IFEX Communique Vol 16 No 37 - 11 September 2007

IFEX Communiqué Vol 16 No 37 - 11 September 2007

INDEX

FREE EXPRESSION SPOTLIGHT: 1. Guinea-Bissau: Authorities Harass Press over Reports on Drug Trade

REGIONAL NEWS: 2. Colombia: Reporter's Murder Needs Proper Investigation, IFEX Members Say 3. Mexico: IFEX Members and Partners Step Up Press Freedom Campaigning 4. Syria: Twenty-Five Groups Demand Release of Prisoners of Opinion 5. Egypt: Editor Accused of Spreading Rumours on President's Health

UPDATES: 6. Iran: U.S.-Iranian Journalist and Academic Allowed to Leave Country

TAKE ACTION! 7. Urge Singapore to Release Human Rights Defender Chee Soon Juan

CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS: 8. FLIPYS Workshops Address Access to Info and Investigative Journalism in Colombia

AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS: 9. Nominations Wanted for Best Free Expression Blog 10. MISA Honours Outstanding Investigative Journalists

ALERTS ISSUED BY THE IFEX CLEARING HOUSE LAST WEEK

FREE EXPRESSION SPOTLIGHT

1. GUINEA-BISSAU: AUTHORITIES HARASS PRESS OVER REPORTS ON DRUG TRADE

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and Amnesty International have called on Guinea-Bissau President Joao Bernardo Vieira to stop official harassment of journalists reporting on drug trafficking in the West African country.

At least four journalists have gone into hiding for fear of being killed for their various reports that identified the country's armed forces, especially the marines, as major collaborators in the drug trade. Their reports followed the United Nations naming Guinea-Bissau a key transit point for drug trafficking in Africa.

MFWA sources say the army, outraged by the UN report, began a crackdown on journalists they suspected of distributing such "damaging" information.

Reporter Albert Dabo, a journalist for Reuters, the BBC's French-language service and the private radio station Bombolom FM, was charged on 29 August with libel, violating state secrets, abusing press freedom and colluding with foreign journalists following a complaint from the head of the navy.

Navy chief Jose Americo Bubo Na Tchuto alleges that Dabo falsely attributed to him a statement admitting high-level official complicity in drug-trafficking during his interview with Britain's ITN News, in which Dabo acted as an interpreter.

Last week, IFJ called on President Vieira to urge Na Tchuto to withdraw his charges against Dabo and to stop military threats against him. Dabo says he has been receiving death threats since June, which led him to briefly go into hiding.

Threats against another reporter who has written about the drug trade have also pushed him into exile. Allen Yéro Emballo, correspondent for Radio International France and for news agency Agence France Presse, fled Guinea-Bissau in July out of fear for his safety after his home was burglarised and he was threatened. Emballo found his home robbed when he returned from an assignment in the archipelago of Bijagos, south of the capital, in June. He was there to investigate packages suspected of holding drugs that had been dropped from airplanes.

According to MFWA, journalists Eva Maria Auzenda Biague and Fernando Jorge Perreira also went into hiding in July after police ordered them to present themselves to the nearest police station for their reports. All four journalists feared they would be detained and tortured at a military camp since the country has no prison facilities.

Human rights activists have accused the authorities of trying to intimidate journalists so they will not investigate their alleged involvement in drug trafficking.

"To show that they are not involved in drug trafficking, the government and army officials should ensure that journalists reporting on drug trafficking can work in total safety and freedom in Guinea-Bissau with unfettered access to information," IFJ said in an appeal to President Vieira.

Guinea-Bissau has recently been in the international spotlight thanks to the UN's 2007 World Drug Report, which named the country a key staging post for cocaine moving from Latin America to Europe. Drug traffickers take advantage of Guinea-Bissau's scant surveillance, government instability and poverty to ply their trade. According to the UN's humanitarian news service IRIN, many soldiers are getting money from drug traffickers in exchange for providing security.

