(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN and World Editors Forum (WEF) press release: Paris, 12 April 2002 For immediate release WAN, WEF Criticise Proposed Bangladesh Media Law The World Association of Newspapers and World Editors Forum have asked Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to abandon a proposed law that would jail journalists who criticise […]
(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN and World Editors Forum (WEF) press release:
Paris, 12 April 2002
For immediate release
WAN, WEF Criticise Proposed Bangladesh Media Law
The World Association of Newspapers and World Editors Forum have asked Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to abandon a proposed law that would jail journalists who criticise politicians and judges.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, the Paris-based WAN and the WEF said the law “would constitute a clear breach of the right to freedom of expression”. The organisations called on her “to do everything possible to ensure that legislation that threatens press freedom is not enacted and that in future Bangladesh fully respects international standards of freedom of expression.”
The letter said:
“We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 100 countries, to express our serious concern at a proposed law that could lead to the jailing for seven years of journalists who criticise politicians and judges.
“According to reports, under the bill, which was introduced to parliament last week, journalists could be prosecuted for being ‘insulting’ about parliamentary meetings, politicians, the president or supreme court judges. The offence would carry a jail term of between two and seven years.
“The proposed law would classify anyone other than politicians and parliament officials as ‘strangers’ in the house and bar them from reporting on sensitive parliamentary issues. The bill would also give members of parliament immunity from criminal charges and empower the speaker to issue arrest warrants and even order arrests without a warrant.
“We respectfully remind you that the jailing of journalists in such circumstances would constitute a clear breach of the right to freedom of expression, which is guaranteed by numerous international conventions. Furthermore, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights considers that ‘detention, as punishment for the peaceful expression of an opinion, is one of the most reprehensible ways to enjoin silence and, as a consequence, a grave violation of human rights’.
“We respectfully call on you to do everything possible to ensure that legislation that threatens press freedom is not enacted and that in future Bangladesh fully respects international standards of freedom of expression.”
WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 71 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 100 countries, 13 news agencies and seven regional and world-wide press groups.
The WEF is the division of WAN that represents senior news executives.
