(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 2 January 2002 RSF press release: January 2nd, 2002 Sharp deterioration of press freedom in the world in 2001: More and more journalists arrested, press freedom on the decline in several countries 2001: – 31 journalists killed – 489 arrested – 716 attacked or threatened – 378 press media […]
(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 2 January 2002 RSF press release:
January 2nd, 2002
Sharp deterioration of press freedom in the world in 2001:
More and more journalists arrested, press freedom on the decline in several countries
2001:
– 31 journalists killed
– 489 arrested
– 716 attacked or threatened
– 378 press media censored
– As of January 1st, 2002, 110 journalists imprisoned in the world
As compared to 2000:
– 32 journalists killed
– 329 arrested
– 510 attacked or threatened
– 295 press media censored
Contents:
Trends and priorities
31 journalists killed in 2001
Impunity is still the rule
Nearly five hundred journalists arrested in 2001
More than seven hundred journalists attacked or threatened
New media censored every day
The foreign press under close watch
The aftermath of September 11th for press freedom
Trends and priorities
Except for the number of journalists killed, which remained stable, all indicators (journalists arrested, attacked, threatened or media censored) rose compared to the year 2000. The number of journalists arrested (489 in 2001) rose by nearly 50 percent, and the number of journalists attacked or threatened (716) by more than 40 per cent. More and more journalists have been imprisoned throughout the world. At present there are 110 behind bars. The number had dropped consistently since 1995 but climbed again sharply in 2001.
Some part of the press is censored somewhere in the world every day, and nearly a third of the world’s population lives in countries where there is no press freedom. The situation deteriorated considerably in numerous countries (Bangladesh, Eritrea, Haiti, Nepal and Zimbabwe, among others), whereas very few regimes made progress in terms of press freedom. The impunity that is typical of nearly all these cases is unacceptable. Governments and intergovernmental organisations must focus their efforts on this area. If they do not, the odds are good that murders of and attacks on journalists will continue to increase in the coming years.
31 journalists killed in 2001
Again this year, some thirty journalists were killed in the world for their opinions or in the exercise of their profession. Fifteen of them were murdered by armed groups or militias. In at least three cases, the authorities were partly responsible. Nine press professionals were killed in armed conflicts (8 in Afghanistan alone). Above and beyond these 31 journalists, ten media collaborators (technicians, administrative staff and so forth) were also killed in 2001.
In 2001, Asia was the deadliest continent for journalists (14 killed). In Afghanistan, the war waged by the United States following the September 11th attacks was especially hard on the press. Eight correspondents were killed while covering the conflict. In China, Feng Zhaoxia, a journalist from the daily Gijie Daobao, was found dead on January 15th in Shaanxi province (southwestern Beijing), his throat slit. Despite protests from his family, his colleagues and local journalist associations, the police came to the rapid conclusion that he had committed suicide. Everyone else agreed that the murder was due to articles published by the journalist. He had recently revealed the connivance going on between Mafia-like groups and certain local political leaders.
In the Americas, there were ten journalists and ten media contributors killed in 2001. Haiti saw another journalist murdered again this year. On December 3rd, Brignol Lindor, news chief for Radio Echo 2000, was stoned and hacked to death with machetes. After inviting members of the opposition onto his radio show, he received death threats from local leaders of the party in power. The murder was a warning to the rest of the profession, which now feels threatened. In the United States, a journalist and eight technicians died in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. Another reporter was also among the anthrax victims after receiving a contaminated anonymous letter. Three journalists were murdered in Colombia. Flavio Bedoya of the weekly Voz was shot to death on April 27th. He had received death threats after publishing an article about the violence committed by paramilitary groups. He criticised “the army’s and the police’s inability to capture the criminals”.
In Europe, the number of press professionals killed for their opinions also rose (7). A journalist was killed in Northern Ireland for the first time since the early 1960s. Martin O’Hagan, a reporter for the weekly Sunday World, was killed on the evening of September 28th in front of his home near Belfast. “The Defenders of the Red Hand”, a loyalist military group, accused him of having committed “crimes against Loyalists”. Elsewhere, other journalists were murdered in the Ukraine, Kosovo and in Spain’s Basque country.
