Dr. Baburam Bhattarai
Prime Minister of Nepal
The Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers
Singhadurbar
By facsimile: + 977 1 4211 086
Dear Prime Minister:
The International Fact Finding and Advocacy Media Mission to Nepal that met with you in February has finished its review of specific provisions from the country's draft constitution that the Constituent Assembly will finalize by May 28. As one of the groups on the mission, the Committee to Protect Journalists urges you to encourage the assembly to incorporate the group's recommended changes before the constitution is finalized. The review and recommendations pertain to freedom of expression, the right to information, and freedom of the press.
In a 2011 analysis on Nepal, CPJ noted that political in-fighting has encouraged anti-media attacks, and that a failure to address violence against journalists both before and after the 2006 peace accord has established a deeply entrenched culture of impunity in the country. On the mission, we were encouraged by our interactions with representatives of Nepal's vibrant press, and by your own express wish to ensure that the constitution holds the strongest possible protections for journalists' rights.
We also welcome the explicit guarantees of media freedom already included in Article 4 of the draft constitution. However, in its current form, the draft allows potential legal restrictions on the mass media, including censorship of expressions deemed to be treasonous, according to the mission's review of the draft. CPJ believes these grounds are vague and open to abuse, and we support the mission's recommendation that the constitution be amended to ban all kinds of censorship. "International law regards any form of prior censorship with the greatest suspicion," the mission's review noted (original emphasis).
We urge you, along with party leaders and members of the Constituent Assembly, to comply with the mission's suggestions for revising these provisions, and thereby strengthen the guarantee of media freedom in accordance with international standards. We further support the mission's recommendations on freedom of expression and the right to information and believe that adopting all of these changes will create a more transparent environment for the media as well as for Nepal's fledgling democracy.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Joel Simon
Executive Director
His
Excellency Ilham Aliyev
President
of Azerbaijan
The
President Palace
Baku,
Istiglaliyyat Street, 19
Republic
of Azerbaijan
Via
facsimile: + 99 412 492 35 43, 492 06 25
E-mail: office@pa.gov.az
Dear President Aliyev,
The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply disturbed by the recent wave of journalist imprisonments in Azerbaijan. With at least six journalists currently behind bars, Azerbaijan is now among the top 10 global jailers of the press, ahead of Uzbekistan and just behind Ethiopia, according to CPJ research. This crackdown comes in the run-up to Eurovision, the international song contest that Baku is hosting in May, which will gather journalists from more than 40 participating countries and fix the world's eyes on Azerbaijan.
Your government has used significant resources to polish the country's image ahead of the Eurovision contest and make it appealing to its international guests. However, we believe your efforts would be meaningless if the government continues to crack down on independent voices in the country. By implementing systematic reform, and urging the relevant authorities to investigate potential abuses of power, we believe you could stem the deterioration of press freedom in Azerbaijan.
According to CPJ research, your government is holding in custody editor Avaz Zeynally and journalist Aidyn Dzhaniyev of the independent daily Khural; reporter Anar Bayramli and his driver, Ramil Dadashev, from the Iranian broadcaster Sahar TV; editor Ramin Bayramov of the Islamic news website Islam-Azeri; and directors Zaur Guliyev and Vugar Gonagov of the regional TV channel Khayal. We are attaching a more detailed list of the imprisoned journalists to this letter.
The journalists have been imprisoned on fabricated, politicized charges--ranging from hooliganism and drug possession to incitement to mass disorder--that stemmed from their work, CPJ research shows. Two of them have already been convicted and are serving prison terms, while the others are jailed pending a trial, according to CPJ sources.
President Aliyev, we call on you to exercise the high authority of your office and instruct the relevant authorities to investigate the cases of these journalists who languish in jail simply because of their critical reporting. We urge you to uphold your declared commitment to international press freedom standards and ensure the immediate and unconditional release of these journalists.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter. We await your reply.
Sincerely,
Joel
Simon
Executive
Director
Journalists imprisoned in Azerbaijan:
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
President of the Republic of Liberia
Executive Mansion
P.O. Box 9001
Capitol Hill, Monrovia
Republic of Liberia
Dear President Johnson Sirleaf:
The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by threats made against Liberian journalist Mae Azango, who has been in hiding since last week after she reported on the practice of female genital mutilation. We urge you, Madam President, as Africa's first and only female head of state and a champion of women's rights, to direct the Liberian authorities to ensure her safety and fully investigate the threats made against her.
