IFEX Communique Vol 16 No 36 - 4 Sep 2007

IFEX Communique Vol 16 No 36 - 4 September 2007

INDEX

FREE EXPRESSION SPOTLIGHT: 1. Uganda: Homosexuality Debate Ignites Crackdown on Press

REGIONAL NEWS: 2. Yemen: Free Expression Restricted in Name of War on Terror 3. Iraq: Journalist/Media Worker Death Toll Reaches 200 4. Democratic Republic of Congo: JED Shocked at "Absurd" Verdict in UN Reporter Murder Trial

UPDATES: 5. Russia and Haiti Intensify Fight against Impunity by Convicting Journalists' Killers 6. Tunisia: Journalist's Libel Case Suspended; Lawyer's Office up in Flames

TAKE ACTION! 7. Take Action: Call for Sami al-Haj to Be Released from Guantanamo

PRESS FREEDOM MISSIONS: 8. Free Expression in Brazil Needs Protection, ARTICLE 19 Finds

AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS: 9. IFEX Members Honoured with Democracy Award 10. Call for Applications for Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellowship

ALERTS ISSUED BY THE IFEX CLEARING HOUSE LAST WEEK

FREE EXPRESSION SPOTLIGHT

1. UGANDA: HOMOSEXUALITY DEBATE IGNITES CRACKDOWN ON FREE EXPRESSION

The Uganda Broadcasting Council (UBC) has suspended a popular Capital FM radio presenter for hosting gay activists who used "foul language" on air, effectively silencing a renewed debate on gay and lesbian rights, reports Kenya-based IFEX member the Media Institute.

Gaetano Kaggwa, who co-presents Capital FM's morning show, hosted a gay man and a lesbian on 22 August who allegedly used what UBC considers "unacceptable language", thus "violating minimum broadcasting standards." During the show two co-presenters opposed homosexuality while Kaggwa had "no problem with it," the Media Institute reports.

Kaggwa has been barred from going on air at least until 4 September when his suspension will be reviewed in another meeting between UBC and Capital FM proprietors. Programme controller George Manyali has also been suspended, say local news reports.

The suspensions, the first of their kind in Uganda's recent media history, were meant to protect the public, says UBC. But the Media Institute argues they were intended to silence the renewed debate on homosexuality, which is gaining momentum ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of State meeting slated for November in Kampala.

The homosexuality debate in Uganda has recently been fired up by an article published in the newspaper "Daily Monitor" on 11 August about the number of gay organisations and their registered followers.

Some Christian churches organised a demonstration against homosexuality and accused the paper of being influenced by gay staff members.

In response, Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), the umbrella organisation for Ugandan lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex organisations, held its very first news conference. The group launched its "Let us Live in Peace" campaign - condemning violence and discrimination against homosexuals, as well as the "life-threatening" silence about homosexuality in HIV/AIDS prevention programmes.

The press conference sparked a series of public threats made by top officials, says Human Rights Watch. On 21 August, Deputy Attorney General Fred Ruhindi called for the criminal law to be used against gays and lesbians in the country. Days earlier, Ethics and Integrity Minister James Nsaba Buturo had publicly called homosexuality "unnatural" - and, while belittling charges that police harassed LGBT people, warned, "We know them; we have details of who they are."

As a result of the ensuing threats, many SMUG members are now in hiding, and radio stations like Capital FM, who debate the top stories in the newspapers, "seem to have paid the price," says the Media Institute.

According to Human Rights Watch, the lesbian and gay community in Uganda has long been stigmatised and harassed by government officials. Ugandan laws, including the Constitution, prohibit homosexuality as well as same-sex marriages, and can lead to prison sentences of seven years up to life in jail.

Human Rights Watch is urging the government to end a long campaign of homophobic statements by top officials, stop arresting people under the sodomy laws and repeal them, and offer protection against violence and harassment to human rights defenders working to protect lesbian and gay rights.

Visit these links: - Media Institute: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/85917/ - Human Rights Watch appeal to Ugandan President re: homophobia: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/08/22/uganda16726.htm - Human Rights Watch on government campaign against homosexuals: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/09/08/uganda14154.htm - SMUG 16 August press release: http://tinyurl.com/24fsgd - "The New Vision" newspaper on Capital FM suspensions: http://tinyurl.com/2atdcc

REGIONAL NEWS

MIDDLE EAST

2. YEMEN: PRESS FREEDOM THREATENED IN NAME OF WAR ON TERROR

A Yemeni journalist kidnapped and assaulted by suspected government security forces is the latest casualty of the government's fight against terrorism amid claims of protecting "national security", report the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRinfo), ARTICLE 19, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and other rights groups.

