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NEWS - Journalists murder toll up t



Subject: NEWS - Journalists murder toll up to 36 in 1999 -watchdog

Journalists murder toll up to 36 in 1999 -watchdog

  
PARIS, Dec 28 (Reuters) - At least 36 journalists were murdered in 1999
for doing their job or voicing their opinions, almost twice as many as
in 1998, press freedom group Reporters sans Frontieres said on Tuesday.
Another 446 journalists had been arrested, of whom 85 were still in
prison, 653 had been attacked or threatened and 357 media organisations
censored, the international Paris-based group said in a statement. 

``Press freedom is non-existent in a score of countries where nearly two
billion people live. In nearly 70 other countries press freedom is
uncertain,'' it said. 

Reporters sans Frontieres (RsF) said the surge in killings this year,
almost double the 19 who died in 1998, was due mainly to the spread of
armed conflict. 

In one of the worst cases, Sierra Leone RUF rebels executed nine
reporters close to the government while soldiers from the West African
ECOMOG intervention force killed another. 

Paramilitaries are thought to be responsible for 12 murders in Colombia
and Serbia, while Russian and Indonesian troops are accused of a further
deaths in Chechnya (three) and East Timor (two) respectively, RsF said. 

The number of reporters in prison on December 28, 1999 was slightly
lower than those in jail on the same date last year -- 85 now compared
to 93 a year ago. 

But over the year nearly five times that number were detained for some
period, notably in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Cuba and
Turkey, the press watchdog said. 

Myanmar held more reporters in jail (13) in 1999 than any other country,
closely followed by Syria (10), China and Ethiopia (both with nine), it
said. 

JOURNALISTS TORTURED OR REFUSED TREATMENT 

RsF -- known as Reporters without Borders in English -- alleged
journalists imprisoned in Myanmar, Syria, Turkey, the DRC and Sierra
Leone were either tortured or refused treatment when seriously ill. 

Some 34 reporters were kidnapped during 1999 as conflicts spread,
particularly in Sierra Leone, Colombia and Chechnya. 

The kidnapping of journalists in Chechnya had become a ``veritable
industry'' with armed bands demanding enormous ransoms, it said. French
photographer Brice Fleutiaux, one of three reporters kidnapped there,
was being held in a cave and probably maltreated, it added. 

Censorship increased over the year as conflicts mounted. 

``The proclamation of a state of war (or emergency) is an excuse in
certain countries for restricting press freedom,'' RsF said, citing
Serbia, Sri Lanka, the DRC, Angola and Russia. 

RsF singled out 20 states it said were ``enemies of the Internet,''
among a list of 75 which kept tight control on all forms of
communication, particularly television and the Web. 

Myanmar, Cuba, Tunisia, Vietnam and China were among those who
controlled Net access, blocked sites they considered ``undesirable'' and
severely punished people who used the Web to disseminate sensitive
information such as details of human rights abuse, RsF said. 

09:46 12-28-99