IFEX Communique Vol 16 No 34 - 21 August 2007

IfEX Communiqué Vol 16 No 34 | 21 August 2007

INDEX

FREE EXPRESSION SPOTLIGHT: 1. Nepal: International Mission Demands End to Attacks on Press

REGIONAL NEWS: 2. Tunisia: IFEX-TMG Calls for Libel Charges to be Dropped against Journalist 3. Libya: Twelve Men Face Possible Death for Planning Demonstration 4. Brazil/Paraguay: Mastermind behind Murder of Paraguayan Reporter Convicted 5. Haiti: Commission Launched to Investigate Journalist Murders

UPDATES: 6. Morocco: Journalists Convicted for Publishing Secret Documents 7. Ethiopia: Four Journalists Pardoned

REPORTS AND PUBLICATIONS: 8. "Transparency & Silence" Now Available in Spanish

AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS: 9. International Award for Freedom of Speech

JOB/VOLUNTEER NOTICES: 10. Freedom House Seeks International Solidarity Committee Members

ALERTS ISSUED BY THE IFEX CLEARING HOUSE LAST WEEK

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FREE EXPRESSION SPOTLIGHT

1. NEPAL: INTERNATIONAL MISSION DEMANDS END TO ATTACKS ON PRESS

Despite the recent passage of the Right to Information Act and steps taken to protect journalists, attacks on the media continue unabated in Nepal, an international monitoring coalition has concluded.

The International Press Freedom and Freedom of Expression Mission to Nepal, which has been monitoring the developments in Nepal since the April 2006 revolution, reports that there have been more than 116 incidents of attempts to prevent journalists from doing their jobs between 1 January and 31 July 2007 alone.

These incidents include arrests, attacks on media companies, abduction of journalists, threats and harassment, and obstructions to the free flow of information, including disruptions in the production processes. Just last week, a Maoist labour union again prevented two privately-owned dailies, the "Himalayan Times" and "Annapurna Post", from being printed and distributed, the Center for Human Rights and Democratic Studies (CEHURDES) and the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) report. Both papers had carried a story on 11 August against the union for blocking their distribution for six days in July. The union's leaders said they would "kill anyone daring to distribute" the two papers, and some union members blocked access to the papers' editorial offices.

When the Nepalese Press Union held a peaceful demonstration in Kathmandu on 9 August, 49 journalists were beaten and seriously injured by members of the Communist Youth League, according to Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF).

In July, 49 journalists working for the government-owned Gorkhapatra Corporation were fired. FNJ says their axing - and the promotion of employees within the media group who were active against the democratic movement of April 2006 - was politically motivated. And when journalists attempted to demonstrate for the reinstatement of the 49 reporters earlier this month, they were arrested.

"It is disturbing that the same media which played a leading role in the restoration of democracy a year ago have now become the target of attacks from various groups," said the International Mission in a statement.

These threats to press freedom come just months before a constituent assembly is to be elected in November, which will adopt a new constitution for Nepal. "A free and fairly elected Constituent Assembly remains the next vital step in Nepal's peace process," says the International Mission. "But the lack of such a plural and unobstructed media environment throughout the country, and specifically in those areas affected by conflict, could jeopardise a free and fair outcome to the elections."

The International Mission includes eight IFEX members: ARTICLE 19, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), International Press Institute (IPI), Reporters Without Borders (RSF), World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC), World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and World Press Freedom Committee (WPFC). The other members are: FreeVoice, International Media Support (IMS), International News Safety Institute (INSI) and United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Visit these links: - International Mission's statement: http://tinyurl.com/3ygocu - Report of Mission's First Visit to Nepal (July 2005): http://tinyurl.com/d65rk - FNJ: http://www.fnjnepal.org/ - CEHURDES: http://www.cehurdes.org.np/ - IFJ Nepal page: http://www.ifj-asia.org/page/nepal.html - IFEX alerts on Nepal: http://tinyurl.com/3ykcoq

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REGIONAL NEWS:

MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

2. TUNISIA: IFEX-TMG CALLS FOR LIBEL CHARGES TO BE DROPPED AGAINST JOURNALIST

Members of IFEX's Tunisian Monitoring Group (TMG) are demanding that all charges be dropped in the criminal defamation trial of Tunisian journalist Omar Mestiri, and that President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali improves his country's free expression record.

While TMG welcomed the release last month of lawyer and human rights activist Mohamed Abbou, "it cannot be seen as part of a genuine step on the part of the government toward ending attacks on freedom of expression and association when continued violations persist," TMG chair Carl Morten Iversen says.

Mestiri, managing editor of the online magazine "Kalima", was charged with defamation for a September 2006 article that criticised the reinstatement of a lawyer who had been convicted of fraud and forgery. He faces up to three years in jail.

