World Watch Archive / April 2007
Afghanistan
Journalists sign petition to bring colleague home
The Committee to Protect Journalists is behind a campaign to bring home journalist Ajmal Nakshbandi, an Afghan freelance journalist who was abducted by the Taliban in the Helmand province of Afghanastan along with La Repubblica reporter Daniele Mastrogiacomo and driver Sayed Agha on March 4. According to the group's Web site, nearly 300 journalists from various publications including CNN, The Associated Press, Reuters, Time, The New York Times, NBC, ABC and Al-Jazeera have signed the letter. For more information and a copy of the letter and its signees visit www.cpj.org.
Taliban behead Afghan reporter
Ajmal Naqshbandi, an Afghan freelance reporter and translator, was beheaded by members of the Taliban April 8 after the Afghan government refused to free more insurgents. The government released five prisoners two weeks earlier in exchange for Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo, who was kidnapped March 5 with Naqshbandi and driver Sayed Agha. A Taliban spokesman said they killed Naqshbandi because the government did not meet the group's demands. Agha was beheaded in front of Mastrogiacomo shortly after the abduction. According to the BBC, some Afghans are outraged because the government conceded to the enemy's demands and did so to save a foreigner but not an Afghan. The Taliban still holds five government medics, two French aid workers and three Afghan colleagues. “[Mr Mastrogiacomo] was an extraordinary situation and won't be repeated again,” Afghan President Hamid Karzai told the BBC. “No more deals with no one and with no other country.”
India
Mizzima News Agency re-opened
Authorities re-opened the headquarters of the independent non-profit news agency Mizzima in New Delhi April 18, two days municipal officers and police ordered the offices shut down. Authorities claimed that Mizzima, which is run by exiled Burmese journalists, was shut down because it was involved in commercial activities in a residential area. Mizzima denied these charges. The offices were unsealed after a meeting between Mizzima representatives and officials. This followed a peaceful protest by Mizzima staff and supporters. According to the International Press Institute, Mizzima's managing editor was told that the Sealing Monitoring Committee decided to unseal the office because it was determined that Mizzima was not into commercial activity. According to the International Press Institute, Mizzima's editor, Soe Myint and the Southeast Asian Press Alliance say they believe the raid was related to Mizzima's coverage on Burma, and Myint's role as a translator for 34 Burmese rebels currently on trial in India for allegedly providing weapons to Indian insurgents.
Kyrgystan
Reporter assaulted with brass knuckles
On March 16, two unidentified men assaulted reporter Kairat Birimkulov with brass knuckles, causing serious injuries to his skull and brain. The assailants also took his tape recorder, video camera and work files, according to local press and the Committee to Protect Journalists reports. Birimkulov is a reporter for one of Kyrgyzstan's main broadcast companies, the Government TV and Radio Company (GTRK). Speaking from his hospital bed, Birmikulov said the railroad company Kyrgyz Temir Zholu is behind his assault, according to local press reports. In early March, GTRK broadcast Birimikulov's report about the rampant corruption and negligence at the railroad company. Kyrgyz Temir Zholu's director Nariman Tyuleyev then filed a defamation suit against the journalist for his March 14 story. Birimikulov started receiving anonymous threats by phone three months earlier when he first began reporting on Kyrgyz Temir Zholu. According to CPJ, GTRK Deputy Director Beikhenbek Betesov said, “Kairat complained many times about threats and pursuits, but we didn't understand how serious they were.” A similar incident occurred several days later when four unknown assailants beat and injured journalist Daniyar Isanov of New TV Net (NTS) in the capital city of Bishkek on March 27. According to local press reports, the men approached Isanov as he was leaving the office and asked him for a cigarette. They then attacked him from behind and threw him in a van, drove to the outskirts of Bishkek and beat him until he passed out, leaving him near a river. According to the U.S.-based news organization Internews-Kyrgyzstan, one of the men shouted, “This is for NTS!” during the assault. According to the Public Association Journalist, Isanov was hospitalized for a broken nose and facial bruises. Police are investigating the incident.
Two TV journalists attacked in March
Reporters Without Borders has written an open letter to Kyrgyz authorities concerning the recent brutal attacks on journalists in the past three weeks. According to the RWB Web site, the letter calls on authorities “to do everything in your power to put an end to this violence and to bring about a significant improvement in the conditions for exercising free expression.” Some of the recent incidents include an attack on Talantbek Sopuev, a reporter for the privately owned television station TV September, who was beaten by about 40 men and women during a pro-government rally in Djalal-Abad that he was covering on March 31; Daniyar Isanov, a news presenter with TV station NTS, who was beaten by four men on March 27 in Bishkek and is still in the hospital with serious fatal injuries; and Kayrat Birimkulov, a presenter for the state television service, who was beaten by two men on his way home on March 16. The Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Bishkek say that no one has been brought to trial over the physical attack or murder of a journalist in the past 15 years. For more information visit www.rsf.org.
Malaysia
Government warns media against using blogs
The Malaysian government issued the second warning in a month to the mainstream media not to use information from the Internet, specifically information obtained from blogs. Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin called the content posted on blogs “provocative, inaccurate and politically motivated,” according to The Center for Independent Journalism Malaysia (CIJ), a media advocacy organization. The statement posted on the Ministry's Web site also said that journalists who use the online information give blogs “undeserved credit.” The first warning came from the Ministry of Internal Security, which is headed by the Prime Minister. CIJ has condemned the warnings and speculates that the government crackdown is in response to a high-profile corruption case that was first reported in the blogosphere, “[which] reinforces the impression that the government has an agenda to limit public discussion and control public opinion.”