The two bits of good news come from Africa and the Middle East, where no press professionals were killed for exercising their profession. Twenty-seven other journalists’ murder cases in the world are still under investigation, but as of January 1st, 2002, nothing proves that the murders are linked to their professional activities.
Impunity is still the rule
Nearly no murders and assassinations of journalists have ever been solved. The people behind the murders are still free and have never been bothered by the judicial system in their countries.
In Burkina Faso, for example, more than three years after the assassination of Norbert Zongo, director of L’Indépendant, on December 13th, 1998, the investigation has gone nowhere. The brother of the country’s President, François Compaoré, deeply implicated in the incident, was questioned by the investigating judge for the first time in January 2001, more than two years after the fact.
The situation is hardly any better in Haiti, where the investigation into the murder of Jean Dominique, manager of Radio Haiti Inter, in April 2000, has almost been quashed several times. The Senate, controlled by Fanmi Lavalas, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s party, has stacked up quibble upon quibble so as not to have to rule on lifting the parliamentary immunity of Dany Toussaint, the main suspect in the case. Moreover, despite confessing to killing Brignol Lindor, his murderers, closely associated to the party in power, have not yet been arrested.
The murder in Sri Lanka in October 2000 of BBC contributor Mylvaganam Nimalarajan has still not been solved. No one has been arrested yet, and the police have not employed the means necessary for finding the truth.
In the Ukraine, the State apparatus has thrown up major barriers in the search for the truth in the murder of journalist Georgy Gongadze in September 2000. The General Prosecutor’s office and the Ministry of the Interior are against any serious investigation. In September 2001, the Council of Europe approved a recommendation calling for “the Ukrainian authorities to undertake a new investigation into the disappearance and death of Georgy Gongadze and, to this end, set up an independent investigative commission”, comprised in particular of international experts.
Nearly five hundred journalists arrested in 2001
As of January 1st, 2002, 110 of the world’s journalists are still in prison because of their opinions or their professional activities. One year ago, there were “only” seventy-four imprisoned. January 1995 was the last time so many journalists were imprisoned worldwide. Nearly half (50) are being held in Asia. The jails holding the most journalists in the world are in Iran (18), Burma (18), China (12), Eritrea (8) and Nepal (7).
Most imprisoned Iranian journalists are serving long sentences. In January, four of them were sentenced from three to eight years for having “infringed on national security”. On the other hand, Reza Alijani, editor-in-chief of the suspended monthly Iran-e-Farda and winner of the Reporters Sans Frontières-Fondation de France 2001 Prize, was freed in December after nine months of detention.
In Burma, the authorities treat imprisoned journalists unfairly, depriving them of the necessary medical care. Under heavy sentences for having “spread information hostile to the State” or for having informed foreign journalists, they are being held in inhumane conditions that have significant consequences for their physical and mental health. Myo Myint Nyein, in jail since September 1990, is very weak and suffering from mental problems. For eight months, he was even held in one of the dog kennels at Insein Prison in Rangoon.
In China, twenty-two cyberdissidents, arrested for having spread information considered “subversive” over the Internet, can be added to the twelve journalists in jail. One of the cyberdissidents has been sentenced to four years in prison.
In all, 489 press professionals have at one time or another been denied their freedom in 2001, often with no explanations.
In Nepal, where a state of emergency was decreed at the end of November, more than fifty journalists and press professionals have been arrested by the authorities. In Cuba, Pakistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zimbabwe, there have been more than twenty journalists arrested. In many cases no official explanation is given, and no official arrest warrant is issued. Most of them are freed quickly, but some spend several weeks, even months, behind bars. On the whole, their conditions of detention are very poor. Intimidation tactics and beatings are common during interrogations. In Iran, journalists undergo poor treatment for the purpose of extracting false confessions from them or of making them write letters of repentance. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, again this year, a journalist was flogged by his jailers.
Over seven hundred journalists attacked or threatened
Attacks on press professionals are more and more frequent. Whether committed by the authorities, political party activists, armed bands or criminals, these attacks are almost never investigated in serious, sustained ways. It is no surprise that the feeling of impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators grows stronger. In many countries, political leaders are often the instigators of these violent acts. They would rather take direct revenge on the journalists who have criticised them rather than undertake court actions against them.