Like Abbou, Mestiri was charged for an article that Tunisians can't read - the website, hosted on a server in France, has been blocked by the government since its launch in 2000. Both cases stemmed from complaints filed by lawyers close to the authorities, leading to "spurious" charges, says TMG.

According to Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF), Mestiri's trial is a "farce", having already been postponed twice, and now scheduled for 28 August. "The trial is fresh evidence of how the Tunisian authorities use the judicial system to punish an independent publication," RSF says, noting that Mestiri faces the same judge who in 2005 sentenced Abbou to a three-and-a-half years in prison "in a sham trial."

Over the past years, TMG notes that hundreds of Tunisians have been imprisoned following unfair and politically motivated trials. Even political prisoners who have been released continue to face persecution - denied the right to earn a living and their freedom of movement restricted. In June this year the Interior Ministry extended for 26 months the arbitrary banishment and constant police surveillance of Abdallah Zouari. Formerly a reporter for the now-defunct Islamist weekly "Al Fajr", Zouari spent 11 years in prison and more than five years under virtual house arrest nearly 500 km from his wife and children.

RSF calls President Ben Ali one of the world's worst "press freedom predators" and classifies the regime as one of the world's "Internet enemies."

Visit these links: - IFEX/TMG joint action: http://tinyurl.com/39cce4 - RSF on trial postponement: http://tinyurl.com/3dzw3h - "IFEX Communiqué" on Abbou's release: http://tinyurl.com/2lnb3q - "Kalima": http://www.kalimatunisie.com/ - "Tunisian democracy: to hope or despair?": http://tinyurl.com/388zhw

3. LIBYA: TWELVE MEN FACE POSSIBLE DEATH FOR PLANNING DEMONSTRATION

Human Rights Watch is calling for the Libyan government to drop charges against 12 men who face possible death sentences for planning a peaceful demonstration in Tripoli. Two other men have not been heard from since their arrest nearly six months ago in connection with the case.

"For all its promises of better behaviour and improved ties with the world, Libya still imprisons those who express alternative political views, and it has 'disappeared' others," says Human Rights Watch.

The men were planning to hold a peaceful demonstration on 17 February 2007 to commemorate the first anniversary of a violent clash between protesters and police in Benghazi, Libya's second largest city. Last year, demonstrators stormed the Italian consulate in Benghazi, in response to statements by an Italian government minister defending the publication of the controversial cartoons of the prophet Mohammed. The police used force to disperse the crowd, killing at least 11.

The two "disappeared" men are 'Abd al-Rahman al-Qotaiwi, a fourth-year medical student, and Jum'a Boufayed, brother of Dr. Idris Boufayed, the demonstration's main organiser and staunch critic of Libyan leader Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi. Neither man has been seen since their arrests in mid-February, nor have the Libyan authorities provided information on their whereabouts.

The 12 men are on trial for planning to overthrow the government, possession of arms, and meeting with an official from a foreign government. They denied in an August hearing the first two charges but admitted some of them met a U.S. embassy official ahead of the planned rally.

Human Rights Watch says the charges against the men could carry the death penalty, yet none of the 14 had advocated violence.

Idris Boufayed lived for 16 years in exile in Switzerland but returned to Libya to visit in 2006. He was jailed in November for writing critical letters published on a Libyan opposition website.

Another defendant, Jamal Ahmad al-Haji, is a recognised writer and government critic. In an article he wrote a few days before his arrest, he called for "freedom, democracy, a constitutional state, and law." Al-Haji holds Danish citizenship, which the Libyan government has refused to recognise. The authorities have also declined Danish government requests to visit him.

The appeal follows Libya's release last month of six Bulgarian medics jailed for eight years for allegedly infecting Libyan children with HIV. The medics said they were tortured into admitting the crime. According to the Associated Press (AP), their release last month boosted Libya's ties with Europe - a key goal of al-Qadhafi who is seeking to improve relations with the West.

Visit these links: - Human Rights Watch: http://tinyurl.com/2t9oj3 - RSF, Libya Annual Report 2007: http://tinyurl.com/39epdm - AP: http://tinyurl.com/26fong - al-Haji's article (Arabic): http://tinyurl.com/2lk8zh

AMERICAS

4. BRAZIL/PARAGUAY: MASTERMIND BEHIND MURDER OF PARAGUAYAN REPORTER CONVICTED

A mastermind of the 2004 murder of Paraguayan journalist Samuel Román has been convicted and sentenced to more than 17 years in jail, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) reports.

After deliberating for more than 12 hours, a jury found Eurico Mariano, former mayor of the city of Coronel Sapucaia, Brazil, guilty of having arranged Román's murder. Mariano was sentenced to 17 years and nine months in jail.