Abdul Karim al-Khaiwani, editor of the online newspaper "Al-Shoura", was abducted on 27 August in Sana'a by six gunmen wearing civilian clothing and taken to a remote area 15 kilometres outside of the city.

In a press conference two days later, al-Khaiwani described how he was blindfolded and badly beaten by those whom he called "national security apparatus officers", and then abandoned without his mobile phone, identification or money. He was eventually able to get a lift to a hospital where he was treated.

During his abduction, al-Khaiwani was told that if he continues writing against his "masters", he and his family will be killed. The abductors specifically mentioned an article he wrote for "al-Needa'a" newspaper, in which he described violations against prisoners and the conditions in the country's jails.

As an outspoken critic of the government, al-Khaiwani has been imprisoned a number of times and has had his website blocked and family threatened.

In June, his house was raided and he was arrested for his alleged ties with a "terrorist cell" fighting government forces in Sa'ada, northwest Yemen. Recently al-Khaiwani was released for health reasons, but the state is appealing that decision, and he still faces charges in front of the State Security Court. If found guilty, al-Khaiwani could face the death penalty.

Al-Khaiwani's case is one of a recent series of condemnation and trials that appear to form part of an orchestrated clampdown on freedom of expression and opinion, under the government's guise of protecting "national security", FIDH says.

In July, a group of armed men driving military vehicles attacked the small, independent weekly "Al-Sharaa" in the capital, threatening to kill the editor and searching the offices, reports CPJ. Journalists at the paper suspected it was connected to terrorism charges launched by the Yemeni Ministry of Defence earlier in the month against the newspaper, which called for its closure and the death penalty for three of its journalists. The paper was accused of interfering with national security for its reports on alleged links between the government and tribal gunmen in Sa'ada. Fighting in the region has already displaced approximately 100,000 civilians.

The case has been referred to the State Security Court rather than the designated Court of Publications, the first case against a newspaper in front of the counter-terrorism court "where the rights of defendants are not properly ensured," FIDH argues.

Also in July, FIDH reports that journalists who were documenting and reporting a sit-in in central Sana'a demanding respect for freedom expression were severely beaten by government authorities, who also broke and stole much of their equipment.

FIDH is urging the Yemeni authorities to release all journalists that are being held in the name of terrorism.

ARTICLE 19 calls on the government to withdraw its proposals to introduce a new law which would make it a serious crime to incite others to demonstrate against the government. Earlier this year, ARTICLE 19 and the Yemeni group Media Women Forum (MWF) create the Media Law Working Group to discuss ways to reform Yemen’s laws that affect the media.

Since 2005, CPJ has identified at least six Yemeni journalists who have been the targets of assaults that were believed to be politically motivated. In all but one instance the perpetrators have not been identified by the authorities.

Visit these links: - ARTICLE 19: http://tinyurl.com/39mme8 - CPJ: http://tinyurl.com/2o3xc5 - HRinfo Yemen alerts: http://www.hrinfo.net/ifex/alerts/yemen/ - FIDH: http://www.fidh.org/article.php3?id_article=4521 - International Federation of Journalists: http://tinyurl.com/34apw4 - Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières): http://tinyurl.com/2v4hqu - MWF: http://www.yfmf.org/english/ - "Yemen Observer": http://www.yobserver.com/front-page/10012648.html

3. IRAQ: JOURNALIST/MEDIA WORKER DEATH TOLL REACHES 200

An Iraqi translator for a United States' television network has been found dead in Iraq, bringing the number of journalists and media workers killed in the country since the start of the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 to 200, Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) reports.

Anwar Abbas Lafta, an Iraqi translator and interpreter for CBS News, was found dead on 25 August in eastern Baghdad, five days after he was abducted.

He was kidnapped by a group of 10 gunmen who forced their way into his Baghdad home on 20 August, beat his brother and shot and wounded his sister, RSF says. Anwar Abbas was the only one that was apprehended. CBS News said his abductors contacted the family several times to demand a ransom. The police eventually found his body in the eastern Baghdad district of Sadr City.

According to RSF, 73 percent of journalists killed in Iraq were directly targeted - "much higher than in previous wars in which journalists were above all the victims of collateral damage and stray bullets," RSF says.

Eighty-eight per cent of journalists and media workers killed were Iraqis, often those who work for foreign news media.

