[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

Overseas Press Club



BURMA denounced  by Overseas Press Club of America
Denouncing Jailing of 185 Reporters, Editors, Photographers, Radio, TV
Broadcasters. Press Group Appeals to 24 Countries to Release Journalists
April 30 
Source: PRNewswire


    NEW YORK,  -- Denouncing the imprisonment of 185
journalists in 24 countries "as violations of all international
standards of
humanity, free expression and free press," the Overseas Press Club of
America
(OPC) has appealed to the governments holding the newspeople to release
them
now.  The journalists in jail include reporters, editors, photographers,
radio
and TV broadcasters.

    The countries receiving the appeals are located in Asia, Africa,
Asia
Minor and South America, Norman Schorr and Larry Martz, co-chairmen of
the
OPC's Freedom of the Press Committee, reported today.  The sentences of
the
jailed journalists range from six months to life, with the average
exceeding
15 years.  A substantial number are held in jail without being charged
or
sentenced or even acknowledged, Schorr and Martz pointed out.

    Heading the list compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists as
of
year-end 1996, is Turkey with 78 prisoners, 58 men and 20 women.  Most
of them
were arrested for their coverage of the fighting between the government
and
Kurds in southeast Turkey seeking independence.  Prisoners are being
held by
Turkey for terms of three to 100 years, with 12 and a half years the
most
common sentence.

    Other countries holding journalists in prison include Ethiopia with
18,
China 17, Kuwait 15, Nigeria and Myanmar (BURMA) 8 each, Algeria 7 and
Syria
6.  Countries holding 1-5 prisoners include Burundi, Central African
Republic,
Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya,
Malaysia,
Pakistan, Peru, Sudan, Tunisia, Vietnam, Zaire and Zambia.

    The so-called misdeeds responsible for the arrests and imprisonments
were
"hardly offenses judged by international standards," according to the
OPC's
Schorr and Martz.  The alleged offenses included stories or broadcasts
described as dishonoring or insulting the head of state, inciting ethnic
hatred, attacking the dignity and honor of the president of the
republic,
circulating rumor-mongering leaflets and fomenting a counter-revolution.

    "These trumped-up charges reveal that many countries are unwilling
to
allow their citizens to learn about opposition movements, corruption or
other
subjects the government wants to conceal,"  the committee commented. 
"Or, the
government could be paranoid and their leaders could be exceptionally
thin-
skinned," the committee added.
    The Overseas Press Club appeals and protests were signed by John
Corporon,
the club's president, and the three co-chairmen of the club's Freedom of
the
Press Committee, Dinah Lee, Larry Martz and Norman Schorr.
    In its appeals, the OPC pointed out that detention of the
journalists "is
in clear violation of Article 19 of the United Nations Universal
Declaration
of Human Rights and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil
and
Political Rights."
    The messages to the leaders of the 24 countries also stated:  "We
urge you
to respect your people's right to know what is happening in your country
and
in the world.  Please act promptly to obtain the release of these
journalists.
For any time that they may continue as prisoners, we ask you to provide
them
with their basic human and legal rights:  freedom from torture or
inhumane
conditions, the right to a fair trial, the right to engage legal counsel
of
their own choosing, and the right to see their family."
    For more than 50 years, the Overseas Press Club has been defending
rights
of journalists around the world to do their job of covering the news
without
harassment or persecution.

SOURCE  Overseas Press Club of America

CONTACT: Norman Schorr, 212-935-5555 or Lary Martz, 212-889-5155,
both for the Overseas Press Club of America


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Euro-Burmanet 
http://www-uvi.eunet.fr/asia/euro-burma/
http://www-uvi.eunet.fr/asia/euro-burma/total/
WORLDWIDE TOTAL BOYCOTT 
(Total, France's Killer Gas Company in Burma) 
http://wicip.org/fbc/