Román, a radio reporter for radio stations Ñu Verá and Conquista FM in Capitán Bado on the Paraguayan border with Brazil, was attacked by two men on a motorcycle who shot him 11 times as he was heading to his home in Coronel Sapucaia, on the Brazilian side of the border. He hosted the programme "The Voice of the People", in which he invited listeners to comment on political life in the region. The 450-mile-long Paraguay-Brazil border is known as a hotbed of corruption, smuggling and organised crime.

"This conviction and sentence is a positive step in the battle against the violence unleashed against journalists in the border regions, and especially so because it is the punishment of a mastermind, something quite unusual in cases of the murder of journalists," says IAPA.

According to local press reports, nine persons have been charged in connection with Román's murder, the majority of them Paraguayan citizens. Mariano, the only one to be brought to trial, arranged the killing to silence the journalist who was making accusations about him, according to the public prosecutor handling the case.

IAPA, in its recently published book "Map of Risks for Journalists" - part of the organisation's Anti-Impunity Project - identifies the Brazil-Paraguay border as one of the three most dangerous places in the Americas for reporters. The other two are the United States-Mexico border regions, and Colombia, where there are areas controlled by guerrillas and paramilitaries.

Visit these links: - IAPA: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/85593 - 2004 IFEX alerts on murder: IAPA: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/58444 RSF: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/58545

5. HAITI: COMMISSION LAUNCHED TO INVESTIGATE JOURNALIST MURDERS

An independent committee will be set up to investigate the unsolved murders of journalists in Haiti, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reports.

President René Préval declared on 10 August that a committee of nine Port-au-Prince-based journalists from different media outlets will review the progress of official investigations into the unsolved murders of journalists, starting with the case of one of the country's most renowned reporters, Jean-Léopold Dominique. Dominique, owner and director of Radio Haïti-Inter, was gunned down in April 2000 outside the entrance to his Port-au-Prince station.

"A long-stalled case that has been characterised by incompetence and a lack of political will, Dominique's slaying remains unpunished," says CPJ.

The committee will have access to official police and court documents on the murders of at least 10 journalists. It will study the case files, determine where and why they have stalled, and issue public reports with recommendations on how to speed up the process.

The committee, a joint initiative between local press freedom group S.O.S. Journalistes and President Préval, has received public pledges of support from high-ranking government officials, including the Haitian minister of justice and the chief of police. But CPJ says the real test of the Haitian government's resolve "will be its ability to bring the perpetrators to justice."

According to CPJ, three journalists have been murdered in direct reprisal for their work in Haiti since 2000.

Visit these links: - CPJ: http://tinyurl.com/37b8yo - Haiti Support Group: http://tinyurl.com/2kx4ry

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UPDATES

6. MOROCCO: JOURNALISTS CONVICTED FOR PUBLISHING SECRET DOCUMENTS

Two Moroccan journalists who published secret government documents that revealed terrorist threats against Morocco were sentenced to prison last week, IFEX members report.

Mustafa Hormatallah, a journalist for Arabic-language weekly "Al Watan al An", was sentenced to eight months in jail, and his editor, Abderrahim Ariri, was given a suspended six-month sentence on 15 August for handling "documents obtained by criminal means." The Casablanca court also fined them each 1,000 Dirhams (US$120).

The case against Ariri and Hormatallah stems from a 14 July article that reproduced a confidential intelligence agency memo that discussed the monitoring of jihadist websites and asked all security services to be vigilant.

Ariri and Hormatallah were arrested on 17 July and while Ariri was released a week later, Hormatallah remained behind bars and is now officially serving his eight-month sentence.

"We had come to hear a verdict acquitting us, but instead we heard an unjust verdict," Ariri told the press after the trial.

The prison sentence was termed "unacceptable" by Younes Moujahid, secretary general of Morocco's press trade union (SNPM). "It is a threat to all journalists, whose job is to publish reports and documents," he says.

The verdict comes at a time when Moroccan journalists are coming under increased harassment from the authorities. In another case, Ahmed Benchemsi, publisher of Arabic-language weekly "Nichane" and its sister weekly, the French-language "TelQuel", will appear in court on 24 August, accused of lack of respect for King Mohammed VI. He faces a possible sentence of between three and five years in prison and a fine of up to 100,000 Dirhams (US$11,000) for articles criticising the King on his proposals for legislative elections on 7 September. The two publications were seized from newsstands and other locations around the country.

Benchemsi was the recipient of the Samir Kassir award in June.

In a special report released last month, CPJ noted that press freedom in Morocco has notably regressed in recent years. Independent journalists have been the target of a series of politicised court cases, financial pressures, and harassment from authorities.