Visit these links: - MFWA: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/85362/ - IFJ letter to President Vieira: http://tinyurl.com/36kyam - Amnesty: http://tinyurl.com/2vwh4o - UN World Drug Report 2007: http://tinyurl.com/2jwffn - IRIN, "Guinea-Bissau: Fears of an emerging narcostate": http://www.irinnews.org/reporttest.aspx?ReportId=69904

AMERICAS

2. COLOMBIA: REPORTER'S MURDER NEEDS PROPER INVESTIGATION, IFEX MEMBERS SAY

Police were too quick to dismiss that a Colombian journalist found stabbed to death last week was killed because of his work, say the Foundation for Press Freedom (Fundacíon para la Libertad de Prensa, FLIP), the Institute for Press and Society (Instituto de Prensa y Sociedad, IPYS) the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) and other rights groups.

Colleagues found radio reporter Javier Darío Arroyave murdered in his home in Cartago, a city in the western department of Valle del Cauca, on 5 September. Arroyave's laptop computer and some of his belongings were taken, although there were no signs of forced entry. Police ruled out work-related motives but FLIP and IPYS say further investigation is needed. Police are searching for three individuals.

Arroyave, host of the news programme "Cómo les parece", news director for the Onda del Valle radio station in Cartago, and correspondent for the national daily "El Tiempo", was known for his criticism of corruption and mismanagement in the municipal and departmental governments. According to FLIP, "Cómo les parece" was temporarily suspended in 2005 for fear that then-Cartago mayor Luis Alberto Castro would cancel advertising and mayoral interviews for the show. Arroyave had criticised the way the mayor's office had handled some public contracts.

Cartago is also infamous as the centre of activities of the Norte del Valle drug cartel, led by Diego "Don Diego" León Montoya Sánchez.

Visit these links: - FLIP/IPYS: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/86057/ - FLIP on silencing of "Cómo les parece": http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/66742 - IAPA: http://www.sipiapa.org/pressreleases/chronological.cfm - Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières): http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=23579 - Committee to Protect Journalists: http://www.cpj.org/news/2007/americas/colombia05sep7na.html - Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR): http://www.cidh.org/relatoria/showarticle.asp?artID=710&lID=1

3. MEXICO: IFEX MEMBERS AND PARTNERS STEP UP PRESS FREEDOM CAMPAIGNING

In Mexico, now the second most dangerous country in the world for journalists after Iraq, press freedom advocates and journalists have teamed up to fight against free expression violations and restrictions in the country.

At a workshop in late August, the leading Mexican organisations working on free expression, including IFEX members and affiliates, explored ways to combine efforts to have a bigger impact in campaigning and alerts as well as influencing changes on regressive press laws. Some ideas of joint projects included: better investigations at a federal level of crimes against journalists; comprehensive and regular info on Mexico's free expression situation; and joint missions, public meetings and press conferences on a particular case or region to draw attention to the continuing climate of violence.

The meeting is unprecedented, say the participants. The workshop drew together a dozen national and international organisations who sough new ways to collaborate on press freedom issues. "As far as I can remember, an initiative of this dimension has not happened before," said one of the conference's participants, Omar Raúl Martínez, director of Fundación Manuel Buendía. "We have many issues to solve but this effort deserves recognition because it marks a precedent on working for press freedom."

The director of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) in Mexico, Aleida Calleja, said: "This meeting addressed a much wider perspective than just alerts and campaigns. We already have some ongoing projects together and can draw concrete and wider support from this."

The IFEX members and affiliates included Mexican groups the Centre for Journalism and Pubic Ethics (Centro de Periodismo y Etica Publica, CEPET) and the National Centre for Social Communication (Centro Nacional de Comunicación Social, CENCOS), as well as AMARC, ARTICLE 19, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Institute of Press and Society (Instituto Prensa y Sociedad, IPYS) and Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF).

Fundación Manuel Buendía, Libertad de Información - México (LIMAC), Fundación Prensa y Democracia (PRENDE), Comunicación e Información de la Mujer, A.C. (CIMAC) and the Universidad IberoAmericana's Human Rights Programme were also involved.

The organisations made a commitment to work together and three committees emerged from the workshop to follow up on campaigns, alerts and press laws, coordinated by ARTICLE 19, the Committee to Protect Journalists and AMARC respectively.

A second meeting will be held in a month.

