(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is an 11 September 1999 CPJ news release: **Updates IFEX alerts of 19 May 1999, 3 October and 5 September 1997** JAILING OF REPORTER IN MALAYSIA DEPLORABLE CPJ Condemns Sentence Handed Down Against Murray Hiebert BANGKOK, September 11 — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) deplores today’s decision by the Malaysian […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is an 11 September 1999 CPJ news release:
**Updates IFEX alerts of 19 May 1999, 3 October and 5 September 1997**
JAILING OF REPORTER IN MALAYSIA DEPLORABLE
CPJ Condemns Sentence Handed Down Against Murray Hiebert
BANGKOK, September 11 — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) deplores
today’s decision by the Malaysian Court of Appeal to imprison Far Eastern
Economic Review correspondent Murray Hiebert for contempt of court.
Hiebert became the first reporter in Malaysia ever sent to prison for
offenses related to his work when the three-judge panel upheld an earlier
conviction and he was taken to Sungai Buloh Prison to begin serving a
six-week term. The court reduced his sentence from three months to six weeks
when it handed down the decision.
“As a matter of principle and international practice, we believe no reporter
should ever go to jail for what he or she writes,” said CPJ’s Asia
consultant A. Lin Neumann, who is based in Bangkok. “Sending Murray Hiebert
to jail is an outrage.”
Hiebert, a Canadian citizen, is the first journalist in almost fifty years
to be imprisoned for contempt in a Commonwealth nation, according to his
lawyers. The veteran reporter’s life has already been disrupted by the case
for over two years. He was first sentenced to three months in jail in
September 1997 for the January 23, 1997, article “See You in Court,” which
discussed the growing number of lawsuits filed in Malaysia. One suit
highlighted in the piece was brought by Chandra Sri Ram, the wife of a
prominent judge, against the Kuala Lumpur International School after it
booted her son off the debating team. The article mentioned that the case
had moved rapidly through the court system and that the student’s father,
Gopal Sri Ram, was a prominent judge. Chandra later brought the contempt
suit against Hiebert, despite the fact that the original suit was settled
out of court.
Upon his conviction and pending the appeal of the original sentence, the
Malaysian court seized Hiebert’s passport and he has been unable to leave
Malaysia since that time.
CPJ believes that the imprisonment of a journalist for his writing
constitutes a clear violation of press freedom and has a chilling effect on
other journalists who may write on sensitive subjects in Malaysia. Too often
criminal sanctions are used by authoritarian governments to muzzle the press
and instill fear in those who attempt to exercise their right of free
expression.
It is particularly ironic that the court imprisoned Hiebert just two days
before the start of the Commonwealth Law Conference, which will bring
hundreds of jurists to Kuala Lumpur.
CPJ calls on Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to immediately pardon
Hiebert and release him from prison. A full and thorough investigation into
the prosecution of Hiebert should also be undertaken. CPJ further urges the
Malaysian government to revise its harsh legal code to eliminate penalties
that threaten the press with imprisonment.
