**Updates IFEX alerts of 26 June and 31 May 2000** (IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 28 June 2000 IAPA press release: Miami (28 June 2000) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) condemned and discredited the order to arrest the director of a Panamanian daily, and requested the Supreme Court of Justice to provide […]
**Updates IFEX alerts of 26 June and 31 May 2000**
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 28 June 2000 IAPA press release:
Miami (28 June 2000) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) condemned and discredited the order to arrest the director of a Panamanian daily, and requested the Supreme Court of Justice to provide the necessary instructions and guidelines in order to maintain the integrity of the country’s system of fundamental freedoms.
In a letter directed to President of the Supreme Court Mirtza Fraceschi de Aguilera, IAPA considered the Attorney Generalâs decision to sentence the director of daily “El Siglo” to jail for eight days to be a contradiction, since President Mireya Moscoso had already repealed Law 11 of 1978, which, at one time, permitted the incarceration of journalists.
The complete text of the letter, which was signed by IAPAâs President of the Commission for Press Freedom and Information Rafael Molina, from “El Nacional”, in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, follows:
Honourable Magistrate:
The Inter American Press Association, through the Commission for Press Freedom and Information, would like, by this letter, to condemn the erroneous action of Attorney General of the Nation José Antonio Sossa, who ordered the raid on daily “El Siglo” and the arrest of its director, Carlos Singares.
We consider the attorney general’s actions – in addition to violating the necessary guarantees which the state must provide to protect press freedom – to constitute a manifest contradiction of the policy assumed by the current government of Panama with respect to press freedom. On 20 December 1999, President Mireya Moscoso signed an order to repeal Law 11 of 1978, known as the “gag law”, and announced the prompt reform of laws which restricted press freedom.
It is evident that the attorney general is commiting an abuse of privilege since he ordered these measures in retaliation against a newspaper report that was signed by Signares in his daily on 22 June. In the report, Signares reproduced an interview with lawyer Sidney Sitton, entitled, “Sossa in search of pleasure with underage adolescents”. The improper conduct of the official was discussed in the report.
The eight day sentence for charges of “defamation and disrespect” against the journalist, and the order to raid the daily to make the arrest, are measures which clearly contradict the climate of democracy which prevails in Panama.
IAPA wishes to emphasize that this is not an isolated matter, and represents a new abuse committed by the director of the Public Ministry. Already, on 25 May, Sossa ordered the arrest of Signares for alleged disrespect of the authorities in retaliation for a report which was published about the ministry putting pressure on a former prosecutor. That order was set aside five days later. Moreover, this is the third time in the last three years that the attorney general has ordered the arrest of journalists, as in the case of Herasto Reyes from La Prensa, and Blas Julio and Carmen Boyd, both from El Siglo.
Dear Magistrate, we strongly urge that through the High Court you provide the instructions and guidelines which are necessary to maintain the integrity of the system of fundamental freedoms, in concordance with the policies of the government of Panama, in order to move towards the complete consolidation of press freedom in this country.