Meanwhile, three reporters were killed when a truck involved in a crash exploded on 9 September, reports CEPET. Reporters David Herrera from the daily "Zócalo", Carlos Antonio Ballesteros from "El Tiempo" and Andrés Ramírez from the daily "La Prensa" were killed during a highway explosion south of Monclova. They had arrived at the scene to cover a collision between a car and a truck carrying more than 20 tons of dynamite when the truck unexpectedly exploded. At least 22 people, including the four journalists, were killed.

(With files from Leonarda Reyes, CEPET)

MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

4. SYRIA: TWENTY-FIVE GROUPS DEMAND RELEASE OF PRISONERS OF OPINION

Press freedom in Syria has suffered a distressing setback with the recent jailing of dissidents. Led by the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR), 23 IFEX members and two other NGOs are demanding that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad release all "prisoners of opinion" in the country.

Prominent lawyer and human rights activist Anwar al-Bunni and journalist Michel Kilo were both arrested last year - and have been detained since - for signing the Beirut-Damascus, Damascus-Beirut Declaration, which called for better relations with Lebanon. The declaration was signed by more than 300 Syrian and Lebanese nationals and sparked a wave of arrests.

Al-Bunni was sentenced to five years in prison in April 2007 for being a signatory to the declaration and "spreading false or exaggerated news that weaken the spirit of the nation." Kilo, along with activist Mahmoud Issa, were convicted of "weakening national sentiment," "spreading false information" and inciting "religious and racial dissension." They were handed down a three-year jail term in May.

The 25 groups also expressed concern for Kamal al-Labwani, a 50-year-old physician and head of a pro-democracy group. In May, al-Labwani was sentenced to 12 years in jail - including hard labour - on charges of contacting a foreign country and "encouraging attacks against Syria." He was arrested in November 2005 after returning from a visit to the United States, where he met with White House officials and called for democratic reform in Syria. The sentence against al-Labwani is considered to be the harshest against a dissident since President al-Assad took over from his late father in 2000.

In another case, activist and former parliament member Riad Seif was prevented from travelling abroad to receive medical treatment for prostate cancer. Seif's official travel request - he cannot travel without permission for security reasons - was denied in August by the Syrian security authorities. According to Human Rights Watch, teachers Aref Dalila and Riad Drar are also detained for expressing their right to freedom of expression.

The 25 groups urge President al-Assad to release all prisoners of conscience who have been detained for peacefully expressing themselves, to work on strengthening freedom of expression and to put an end to all repressive practices against journalists and activists, including harassment, torture and arbitrary detention.

Syria has been under emergency law since the Baath Party took power in a coup in 1963 and banned political opposition. According to Al Jazeera, al-Assad's government remains sensitive to criticism of its Lebanon policy after Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon following the 2005 assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri, Lebanon's former prime minister.

Visit these links: - IFEX joint statement: http://tinyurl.com/2cez79 - "IFEX Communiqué" spotlight on Syria: http://tinyurl.com/yv2dey - Human Rights Watch's work on Syria: http://tinyurl.com/2ylkmq - HRinfo: http://www.hrinfo.net/en/ - The International Committee for Supporting Michel Kilo: http://www.michelkilo.com/index.eu.htm - National Organization for Human Rights in Syria: http://www.nohr-s.org - Free Syria: http://www.infos-syria.org/

5. EGYPT: EDITOR ACCUSED OF SPREADING RUMOURS ON PRESIDENT'S HEALTH

An Egyptian editor who reported rumours that President Hosni Mubarak's health is deteriorating faces up to four years in jail, report the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRinfo), Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

After nearly seven hours of questioning the day before, state security prosecutors on 6 September charged "Al-Dustur" editor Ibrahim Issa for "misleading public opinion and publishing false news with malicious intent" for his recent articles that speculated on President Mubarak's failing health.

Issa was released without bail pending trial, which has not yet been set. He faces up to four years in prison under articles 102 and 188 of the Criminal Code. Issa has defended his point of view, arguing that the President's health should not be a state secret.

"Some journalists and government officials used the reports on these rumours as a pretext to target 'Al-Dustur' and Issa," HRinfo says. "It is disconcerting that Issa is scheduled to appear before the state security deputy rather than before the deputy of publications, the authority with the sole jurisprudence to investigate complaints and claims against journalists."

