(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is protesting the six-day arrest and beating of a journalist in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP). According to RSF’s information, on 13 January 1999, the district administration of Makaland released Syed Rasool Rasa, the Batkhela-based correspondent of the Urdu daily “Khabrain”, after six days of incarceration. He was arrested after the […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is protesting the six-day arrest and beating of a
journalist in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP). According to
RSF’s information, on 13 January 1999, the district administration of
Makaland released Syed Rasool Rasa, the Batkhela-based correspondent of the
Urdu daily “Khabrain”, after six days of incarceration. He was arrested
after the publication of an article reporting the arrest of a member of the
NWFP provincial legislature. According to colleagues, he was forced to lie
on the very cold floor at the Kalangi Levies checkpoint and was beaten by
two policemen in order to force him to publish a denial. Syed Rasool Rasa’s
ill-treatment is the second incident of this kind reported in the area in
the past three weeks, RSF’s sources said.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the Prime Minister:
increase in NWFP – asking him to use his influence to prevent such behaviour
by policemen and the district administration
that
those responsible for the ill-treatment of Syed Rasool Rasa are punished
Appeals To
His Excellency Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
Office of the Prime Minister
Islamabad, Pakistan
Fax: +92 51 920 5532
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
that the Johannesburg Principles, which have been endorsed
by the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, state
that restrictions on expression on grounds of national security may be
applied only where the expression is either intended to incite imminent
violence or is likely to incite such violence
promptly charged with an established criminal offence, afforded every
opportunity to conduct a full and fair defence, including by communicating
with his lawyer, and held in conditions which conform to international
standards for the treatment of prisoners
Appeals To
His Excellency President Robert Mugabe
C/o Office of the President
Munhumutapa Building
Samora Machel Avenue
Private Bag 7700
Causeway
Harare, Zimbabwe
FAX: +263 4 728799 / 708820 / 734644
For further information, contact ARTICLE 19, 33 Islington High St., London
N19LH, U.K. tel: +44 1 71 278 9292, fax: +44 1 71 713 1356, e-mail:
article19@gn.apc.org, Internet: http://www.gn.apc.org/article19/.