Visit these links: - RSF: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=23288 - IFJ: http://www.ifj.org/default.asp?Index=5214&Language=EN - CPJ: http://tinyurl.com/2kgrrq - CPJ special report, "The Moroccan Façade": http://tinyurl.com/3dfvea - "IFEX Communique" on Samir Kassir awards: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/83899 - SNPM: http://www.snpm.ma/def.asp?codelangue=24&po=2 - Sapa-AFP: http://tinyurl.com/yoml3f - Blog on censorship in Morocco: http://tinyurl.com/29hdvu

7. ETHIOPIA: FOUR JOURNALISTS PARDONED

Four jailed journalists were released on conditional pardon on Saturday along with 27 opposition activists, report the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF).

The four journalists of now defunct Amharic-language weeklies had been given heavy prison sentences last month in connection with their coverage of post-election unrest in 2005, which left more than 190 people dead.

Editors Wosonseged Gebrekidan of "Addis Zena", Dawit Kebede of "Hadar", Goshu Moges of "Lisane Hezeb", and freelance columnist Tadios Tantu had received prison terms ranging from four to 15 years after waiving their defence and pleading guilty in anticipation of a pardon. According to CPJ, they are the last members of Ethiopia's private press corps to be released in connection with the media's coverage of the election unrest.

An Ethiopian government spokesman told CPJ the journalists could resume their activities, but were forbidden from engaging in "any subversive action against the Constitution."

Two other journalists who were given life sentences in July in absentia - "Menilik" editor Zelalem Guebre and "Netsanet" editor Abey Gizaw - have so far not been pardoned.

Visit these links: - CPJ: http://tinyurl.com/3bpds6 - RSF: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=23161

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REPORTS AND PUBLICATIONS

8. "TRANSPARENCY & SILENCE" NOW AVAILABLE IN SPANISH

"Transparency & Silence", the Open Society Justice Initiative's comparative survey of access to information laws and practices in 14 countries, is now available in Spanish.

"Transparencia & Silencio" documents how various countries, including Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Peru and Spain did - or did not - honour the right of access to information. In analysing more than 1,900 requests for information filed in 14 countries, "Transparencia & Silencio" finds that countries with access to information laws performed better than those with no law.

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights referenced the book in its landmark Claude Reyes v. Chile decision, which ruled, for the first time by any international or regional court, that access to government-held information is a fundamental human right. Coincidentally, Chile's highest court ruled last week that that the right to access government information is protected by the constitution's guarantee of freedom of expression.

The 201-page book reports that government failure to provide information is common: 47 percent of requests received no response, with Chile, Ghana, and South Africa performing especially poorly. But the book also highlights specific successes, such as the Peruvian municipalities of Miraflores and San Isidro.

Click here to download the full report in English or Spanish or to order a hard copy: http://www.justiceinitiative.org/db/resource2?res_id=103424

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AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS

9. INTERNATIONAL AWARD FOR FREEDOM OF SPEECH

Journalists from around the world are invited to submit entries for the International Award for Freedom of Speech, which recognises political, social, economic or environmental reporting that conveys a "free and independent vision."

The 5,000 Euro (US$6,740) award was organised by the Marseille-Provence-Alpes du Sud Press Society as a tribute to journalists who were killed in the line of duty, such as Anna Politkovskaya and Hrant Dink. It is open to professional journalists who work for international news agencies either at a national or regional level. Entries should have been published or broadcast from 1 September 2006 to 31 August 2007.

Applications should include an original copy of the published article (15,000 characters maximum), a VHS copy for TV entries (12 minutes maximum), or a tape or CD for radio entries (six minutes maximum). All entries should be sent with a French translation.

The deadline for applications is 15 September 2007. Entries should be sent to the Press Society at: Marseille-Provence-Alpes du Sud Press Society, 12 rue Breteuil, 13001 Marseille, France.

For more information see: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=22801

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JOB/VOLUNTEER NOTICES

10. FREEDOM HOUSE SEEKS INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Are you interested in promoting democracy and human rights in the Middle East? Freedom House is looking to expand its International Solidarity Committee for its project, "A New Generation: Advocating for Political Reform in the Middle East and North Africa".

The International Solidarity Committee supports young civil society leaders as they work to promote democracy, human rights and an independent media in the region. As a member of this committee, you would speak out on behalf of individuals who are silenced in their effort to advance democracy in their countries; lend your support to young democracy advocates by signing targeted letters or op-eds; and pair up with a democracy advocate from the Middle East or North Africa who has been screened by Freedom House.

Freedom House is targeting individuals who are well connected politically or in their fields, especially in the areas of judicial reform, press freedom and women's rights.

If you have further questions or would like to join the committee, contact programme officer Reem Sweiss at: +1 (202) 747-7040

ENDS

The "IFEX Communiqué" is the weekly newsletter of the International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX), a global network of 71 organisations working to defend and promote the right to free expression. IFEX is managed by Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (www.cjfe.org).

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