Political party members allegedly assault photogs
When a scuffle broke out between supporters of different political parties outside the nomination center in Machap, Melaka on April 3, photographers P. Malayandi of Makkal Osai and R. Malini of Malayan Nanban claim they were verbally and physically assaulted by members of the Malaysian Indian Congress, a component party of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition. The photographers say they were warned by MIC members not to publish pictures of the people involved in the altercation and that Malayandi was punched and shoved by parliamentary secretary for Youth and Sports Ministry S.A. Vigneswaran when he tried to enter the building, according to the Centre for Independent Journalism Malaysia. Police reports were filed and Vigneswaran denied the allegations.
Mexico
President eliminates prison sentences for libel
Mexico President Felipe Calderon signed a bill April 12 that will eliminate prison sentences for libel or defamation laws. Press organizations have said that jail terms for those offenses allowed public figures to retaliate against reporters by threatening to lock them up. Both offenses will now be punishable by fines, and violators can face civil suits. “Decriminalization is a positive step for Mexican democracy,” said Gonzalo Marroquin, president of the press freedom committee of the Inter American Press Association. “We hope this step will be taken into account by other leaders in Latin America.”
Pakistan
Regulatory body threatens independent TV station
On Tuesday April 24, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) sent a notice to privately owned Aaj TV threatening it with closure due to the station's coverage of a crisis resulting from the Supreme Court president's dismissal. The notice cites a supreme judicial council order that restricts coverage of the crisis and warns that if it does not amend its program content and the CEO does not appear in front of the PEMRA board within three days, the station's license could be withdrawn. PERMA also issued a general warning to all TV stations to keep their broadcasts in line with regulations. According to Reporters Without Boarders, one of Aaj TV's executives said the station would defend its editorial independence.
Pakistani reporter's family killed
The brother, father, uncle and cousin of Urdu-language Inkishaf reporter Din Muhammed were killed by unknown foreign militants on April 1. According to reports from local and international news organizations, a gunfight erupted at the reporter's home in South Waziristan; three other family members were abducted, but it is unclear whether Muhammed is one of them. Din Muhammed recently went with a group of visiting reporters to the town of Wana, the site of a recent clash between local Waziri tribesmen and Uzbek militants with suspected links to al-Qaeda. For more information visit www.cpj.org.
Philippines
Radio journalist fears retaliation in jail
Radio journalist Alex “Lex” Adonis fears retribution at the Davao Penal Colony where he could come face to face with drug lords and crimes bosses he condemned on the air, according to an International Federation of Journalists' report. Adonis was arrested and sentenced to four years in prison for a 2001 libel case stemming from reporting on congressman Prospero Nograles' alleged affair. IFJ has defended Adonis and has publicly pleaded for the decriminalization of libel in the Philippines. Adonis has claimed in local reports that he was unable to attend key hearings that lasted for five years because he could not afford representation and had to be on-air to support and feed his family.
Russia
Russian journalists harassed covering elections
Local elections in Russia, carried out in various regions across the country on Sunday March 11, were spoiled when police and security forces detained several journalists. In the Southern city of Samara, reporter Pavel Sedakov and photographer Artyom Pigarov of the independent business daily Kommersant were detained after the two tried to conduct an interview with the local leader of the opposition National Bolshevik Party. In Odintsovo, south of Moscow, Kommersant reporter Dmitry Kostyukov, Reuters photographer Denis Sinyakov, and RIA Novosti reporter Ilya Petalev were also detained while covering an unauthorized NBS supporter rally. In another incident, Marko Shakhbanov, a reporter for the independent newspaper Chernovik, was approached by plainclothed officers who demanded he stop taking pictures, took his camera and deleted all of its pictures. In Saint Petersburg, Novye Izvestiya reporter Nataliya Shergina was briefly detained by security forces for reporting 50 meters (165 feet) away from the polling place, an unlawful distance. For more information visit www.cpj.org.
Klebnikov trial postponed, defendant missing
The Moscow City Court has decided to postpone the second trial of two men who have been convicted of the killing of Forbes Russia editor Paul Klebnikov after defendant Kazbek Dukuzov went missing. Dukuzov and Musa Vakhayev have been accused of killing the U.S. journalist on a Moscow street in July 2004. Citing illness and family reasons, neither defendant was in court on Feb. 15 when their retrial was scheduled to begin. Vakheyev was in court on March 14, but court officials postponed the trial until Dukuzov could be located. Defense lawyer Ruslan Koblev was quoted by several Russian reports saying that Dukuzov did not appear in court on March 14 because he was hospitalized in Chechnya. For more information visit www.cpj.org.
Russian editor faces up to 5 years in prison
Russian Editor in Chief Viktor Shmakov of the opposition newspaper Provintsialnye Vesti (Provincial News) in the Russian republic of Bashkortostan has been charged with using the mass media to promote extremist activity. According to prosecutors in the regional capital of Ufa, east of Moscow, if convicted during the trail that started March 28, Shmakov might face up to five years in prison. Persecution of Shmakov began in late April when Federal Security Service agents arrested him for his newspaper's critical reporting. In particular, they looked at two articles published in April 2006 that called for the removal of the republic's president, Murtaza Rakhimov, and criticized corruption and human rights abuses. Shmakov did not write the articles though the author, local opposition leader Airat Dilmukhametov, is being charged also. For more information visit www.cpj.org.