Most of the 200 media fatalities took place in Baghdad (110 cases) or near the capital (34 cases), says RSF. The remaining cases were mostly centred in the north of the country, especially in Mosul and Kirkuk.

More journalists are also taken hostage in Iraq than anywhere else in the world, says RSF. A total of 84 journalists and media workers (64 per cent of them Iraqis) have been kidnapped there in the past four years. Only about half of them were freed. Fourteen are still being held by their abductors.

ARTICLE 19 says that the Iraqi government has not taken effective action to protect journalists and media professionals or their facilities, and worse still, US and Iraqi security forces themselves have frequently been the perpetrators of violence. Read about the nature of the threats and violence against the media, as well as the impact of the new constitution and legal framework, in ARTICLE 19's latest report detailing free speech developments in Iraq in 2006 and 2007.

Read ARTICLE 19's report here: - English: http://tinyurl.com/2se5wt - Arabic: http://tinyurl.com/2tabsu

Visit this link: - RSF: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=23481

AFRICA

4. DRC: JED SHOCKED AT "ABSURD" VERDICT IN UN REPORTER MURDER TRIAL

Journalist in Danger (Journaliste en danger, JED) and Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) accused Congolese authorities of conducting a farcical investigation and trial that led to four people being hastily sentenced to death for killing a UN journalist.

A military court in Democratic Republic of Congo convicted two demobilised soldiers on 28 August after they confessed to gunning down UN radio reporter Serge Maheshe on 13 June in the eastern city of Bukavu.

Serge Muhima and Alain Mulimbi, two of Maheshe's close friends who were with him at the time of his murder, were found guilty of organising the contract killing. Six others were acquitted.

The trial was "riddled with absurdities," says RSF. "We never imagined that the Bukavu military tribunal would take its incoherence and denial of justice this far."

The trial opened a day after Maheshe's killing, sparking criticism from human rights campaigners that it was being rushed through.

According to JED and RSF, the verdicts against Muhima and Mulimbi were largely based on the testimony of the two former soldiers, who said they acted at the request of Maheshe's two friends in exchange for a promise of US$15,000 each and a ticket to South Africa. But the soldiers' statements were inconsistent, and no motive was ever established for those who ordered the murder, nor was any material evidence produced at the trial, say JED, RSF and the UN mission in the Congo. The court itself even underlined that doubts remained.

Maheshe was news editor for Bukavu's Radio Okapi, a UN-backed station set up to support the peace process following Congo's 1998-2003 war. Shortly before his murder, he alerted UN officials that members of the Republican Guard (the former Presidential Guard) had threatened to kill him. RSF says the authorities have produced no evidence that these two soldiers have been questioned.

When Maheshe, Muhima and Mulimbi were leaving a friend's home in Bukavu on 13 June in Maheshe's car that bore the UN logo, two men in uniform asked Maheshe his name and shot him in the legs and chest.

Lawyers for Muhima and Mulimbi say they are planning to appeal the decision. JED and RSF are calling for the Maheshe case to be reopened and heard before an independent tribunal.

Threats and intimidation against journalists are common in DRC, which last year held its first free elections in more than four decades. At least four journalists have been killed since 2005 in the country.

Patrick Kikuku, a freelance photojournalist and reporter, was slain this month in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, also by armed men in uniform.

In a separate development, three suspects in the murder of journalist Louis Bapuwa Mwamba were sentenced to death on 24 August. Bapuwa Mwamba was a correspondent for several Kinshasa newspapers. He was killed during a botched robbery attempt in July 2006 by three armed men who broke into his home.

Visit these links: - JED (French): http://tinyurl.com/3af378 - JED (English): http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/85899 - JED on Bapuwa Mwamba case: http://tinyurl.com/2echyx - RSF: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=23449 - UN Mission in DRC (MONUC): http://tinyurl.com/394qs8 - Reuters: http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL29762382.html -------------------------------------------------------- UPDATES

5. RUSSIA AND HAITI INTENSIFY FIGHT AGAINST IMPUNITY BY CONVICTING JOURNALISTS' KILLERS

Five gang members have been convicted in Russia for the murder of journalist Igor Domnikov, the first time suspects have been prosecuted in a journalist's killing since Vladimir Putin became president in 2000, reports the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). In Haiti, two life sentences were handed down to the murderers of journalist Jacques Roche, according to Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF).

On 29 August, a court in Kazan, Russia sentenced two men to life in prison, including the head of the organised crime group Tagiryanovtsy, and three others to prison terms ranging from 18 to 25 years for Domnikov's murder, CPJ reports.

