(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has voiced shock over a bomb threat made to the “Norrköpings Tidningar” newspaper, a daily based in Norrköping, southwest of Stockholm. On 23 August 2005, the paper received an anonymous letter warning that four bombs would be set off in the town – one of them next to the newspaper – if […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has voiced shock over a bomb threat made to the “Norrköpings Tidningar” newspaper, a daily based in Norrköping, southwest of Stockholm. On 23 August 2005, the paper received an anonymous letter warning that four bombs would be set off in the town – one of them next to the newspaper – if it did not stop carrying reports about organised crime and did not apologise for the reports already published.
“We are outraged by this attempt to silence journalists by such methods,” RSF said. “We call on the Swedish authorities to take these threats seriously and to do everything necessary to track down those responsible.”
“A threat like this should be a wake-up call in a country such as Sweden, where press freedom is taken for granted,” the organisation added.
This is the second time the newspaper has been the target of threats of this nature in a month. An anonymous letter received on 8 August contained death threats against one of its reporters who had written a story about organised crime rings.
Karl-Åke Bredenberg, the paper’s editor-in-chief, noted, “This is very serious. This is our possibility of working in a free society that is being threatened. But we won’t be silenced.”
Founded in 1758, the “Norrköpings Tidningar” is Sweden’s oldest newspaper.