Recently, there has been speculation in the Egyptian media about the President's health: a possible hospital stay, travel abroad for medical treatment, and even his death. CPJ says that many journalists blame the absence of official information on the matter. Many papers have covered the issue but "Al Dustur", an independent daily, is the only publication that has been prosecuted so far.

In an attempt to silence the rumours, the pro-government daily "Al Ahram" recently published an interview with President Mubarak in which he accused the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned Islamist movement, of being behind the rumours. The same newspaper recently ran a report accusing "Al-Dustur" of being linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.

In a related development last week, the government-dominated Supreme Press Council, which issues licenses and guidelines to newspapers, said it had created two commissions formed of media and legal experts to evaluate press coverage of the President's health and to "decide what legal measures should be taken," the council said in a statement.

Issa and his newspaper have frequently been targeted by Egyptian courts for their independent news coverage. In January, 24 IFEX members and partners signed a joint action calling on President Mubarak to end jail sentences for journalists including Issa, who was facing one year in prison.

According to CPJ, Issa and three other editors are due to appear in court in Cairo on 13 September on charges of insulting President Mubarak and his top aides, including his son Gamal, whose rising influence within the ruling National Democratic Party spurred speculation that he might be the country's next president.

EOHR said in its 2006 annual report released last week that attacks on freedom of expression and the press and the prosecution of journalists for "expressing their opinions" were on the rise.

Visit these links: - HRinfo: http://www.ifex.org/es/content/view/full/86037/ - HRinfo publishes state security investigation into Issa (Arabic): http://www.hrinfo.net/en/reports/2007/pr0910.shtml - CPJ: http://tinyurl.com/2jco3z - RSF: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=23583 - EOHR report: http://www.eohr.org/press/2007/pr0902.shtml - IFEX joint action on Issa: http://tinyurl.com/ypb6or

UPDATES

6. IRAN: U.S.-IRANIAN JOURNALIST AND ACADEMIC ALLOWED TO LEAVE COUNTRY

A U.S.-Iranian broadcaster banned from leaving Iran for the past seven months has been given permission to leave the country, the day after another dual citizen left Tehran following her release from jail in August on bail.

Authorities returned Parnaz Azima's passport on 4 September after she had been charged with spreading propaganda against the Iranian state. Azima is a broadcaster with Radio Farda, the Persian-language service run jointly by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and Voice of America.

The move came the day after another dual citizen, academic Haleh Esfandiari, left Tehran following her release from jail in August on a three billion Rial (US$320,000) bail. She spent more than 100 days in Tehran's notorious Evin prison and still faces charges of endangering Iran's national security.

Two more U.S.-Iranians remain in jail in Iran: Kian Tajbakhsh, a consultant with the Open Society Institute, and peace activist Ali Shakeri. The detentions have been seen as part of a wider government crackdown on critics and others deemed a threat to the regime.

Visit these links: - RFE/RL: http://tinyurl.com/yt55dp - "IFEX Communiqué" on Esfandiari: http://tinyurl.com/2rxrwm - "IFEX Communiqué" on U.S.-Iranian dual nationals: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/83925

TAKE ACTION!

7. URGE SINGAPORE TO RELEASE HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER CHEE SOON JUAN

Human rights defender and pro-democracy activist Chee Soon Juan has been sentenced to jail for three weeks in Singapore for refusing to pay a fine slapped on him for trying to leave the country unauthorised and while bankrupt. Amnesty International Canada has organised an appeal for his release.

Chee, leader of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), was fined 4,000 Singaporean Dollars (US$2,600) or three weeks in prison in default of payment after he tried to attend a democracy conference in Turkey in April 2006. Last week, the High Court dismissed his appeal and upheld his conviction.

Chee was declared bankrupt in February 2006 for refusing to pay 500,000 Singaporean Dollars (US$328,900) in libel damages to former Prime Ministers Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong.

Amnesty has repeatedly expressed concern about defamation suits, bankruptcies and criminal charges used or threatened against government critics, human rights activists and foreign news media, which have lead to a climate of political intimidation and self-censorship in Singapore. Freedom of expression is tightly controlled by the People's Action Party, which has been in power for more than 40 years with almost no opposition MPs.