Azango, a reporter for the daily FrontPage Africa and New Narratives, a project supporting independent media in Africa, published an article on March 8 entitled "Growing Pains: Sande Tradition of Genital Cutting Threatens Liberian Women's Health." The article described how tribes practice female genital mutilation on as many as two out of every three girls in the country. Although March 8 was International Women's Day, the publication of the article was followed by death threats against Azango. "They left messages and told people to tell me that they will catch me and cut me so that will make me shut up," she told CPJ. "I have not been sleeping in my house."
National Police Deputy Director Al Karley told CPJ today that he had made Azango's case a high priority. However, we believe your political leadership is required to ensure the government will take the necessary steps to ensure the safety and well-being of this journalist.
We ask you, Madam President, to use the moral authority of your office to speak out against the threats made against Azango, and to ensure that other journalists taking on this sensitive topic do not suffer the same fate.
We look forward to your response.
Joel
Simon
Executive
Director
President Hamid Karzai
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
C/o The Embassy of Afghanistan
2341 Wyoming Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20008
Via facsimile: 202-483-6487
Dear President Karzai:
We are deeply concerned by the potential repercussions of a March 10 statement released by Ministry of Defense spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi over an article written by The Wall Street Journal reporter Maria Abi-Habib. The statement, which personally attacks the journalist, sends a chilling message to other reporters who write about alleged government misconduct. We call on you to publicly address Azimi's statement and ask all government officials to refrain from attacks on journalists. We also ask you to uphold your commitment to a free press in Afghanistan that you have made many times in the past.
Abi-Habib's March 8 article reported on accusations that Afghan Air Force personnel were involved in drug and weapons trafficking while using AAF aircraft. The story cited officials from the International Security Assistance Force openly saying they were investigating misconduct within the AAF. The article also said a separate investigation was being carried out by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
The article also quoted several high-ranking Afghan government officials, including AAF spokesman Lt. Col. Mohammed Bahadur and Minister of Defense Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak. But Azimi's statement, released two days later, contained personal attacks on the journalist in a seeming attempt to discredit her:
Miss Maria Habib, a journalist of The Wall Street Journal deals with these matters with ultimate obsession; her untruthful reports are well-known amongst national and international media.
Perhaps even worse, the statement ended on a threatening note:
In reviewing this story by The Wall Street Journal it appears that political groups from different countries pay certain journalists such as Miss Habib who are seeking fame to broadcast such baseless and untruthful reports.Stating that someone is being paid by "political groups from different countries" is a serious charge, one that puts any reporter in serious danger. The accusation is even more dangerous in a country like Afghanistan, where rule of law is relatively weak and threats, attacks, and murders take place with near-complete impunity.
In addition, these barely veiled threats send a chilling message to all other reporters, local or foreign, who dare to write critically of the government.
As an organization dedicated to the protection of journalists around the world, we urge you to uphold your commitment to a free press in Afghanistan. We call on you to publicly address Azimi's statement and also ask all government officials to refrain from such potentially lethal attacks on local and foreign reporters.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Joel Simon
Executive Director
Hon. Benjamin Netanyahu
Prime Minister of Israel
3 Kaplan St.
P.O.B. 187
Kiryat Ben-Gurion
Jerusalem 91919
Israel
Via facsimile +972-2-5664838
Dear Prime Minister Netanyahu,
The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by ongoing attacks on and detention of journalists in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as well as by a recent series of developments that restrict freedom of the press in Israel. Physical attacks, arrests, and other restrictions are creating an environment that undermines the vitality of the media, a key component of Israel's democracy.
]]>José Miguel Insulza
Secretary General of
the Organization of American States
1889 F Street N.W.
Washington, D.C.
20006
Dear Mr. Insulza:
The Committee to Protect Journalists has been monitoring with increasing concern an offensive launched by the government of Ecuador aimed at weakening the Inter-American human rights system, an effort that if successful could represent a serious blow to freedom of expression in the hemisphere.
]]>December 22, 2011
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Ceyhun Atıf Kansu Caddesi No. 122
Balgat
Ankara, Turkey
Via facsimile: +90 312 473 64 55
Dear Prime Minister Erdoğan,
The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to condemn the arrests of as many as 29 journalists in raids on Tuesday as well as the ongoing media repression that has earned Turkey a reputation as one of the world's worst press freedom violators and done grave damage to the consolidation of Turkish democracy.