CPJ welcomed the "groundbreaking step in the fight against impunity in the killing of journalists," but urged the authorities to go further and find and prosecute the masterminds behind Domnikov's killing.

Domnikov, who wrote extensively on official corruption for the investigative newspaper "Novaya Gazeta", was bludgeoned repeatedly on the head outside his Moscow apartment building. He died in July 2000 after two months in a coma.

The verdicts in the Domnikov case come the same week that 10 suspects were arrested in the 2006 murder of another "Novaya Gazeta" journalist - renowned investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya. According to CPJ, three of 14 journalists killed in the past seven years because of their work were reporters for "Novaya Gazeta".

Meanwhile, in Haiti, two life sentences were handed down to the killers of Jacques Roche, the head of "Le Matin" newspaper's arts and culture pages. Roche was kidnapped on 10 July 2005 and found dead four days later.

Alby Joseph, a Port-au-Prince slum gang member, was found guilty of killing Roche, while Chéry Beaubrun was given life imprisonment for receiving money to guard Roche while he was held hostage. Their convictions come less than a month after local press freedom group S.O.S. Journalistes and President René Préval created an independent commission to investigate the unsolved murders of journalists. Several other suspects have been arrested but have not yet been tried.

Visit these links: Russia: - CPJ: http://tinyurl.com/ynnyn7 Haiti: - RSF: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=23500 - "IFEX Communiqué" on commission: http://tinyurl.com/3al4hn

6. TUNISIA: JOURNALIST'S LIBEL CASE SUSPENDED; LAWYER'S OFFICE UP IN FLAMES

The day after the defamation case against Tunisian editor Omar Mestiri was suspended, one of his lawyer's offices was torched, report the Observatory for Freedom of the Press, Publishing and Creation (Observatoire pour la liberté de presse, d'édition et de creation, OLPEC) and the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRinfo).

Omar Mestiri, managing editor of the online magazine "Kalima", was charged with defamation and faced up to three years in jail for a September 2006 article that criticised the reinstatement of a lawyer who had been convicted of fraud and forgery. But the lawyer who filed the case withdrew his complaint on 28 August, and the court decided to suspend the case two days later.

The following day, unidentified individuals set fire to the office of Ayachi Hammami, one of Mestiri's lawyers and a prominent human rights defender in his own right.

When Hammami arrived at work on 31 August, he found his office up in flames. Most of Hammami's books and documents, including his client's files, were destroyed, along with his personal computer.

Hammami believes he was targeted because of his work on a report about Tunisia's judiciary that was to be presented at a seminar organised by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) in Paris in September. "This is a political fire and crime," he told OLPEC.

Hammami was one of the eight Tunisian human rights activists who went on hunger strike from 18 October to mid-November 2005 to draw the attention of the international community to the rising attacks on freedom of expression and association on the eve of the Tunisia-hosted World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).

Many of the hunger strikers had congregated in Hammami's centrally located office in Tunis.

Visit these links: - OLPEC: http://tinyurl.com/3cwzcy - HRinfo: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/86006/ - "IFEX Communiqué" on Mestiri: http://tinyurl.com/2rl3k5 - Tunisian Monitoring Group: http://campaigns.ifex.org/tmg/ - EMHRN: http://www.euromedrights.net/

TAKE ACTION!

7. TAKE ACTION! CALL FOR SAMI AL-HAJ TO BE RELEASED FROM GUANTANAMO

Sudanese cameraman Sami al-Haj, who has been held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for more than five years without charge, is in failing health. Petitions continue to be organised worldwide demanding his release.

Al-Haj, who has been on hunger strike since 7 January to protest detention without trial and inhumane prison conditions, has lost 18 kilograms and is suffering from health issues, according to recently declassified documents provided by his lawyer Clive Stafford Smith.

A 38-year old assistant cameraman for the Qatar-based TV station Al Jazeera, Al-Haj was arrested by Pakistani security forces at the Afghan border in December 2001 while covering the U.S.-led fight to oust the Taliban. He was handed over to the U.S. military six months later. No charges have ever been brought against him although he has been accused of being an "enemy combatant", and he remains the only known journalist held at Guantanamo.

"Sami continues with one simple demand - that he be given a fair trial, or freedom," says Stafford Smith. "But as much as he is determined to secure justice, the U.S. military is intent on denying it. When I saw him recently, he was deteriorating both physically and mentally, and he was talking about dying. Ensuring his liberation has never been more urgent."