According to Amnesty, Chee has made a dozen applications to travel abroad to attend human rights and democracy meetings, all of which have been rejected. Chee has been jailed five times since 1999 for speaking in public without a permit, and for questioning the independence of Singapore's judiciary.

Despite the loss of his university position, several terms of imprisonment, bankruptcy and a ban on his contesting parliamentary elections, Chee continues to speak out about human rights and democracy. Before his arrest, he was planning a counter-conference on 17 October to the International Bar Association (IBA)'s international symposium in Singapore on the rule of law. Judging by IBA's panels and speakers - high flyers from the Singapore government - Chee did not expect human rights violations and misuse of the law would make it onto the agenda. His parallel conference will feature its own high-profile lawyers, politicians and activists who will prevent the IBA panel from "hijacking the idea and the practice of the rule of law," and also meet with IBA officials to get human rights on the "official" agenda.

To find out more or to attend the conference, visit: http://www.singaporedemocrat.org

Amnesty International Canada is asking you to write letters to Singapore's President and the Singapore embassy in your country, demanding that human rights defenders like Chee are not penalised for expressing their opinions. For details of where to write, see: http://tinyurl.com/2bakjx

CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS

8. FLIPYS WORKSHOPS ADDRESS ACCESS TO INFO AND INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM IN COLOMBIA

Alliance FLIPYS, a new partnership between the Foundation for Press Freedom (Fundacíon para la Libertad de Prensa, FLIP) and the Institute for Press and Society (Instituto Prensa y Sociedad, IPYS) is running a series of workshops for journalists in Colombia on investigative journalism and access to information, with a special emphasis on how to uncover information on the "demobilised" paramilitaries.

Nearly five years after the first batch of 30,000 paramilitaries was disbanded, the Alliance FLIPYS workshops will inform participants on the best ways to practise investigative journalism while knowing their legal restrictions and rights of access, especially when covering the demobilisation process.

Particular attention will be paid to how the Law of Justice and Peace is enforced. Adopted in July 2005, the law gives former paramilitaries substantial sentence reductions in exchange for confessing their crimes and disarming.

The next workshop will be in Cúcuta on 28 and 29 September, followed by two other sessions in Cali and Barranquilla.

For more information or if you would like to attend, visit: http://www.flip.org.co/veralerta.php?idAlerta=246

AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS

9. NOMINATIONS WANTED FOR BEST FREE EXPRESSION BLOG

The search is on! Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) in conjunction with German media group Deutsche Welle invites Internet users to submit outstanding examples of blogs from around the world that defend free expression, as part of the Best of the Blogs Awards (the BOBs).

Through the BOBs' "Reporters Without Borders" Award, Deutsche Welle and RSF aim to support bloggers in countries where freedom of speech and press are limited. The award will go to a blog that takes a strong stance for freedom of information all over the world. Blogs can be published in Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Persian, Portuguese, Russian or Spanish.

"In many parts of the world, weblogs are one of the few possibilities for free speech," Deutsche Welle says.

You have until 30 September to submit blogs that you think best defend free expression. From these proposals, Deutsche Welle's international jury will narrow the field down to a shortlist. Then between 23 October and 15 November, users will be encouraged to vote online for their favourites.

Winners will be selected by both the online voting and the jury and will be announced at a public awards ceremony at the Museum for Communication on 15 November in Berlin, Germany.

For criteria and to nominate (by 30 September), click here: http://www.thebobs.com

10. MISA HONOURS OUTSTANDING INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) has announced the winners of the John Manyarara investigative journalism awards: a story on how easy it is to buy illegal guns in South Africa and an entry exposing the sale of food to prisoners in Malawi.

Jessica Pitchford of the Special Assignment team of the South African Broadcasting Corporation won the John Manyarara Investigative Journalist of the Year Award for "Guns for Sale", which documented the simple process of buying illegal firearms in South Africa.

Pilirani Phiri of Zodiak Radio, Malawi received the Upcoming Investigative Journalist of the Year Award for his "Food for Sale in Prisons" broadcast. The story unearthed an issue of significant corruption in a state institution: prisoners being sold food in Malawi's Maula prisons.

The John Manyarara awards honour excellence in investigative journalism in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The award is named after judge and founding chair of the MISA Trust Fund Board, John Oliver Manyarara.

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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