(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to the interior minister, Lieutenant-General Moin-ud-din-Haider, RSF expressed its intense concern about the authorities’ refusal to release three tribal area journalists who have been detained for two weeks in Peshawar. “We ask you to intervene with the Khyber Agency authorities, just as the federal authorities did in favour of the […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to the interior minister, Lieutenant-General Moin-ud-din-Haider, RSF expressed its intense concern about the authorities’ refusal to release three tribal area journalists who have been detained for two weeks in Peshawar. “We ask you to intervene with the Khyber Agency authorities, just as the federal authorities did in favour of the two French journalists who were released today,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. The organisation condemned the local authorities for having the three journalists tried by a traditional court. “This decision could have a disastrous impact for them and their families. This seems more like revenge against the journalists, who wrote critical articles about the local authorities’ management,” Ménard commented.
According to information gathered by RSF, Muhammad Iqbal Afridi, from the Urdu-language daily “Al-Akhbar”, Rifatullah Orakzai, from the English-language daily “Khyber Mail International”, and Syed Karim Shah, from the Urdu-language daily “Khabrian”, have been detained since 5 October 2001. The three journalists, all natives of the tribal areas, were arrested with Olivier Ravanello and Jérome Marcantetti, two reporters from the French television channel LCI. The French reporters were released on 8 October, further to the French Embassy’s intervention, in particular.
The Khyber Agency authorities, who are detaining the three journalists, are considering leaving their release or trial up to a traditional assembly or jirga. This could be highly detrimental to the journalists’ families’ standing. The journalists could also receive heavy sentences for having helped foreigners enter tribal areas.
An RSF representative has visited the three prisoners in jail. “We are detained with criminals and we can only go to the toilet twice a day,” one of the journalists stated. The authorities reportedly did not allow them to receive any visits from their families during the first ten days of their imprisonment. Finally, they told RSF that their detention, which they consider to be “illegal,” could be a form of revenge for their writings. “We were made to understand that we could be released if we only promise not to write any articles which are critical of the political administration,” one of the detained journalists said.
