(PROBIDAD/IFEX) – Threats against the staff of the social organisation Association for a More Just Society (Asociación por una Sociedad Más Justa, ASJ) continue. On 7 December 2006, ASJ president Carlos Hernández received a death threat and was followed by an unidentified individual on a motorcycle. He received the threat in English on his cellular […]
(PROBIDAD/IFEX) – Threats against the staff of the social organisation Association for a More Just Society (Asociación por una Sociedad Más Justa, ASJ) continue. On 7 December 2006, ASJ president Carlos Hernández received a death threat and was followed by an unidentified individual on a motorcycle. He received the threat in English on his cellular phone, warning him “you will be the next victim, since you are the head of the institution.” The incident took place in the capital, Tegucigalpa.
Hernández filed a formal complaint with the National Human Rights Commission (Comisionado Nacional de los Derechos Humanos). The head of the commission, Dr. Ramón Custodio, said he would treat the case very seriously since “I do not want on my conscience having put anyone’s life at risk; enough people have already died in this country.”
A similar threat, also in English, was issued by e-email a week earlier to Dionisio García, ASJ’s lawyer. He was murdered on 4 December. So far, the authorities have taken no action on his killing.
Journalists Dina Meza (ASJ project coordinator), Robert Marín García, Claudia Mendoza and Rosa Morazán were all also threatened and followed in September, in response to their investigations into the behaviour of private security companies in the country, especially the companies Delta Security and Setech, published in ASJ’s on-line periodical, Revistazo.com.
On 8 December, Setech published paid advertisements in print and electronic media condemning the murder of Dionisio García and refuting accusations of the company’s involvement. In the advertisement, the company offered its complete cooperation with the investigation of the crime, and asserted that “we have consistently sought to address the concerns raised by the ASJ with regard to our workers’ rights.”
Setech considers the allegations of its involvement in Dionisio García’s murder to be a sign of the “ill will of the journalists and management” of ASJ.
Since Dionisio García’s murder, ASJ’s journalists have had to take precautions due to the fact that they continue to receive anonymous threats. Three of them also had suspicious strangers show up at their homes, some of which have been vandalised.
Various international human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International and the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, have been informed of the threats against the ASJ journalists, and the Honduran human rights organisation Comité de Familiares Detenidos-Desaparecidos en Honduras (COFADEH) has publicly appealed to Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to ensure their safety.
COFADEH also send a message to the security ministry requesting the suspension of the licences for Setech and Delta Security in light of the high likelihood of their involvement in Dionisio García’s murder and the threats directed to other ASJ staff.
To date, the Honduran Journalists’ College (Colegio de Periodistas de Honduras), the main professional body for journalists in the country, has not made a statement on the ASJ journalists’ situation.
This alert was prepared by PROBIDAD with information provided by the Committee for Free Expression (Comité por la Libre Expresión, C-Libre).