In coordinated raids that stretched from Istanbul to Diyarbakir, and from Ankara to Izmir, police detained 40 individuals, according to state-run media. News reports said many are journalists, although the precise number is not clear. So far, CPJ has been able to identify 29 journalists by name and affiliation, and it continues to examine 11 others. Your government claims that the operation targets "the press and propaganda" arm of the Union of Kurdistan Communities (KCK), but it provides no evidence supporting this assertion. Authorities maintain that the KCK is the "urban wing" of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party, a claim that has been widely disputed.
We are even more deeply troubled by this course of action because some in the Turkish media have alleged that a recent CPJ report confirming that eight Turkish journalist have been jailed for their work may have emboldened your government to take action. Indeed, your justice minister cited CPJ's finding in remarks before Parliament on December 8, the newspaper Dünya reported.
Mr. Prime Minister, it would be perverse for your government to take any solace whatsoever from CPJ's conclusion that eight journalists are in jail because of their work. This number--just behind Burma and ahead of Ethiopia--places Turkey firmly in the company of some of the world's most repressive countries and deeply compromises your government's commitments to democracy and the rule of the law. Our list of eight journalists jailed should be seen as a black mark on your record and a source of shame.
Moreover, it is a minimum. CPJ's researchers systematically investigated every one of the estimated 64 journalists in jail in your country on December 1 to determine the reason for their incarceration. While we were able to confirm in eight cases that the charges were related to journalism, we condemn the jailing of every single journalist in Turkey because of pervasive due process violations. In many instances investigated by CPJ, the judicial process itself has been opaque and the charges unsubstantiated.
Our research is ongoing, and we intend to send a delegation to Turkey in 2012 to further review the outstanding cases. We hope that your government will demonstrate its commitment to the transparent application of the law by cooperating with the CPJ delegation. We note with grave concern that we never received a response to our July 25 letter sent to your justice minister and requesting information about the spate of arrests.
Mr. Prime Minister, we urge you to ensure that as a member of the Council of Europe and a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights, Turkey respect its international obligations, in particular by curbing the use of secret evidence against journalists. Your government's record of what amounts to mass incarceration of journalists and media professionals without due process is doing grave damage to your country's reputation as an emerging democratic power. The threat is compounded by the fact that thousands of criminal cases have been opened against journalists across Turkey.
We urge you to amend this record, to commit your government to a transparent and open legal process, and to ensure that no journalists in Turkey are ever jailed for the expression of dissenting ideas.
Sincerely,
Joel Simon
Executive Director
CC
Sadullah Ergin, Turkish Minister of Justice
Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the European
Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
Stefan Füle, European Union Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood
Policy
Hélène Flautre, Chair of the European Parliament EU-Turkey delegation
Thomas Hammarberg, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe
22 Aralık 2011
Başbakan Recep
Tayyip Erdoğan
Ceyhun Atıf Kansu Caddesi No:122
Balgat
Ankara, Turkey
Faks ile: +90 312 473 64 55
Sayın Başbakan Erdoğan,
Gazetecileri Koruma Komitesi (CPJ) bu mektubu 29 kadar gazetecinin Salı günkü baskınlarda gözaltına alınmasını olduğu kadar, medyaya süregelen baskıların Türkiye'ye dünyanın en kötü basın hakları ihlalcilerinden biri olma şöhretini kazandırmasını ve Türkiye demokrasisinin sağlamlaşmasına verdiği ölümcül zararı kınamak için yazıyor.
Resmi medyaya göre, polis, İstanbul'dan Diyarbakır'a, Ankara'dan İzmir'e dek uzanan koordine baskınlarla 40 kişiyi tutukladı. Yapılan haberler bakılırsa, tam sayı net olmasa da, bunların çoğunluğu gazetecilerden oluşuyor. CPJ şu ana dek 29 gazeteciyi isimleri ve mesleki bağlantılarıyla tanımladı ve kalan 11 kişiyi incelemeyi sürdürüyor. Hükumetiniz, operasyonun Kürdistan Topluluklar Birliği'nin (KCK) "basın ve propaganda" kolunu hedef aldığını iddia ediyor ancak bu savı destekleyici bir delil sunmuyor. Yetkili çevreler KCK'nın yasadışı Kürdistan İşçi Partisi'nin "şehir yapılanması" olduğunu savunuyorlar; bu Türkiye'de geniş çaplı tartışılan bir iddia.