In Bangladesh, more than 130 journalists have been attacked by political party activists or sympathisers. Most of these attacks have been committed by activists of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the Jamat-e Islami (two members of the ruling coalition) or the Awami League, which was in power until July. Journalists exposing corruption, political violence or religious intolerance are their favourite targets.
In Colombia, nearly thirty journalists have been the victims of attacks or threats by the different armed groups that fight one another in the country. In Zimbabwe, veterans of the war for independence are often the instigators of many attacks on reporters of the independent press. In the Ukraine, Russia and the former Soviet-bloc republics of central Asia, violence is always present, and there have been many recorded attacks.
In the territories occupied by Israel, eight journalists have been shot and wounded. Upon investigation, Reporters Sans Frontières has ascertained the Israeli army’s responsibility in most of the cases. The Israeli authorities, however, after cursory investigations, have claimed that they had no responsibility in these cases.
Forcing journalists into exile is another kind of threat used by some governments. Numerous journalists, fearing reprisals, have thus fled Cuba, Colombia, Ethiopia and Somalia.
A new press medium censored every day
In 2001, 378 press media were censored in the world. In Turkey, more than one hundred television stations, radio stations and press agencies were temporarily suspended by the RTUK, the governmental agency that monitors the audiovisual press, or by various State security agencies. In most cases, these press media are accused of “inciting violence” or “infringing on State security” after criticising the regime or reporting on certain extreme left-wing movements.
In Eritrea, in September, the government ordered the suspension of all independent press media, thus making it one of the rare countries in the world without a privately-owned press. On the very same day, at least eight journalists were arrested and taken to a police station in the capital. Others disappeared or fled the country. The director of the public television station went on the air to explain that “the independent media endangered the country’s unity”.
In Morocco, no fewer than nine newspapers, including seven foreign ones, were censored for dealing with topics such as the Western Sahara, corruption or for criticising the king. The Spanish and French media especially are kept under close surveillance by the Moroccan authorities.
In Tunisia, there is no actual censorship because there is no independent press. On the other hand, the few journalists who try to spread news on the Internet or work for the international press are harassed. Their phone lines are systematically blocked, tapped or sometimes simply cut. Internet access is also tightly controlled.
The foreign press under tight control
Foreign press correspondents are under tight surveillance by numerous heads of State or governments. In Zimbabwe, three foreign correspondents were expelled from the country. The government is using all possible means to get a law passed obliging the international press media to employ only journalists of Zimbabwean nationality. The Reuters correspondent in Cuba was forced to leave the island after attacks on the local press. The Liberian government constantly complains about the “massive negative propaganda” it feels is conveyed by certain foreign media against President Charles Taylor. Foreign correspondents based in China must first receive authorisation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before carrying out investigative reports.
Elsewhere, journalists cannot travel to certain countries without being constantly watched. Such is the case in Saudi Arabia, Burma, North Korea and Vietnam. They also encounter enormous difficulties in obtaining visas to work in Algeria, Libya and Iraq. Pakistani authorities rejected visas for Indian or Indian-born journalists wishing to cover the Afghani conflict. Two correspondents of American dailies were expelled from the country for this reason.
The aftermath of September 11th for press freedom
Above and beyond the heavy price paid by correspondents who died in the field, the September 11th attacks in New York and Washington and the military operation undertaken in Afghanistan had considerable consequences on press freedom in the world. Several laws adopted for fighting terrorism are especially worrying and weaken the basic principle of the free circulation of information. In Canada and the United States, some of the measures challenge the protection of sources and strengthen surveillance of the Internet. The American and British governments have called to order the media organisations in their respective countries.
This surveillance has sometimes taken a repressive turn. In Kazakhstan, for example, in November, the armed forces of the Ministry of the Interior occupied the building of the independent television station KTK, temporarily interrupting its broadcasts. The authorities explained that in the context of the Afghani conflict, “all the Republic’s strategic installations had to be monitored by the Ministry of the Interior”.
