(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN press release: Paris, 19 July 1999 For immediate release WAN Seeks Information About Jailed Kuwait Journalists The World Association of Newspapers has asked Kuwait’s Crown Prince to disclose the whereabouts of two jailed journalists and to explain why they were not released with three colleagues earlier this year. […]
(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN press release:
Paris, 19 July 1999
For immediate release
WAN Seeks Information About Jailed Kuwait Journalists
The World Association of Newspapers has asked Kuwait’s Crown Prince to
disclose the whereabouts of two jailed journalists and to explain why they
were not released with three colleagues earlier this year.
In a letter to Kuwait’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister, Sheikh Saad
al-Abdallah al-Salem al-Sabah, WAN expressed concern at the continued
detention of journalists Fawwaz Muhammad al Awadhi Bseiso and Ibtisam Berto
Sulaiman al-Dakhil.
The two journalists, and three others of the newspaper al-Nidaa, were
sentenced to death in June 1991 for collaborating with occupying Iraqi
forces during the Gulf War, and the sentences were later commuted to life in
prison.
Their three colleagues were released from prison on 25 February this year
while the families of Mr. Bseiso and Mr. al-Dakhil have had no news about
their fate or where they are being held.
WAN asked the Crown Prince to inform the families of their whereabouts and
to explain why they were not released with their colleagues.
The Paris-based WAN, the global organization for the newspaper industry,
defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 15,000
newspapers; its membership includes 61 national newspaper associations,
individual newspaper executives in 93 countries, 17 news agencies and seven
regional press groups.
