Spain

(RSF/IFEX) – On 20 May, RSF urged the Spanish authorities not to prosecute the Basque public radio and television network Euskal Telebista (ETB) for broadcasting a videotape of three presumed members of the Basque terrorist organisation ETA reading a statement. ETB Director General Andoni Ortuzar was summoned for questioning on 21 May by the State […]

(WiPC/IFEX) – The release on bail of three of the six Basque writers and journalists for the Basque newspaper “Euskaldunon Egunkaria” arrested on 21 February 2003 is welcomed by WiPC of International PEN. The organisation remains concerned, however, that three others are still detained, apparently incommunicado, one month after their arrest. Several of the detainees […]

(WiPC/IFEX) – The WiPC of International PEN is seriously concerned about the continued detention of six Basque writers and journalists under anti-terrorism legislation, with reports that they have been ill-treated adding to the organisation’s fears. The arrests of ten writers and journalists (four of whom were subsequently freed on bail) and the forced closure of […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Journalist Martxelo Otamendi Egiguren, managing editor of the Basque-language newspaper “Euskaldunon Egunkaria”, who was held for five days in the context of a police operation against the paper’s management, has said he was both psychologically and physically ill-treated while in police custody. He was among 10 members of the newspaper’s staff who were […]

(IFJ/IFEX) – The following is a 27 February 2003 IFJ media release: Drop the Charges, Says IFJ, as Journalists Face Court Action Over Gibraltar Oil Protest The International Federation of Journalists called for charges to be dropped against two Spanish journalists facing a court case in Gibraltar on March 4th after their arrest with 12 […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 23 February 2003 CPJ press release: SPAIN: Basque daily closed over alleged ETA links February 23, 2003 – Euskaldunon Egunkaria, a Basque daily based in the northern Spanish town of Andoain, was closed by government authorities on Thursday, February 20, because of alleged links to the armed separatist group […]

(IFJ/IFEX) – The following is a 20 February 2003 IFJ media release: IFJ Says Press Freedom is the Victim as Police Close Basque Language Daily The closure of the Basque language newspaper Egunkaria because of alleged links to the separatist terror group ETA is a blow to press freedom in the Basque country of Spain, […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has voiced its outrage over the 12 December 2002 attempted parcel bomb attack on the “El País” newsroom in Barcelona. The bomb was defused by police. The booby-trapped parcel contained 50 grams of explosives that would have detonated when opened. The newspaper’s security guards noticed the suspicious parcel while scanning incoming mail […]

(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Spanish Minister of the Interior Jaime Mayor Oreja, RSF expressed its outrage following the assassination attempts on Enrique Ibarra, vice-president of the Correo Press Group, Santiago Silván, director of Radio Nacional de España (RNE) in Spain’s Basque Country, and Marisa Guerrero, Antena 3 television station director in Spain’s Basque […]

(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a 14 September 2001 WAN press release: Bilbao, Spain, 14 September 2001 For immediate release Media Condemn Spanish, US Terrorism More than 200 publishers, journalists and free press advocates from 25 countries, meeting in Bilbao, Spain, on Friday, condemned “without reservation” the “outrageous and cowardly” attacks on the media by […]

(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a 6 September 2001 WAN press release: Paris, 6 September 2001 For immediate release “Terrorism Against Media” Journalists, newspaper executives and free press advocates from 22 countries will meet in Bilbao, Spain, next week to discuss and condemn violence against media in the Basque region. Participants in the “Terrorism Against […]

(RSF/IFEX) – In two letters to Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Mariano Rajoy Brey and Basque Government Interior Councillor Xabier Balza, respectively, RSF protested the recurrence of violence against the press. RSF’s protest came in response to the attack perpetrated, on 28 August 2001, against the home of the illustrator for the newspaper […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 24 May 2001 CPJ press release: SPANISH NEWSPAPER EXECUTIVE MURDERED New York, May 24, 2001 — Santiago Oleaga Elejabarrieta, chief financial officer of the regional daily El Diario Vasco, was shot dead this morning in the Basque port city of San Sebastián. The murder was widely attributed to the […]

(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 24 May 2001 RSF press release: SPAIN A director of the newspaper El Diario Vasco assassinated in the Basque Country RSF calls for an emergency meeting of European union authorities Reporters sans frontières condemns in the strongest possible terms the assassination of Santiago Oleaga Elejabarrieta, chief financial officer of […]

(IPI/IFEX) – In a 16 May 2001 letter to Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, IPI strongly condemned a bomb attack against a journalist in Spain’s Basque region. On 15 May, journalist Gorka Landaburu suffered injuries to his hands and face when he opened a parcel bomb delivered to his house in the town of […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 15 May 2001 CPJ press release: SPAIN: Basque journalist injured by letter bomb New York, May 15, 2001 — A Spanish journalist was severely injured after opening a letter bomb sent to his home in Zarauz, a town in the Basque region of northern Spain, near San Sebastian. While […]