Bizi bundan da çok rahatsız eden şey ise, Türk medyasından bazı kişilerin kısa süre önce yayınlanan bir CPJ raporunun sekiz Türkiye vatandaşı gazetecinin mesleklerinden dolayı hapiste olduğunu doğruladığını öne sürmelerinin hükumetinizi harekete geçmeye teşvik etmiş olma olasılığı. Dünya gazetesinin haberine göre, adalet bakanınız 8 Aralık günü meclis kürsüsünde CPJ bulgularını kaynak göstererek açıklamalarda bulundu.
Sayın Başbakan, hükumetinizin CPJ'in sekiz gazetecinin mesleklerinden dolayı hapiste oldukları kararına varmış olmasından dolayı herhangi bir şekilde teselli bulması ters olur. Burma'nın gerisinde ve Etiyopya'nın ilerisinde olan bu sayı, Türkiye'yi kesinlikle dünyanın en baskıcı ülkelerinin arasına katıyor ve hükumetinizin demokrasi ile hukukun egemenliğine dair taahhütlerine büyük ölçüde gölge düşürüyor. Sekiz gazetecinin hapsedildiğine dair listemiz sicilinizde kara bir leke ve bir utanç kaynağı olarak görülmeli.
Bunun da ötesinde, o minimum sayı. CPJ'in araştırmacıları, 1 Aralık itibariyle 64 kişi oldukları tahmin edilen, ülkenizdeki hapsedilmiş gazetecilerin her birine dair hapsedilme nedenlerini belirlemeye yönelik sistematik araştırmalar yaptılar. Sekiz davada iddiaların gazetecilikle ilgisini kesin olarak belirlememiş olmakla beraber, yaygın kanuni prosedür ihlallerinden hapsedilen her gazetecinin içinde bulunduğu durumu kınıyoruz. CPJ'in araştırdığı pek çok davada yargısal süreç şeffaf değildi ve iddialar ispatlanmamıştı.
Araştırmamız sürüyor ve 2012 dahilinde öne çıkan davaları daha yakından incelemek üzere Türkiye'ye bir heyet göndermek niyetindeyiz. Hükumetinizin CPJ heyetiyle işbirliği yaparak kanunların şeffaf uygulanışına bağlılığını göstereceğini umut ediyoruz. Adalet bakanınıza tutuklamaların çokluğuna dair bilgi istemek için 25 Temmuz tarihinde gönderdiğimiz mektuba cevap alamadığımızı derin üzüntülerimizle not düşeriz.
Sayın Başbakan, sizi bir Avrupa Konseyi üyesi ve Avrupa İnsan hakları Sözleşmesi imzacısı olan Türkiye'nin uluslararası yükümlülüklerine, özellikle de gazetecilere karşı gizli delillerin kullanılmasını dizginleyerek, saygı göstermesini sağlamanız yönünde teşvik ediyoruz. Hükumetinizin gazetecileri ve profesyonel medya çalışanlarını kanuni esaslar dışında kitle halinde hapsetmeye yönelik sicili, ülkenizin yükselen bir demokratik güç olarak itibarına büyük zarar veriyor. Türkiye'de gazetecilere karşı binlerce ceza davası açılmış olması gerçeği de bu tehlikeyi artırmakta.
Sizi bu sicili düzetmeye, hükumetinizin çabalarını yasal sürecin şeffaf ve açık şekilde işlemesine adamaya ve Türkiye'de hiçbir gazetecinin muhalif görüşler ifade etmekten dolayı asla hapsedilmeyeceğini güvence altına almaya teşvik ediyoruz.
Saygılarımla,
Joel Simon
Yetkili Müdür
Diğer alıcılar:
Sadullah Ergin, Türkiye Adalet Bakanı
Catherine Ashton, Dış İlişkiler ve Güvenlik Politikasından Sorumlu Yüksek Temsilcisi
Stefan Füle, Avrupa Komisyonu Genişleme ve Komşuluk Politikasından Sorumlu Komiseri
Hélène Flautre, Türkiye-Avrupa Birliği Karma Parlamento Komisyonu Eşbaşkanı
Thomas Hammarberg, Avrupa Konseyi İnsan Hakları Komiseri
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