiously assisted by the Slovenian state, the former prime minister now seems to want to extend his control over the international press.”

The Novo Mesto district court declared itself competent to hear the civil suit although it concerns a programme made by a Finnish TV station that was broadcast in Finland.

As regards the criminal case, a justice ministry investigation into its legal basis concluded that case was taken-over from the first attorney general in charge Katarina Bergant, who wished to drop the case against Berglund. The head of the Ljubljana District Prosecutors Office Tamara Gregorcic personally take the prosecution against Berglund and push the case forward.

The head of the Novo Mesto district court, Milojka Gutman, happens to be the wife of Lt. Gen. Albin Gutman, one of military officers involved in Patria purchase, so she logically requested that the case be transferred to another district court. But the Slovenian supreme court refused on the grounds that it was too early for such a decision and that the transfer had not yet been requested by the defendants.

“Regardless of the legal inconsistencies, the decision to bring these cases before Slovenian courts is surprising and tendentious,” Reporters Without Borders added. “Both Jansa and the Slovenia authorities are aware that Finland has courts that can handle such defamation actions. Jansa is free to act as he will, but the Slovenian state should show more respect for European law.”

Mexico - Another journalist shot dead amid a wave of threats against media personnel

2010-02-01T16:57:19Z

A newspaper editor's murder has brought the total of journalists killed in Mexico in the space of a month to three. Jorge Ochoa Martínez, the editor of the local daily El sol de la Costa and the weekly El Oportuno, was shot dead in Ayutla de los Libres, in the southern state of Guerrero, on 29 January. He was 55.

According to the police, Ochoa was shot several times with 38 calibre firearm. The authorities have not so far suggested any motive but his family told Reporters Without Borders they did not rule out the possibility that he was killed in connection with his work. The press freedom organisation therefore urges the authority to actively explore this hypothesis.

The family said it received several calls on the night of 29 January, including one from the police, saying Ochoa had been shot. One his sons told Reporters Without Borders: “I could not believe it. I thought it was a joke. I called my father several times but he did not pick up. Then I went to Ayutla and found his body.”

Although Ochoa's death confirms that Mexico continues to be the hemisphere's most dangerous country for the media, the authorities are failing to respond adequately to a wave of threats against media personnel by presumed drug traffickers and, in some cases, by local officials.

Juan Aparicio, the editor of El Observador, a magazine based in the southern state of Chiapas, was threatened by a member of the state's border police, Pedro León Toro Peña, on 20 January while covering a raid on a house where a kidnapping had taken place.

Armando Suárez, a reporter for Puerto Viejo, a magazine based in La Paz, in the northwestern state of Baja California, was threatened by Loreto mayor Yuan Yee Cunningham and was hit by local officials on 21 January.

The torching of a car outside the studios of a radio station in Los Mochis, in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, on 27 January was accompanied by a message that read: “This will happen to journalists. They are going to be burned. With best wishes, La Mochomera.”

A total of 61 journalists have been murdered since 2000 and nine others have gone missing since 2003 in Mexico, which was ranked 137th out of 175 countries in the 2009 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

(Photo : DR)