For more information on al-Haj's case, see CPJ's special report, "The Enemy?": http://tinyurl.com/355qyz

Demand that U.S. military authorities release al-Haj from detention by signing one or more of these petitions: - Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières): http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=19079 - Prisoner 345: http://www.prisoner345.net/ - Global Coordination for Sami al-Haj: http://www.samisolidarity.net/ - Release Sami al-Haj: http://tinyurl.com/2sjznk

RESS FREEDOM MISSIONS:

8. FREE EXPRESSION IN BRAZIL NEEDS PROTECTION, ARTICLE 19 FINDS

Free expression in Brazil is "in need of immediate protection and action," an ARTICLE 19 mission to the country has found.

Although ARTICLE 19 identified some good practices by the government and a vibrant civil society during its week-long mission in August, it was "extremely concerned by the situation of freedom of expression in Brazil."

Media laws date back to the 1960s when the country was under a military dictatorship - making them both repressive and technologically outdated. Access to information is guaranteed under the 1988 Constitution, but a federal law has yet to be passed because there are no regulations detailing procedures and applicable deadlines.

In independent broadcasting, few regulatory policies are in place, resulting in media ownership being highly concentrated - according to ARTICLE 19, six private television networks hold 92 percent of the TV audience. The federal government says it will set up a public TV channel by the end of this year, but there is no overall public service broadcasting system. A community broadcaster, meanwhile, must wait an average of three and a half years to get a license because of a lengthy, ineffective and punitive process.

A high number of civil defamation cases has led to self-censorship in Brazilian newsrooms, with journalists trying to prevent costly legal processes. Local lawyers and journalists estimate that there is currently one civil lawsuit per journalist working for the five major communication groups in the country.

As well, violence against journalists is still a problem, especially in the northern areas, but is underestimated and not documented consistently.

ARTICLE 19 recommends a series of actions, including adopting a proper legal framework and an access to information regime, creating a public broadcasting system, supporting community broadcasting and properly investigating instances of violence.

Read the full report here: - English: http://tinyurl.com/yruezk - Portuguese: http://tinyurl.com/2hffwt

AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS

9. IFEX MEMBERS HONOURED WITH DEMOCRACY AWARD

Kudos to IFEX members this month! The man who crafted the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA), the chair of the board of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR), and the Institute for Press and Society (Instituto Prensa y Sociedad, IPYS) - Venezuela, which kept close tabs on the RCTV controversy, are three of this year's winners of the National Endowment for Democracy's (NED) Democracy Award.

SEAPA chair and assistant group editor of Nation Media Group Kavi Chongkittavorn has been a tireless campaigner for press freedom throughout Southeast Asia and beyond. A journalist for more than 20 years, he was one of the founders of SEAPA, which remains the only regional organisation with the specific mandate of promoting and protecting press freedom in Southeast Asia. He is also a former IFEX convenor.

Hisham Kassem, one of Egypt's most prominent publishers and democracy activists, was IFEX convenor as well through his work with EOHR. He was the publisher of "Al-Masry Al-Youm", Egypt's first independent daily paper, and vice-president of the opposition Hizb al-Ghad party.

IPYS Venezuela, founded in 2002 as a branch of IFEX's long-time member in Peru, has become the authoritative voice on freedom of expression in the country at a time when press freedom has bubbled to the surface under President Hugo Chávez's rule.

This year's NED award gives special emphasis on press freedom - "a critical ingredient for any democracy," and to "the courage of those journalists who risk so much."

The other Democracy Award recipient is Anna Politkovskaya, the reporter for the Moscow newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" who was murdered in October 2006 for criticising the Russian government's policies in Chechnya

To learn more about the winners, see: http://tinyurl.com/2k4z5t

10. CALL FOR APPLICATIONS FOR REAGAN-FASCELL DEMOCRACY FELLOWSHIP

The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) invites democracy practitioners, scholars and journalists from around the world to apply for a 2008-09 Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellowship.

The programme, based in Washington, D.C., offers five-month fellowships for democracy practitioners to improve strategies and techniques for building democracy abroad; and five- to 10-month fellowships for scholars to conduct original research for publication. Fellowship projects may focus on the political, social, economic, legal and cultural aspects of democratic development and may include a range of methodologies and approaches.

A working knowledge of English is required. Fellows will receive a stipend and health and travel insurance. The programme is not designed to pay for professional training or to support students working toward a degree.

The deadline for applications is 1 November 2007. For more information, including application materials, visit: http://tinyurl.com/384hzs

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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