Crisis: International

Putin pledges to protect journalists
RUSSIAN PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin vowed on Feb. 1 to protect the press following an international outcry over the murder of top investigative reporter Anna Politkovskaya.
For the first time, Putin also acknowledged the importance of the work of Politkovskaya, whose killing on Oct. 7 put the spotlight on Russia’s growing failure to successfully prosecute the killers of journalists.
“For our country… the issue of journalist persecution is one of the most pressing. And we realize our degree of responsibility in this,” Putin said at his annual news conference in the Kremlin’s Round Hall. “We will do everything to protect the press corps.”
Putin, who spoke for more than three hours with some 1,000 foreign and domestic reporters, singled out the assassinations of Politkovskaya, special corres-pondent of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, and Paul Klebnikov, the American editor of Forbes Russia, in his remarks.
“I remember not only Anna Politkovskaya—she was a rather sharp critic of authorities, and this is good—I remember other journalists, too, including Paul Klebnikov,” Putin said.
Putin’s remarks on Politkovskaya were in contrast to his first reaction to her killing where he played down the significance of her work saying, “her influence on political life in Russia was minimal.”
Politkovskaya, who was shot in her Moscow apartment building, was the 13th journalist to be killed in Russia, execution-style, since Putin took office in 2000. No one has ever been convicted of killing these journalists, research by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) shows.
Of the 13 murders, only those of Igor Domnikov, Aleksei Sidorov, and Paul Klebnikov resulted in arrests and trials of suspects. However, even then, prosecutions have failed to secure convictions. Two men accused of killing Klebnikov, the Forbes Russia editor who was shot and killed outside his Moscow office on July 9, 2004, were acquitted in May 2006 after a trial marred by procedural irregularities. The Russian Supreme Court later overturned the verdict and ordered a new trial, but the suspects are not in custody.—(CPJ/IFEX)

Publisher wins citizenship battle
THE TERMINATION of newspaper publisher Trevor Ncube’s citizenship has been deemed by a Zimbabwe High Court on Jan. 25 as “unlawful, null and void and of no force or effect.” The court has ordered the state to pay punitive costs.
According to a report by the Mail&Guardian online, (http://www.mg.co.za) Justice Chinem-biri Bhunu declared Ncube a Zimbabwean citizen by birth. Ncube is the publisher of South Africa’s Mail and Guardian, The Zimbabwe Independent and The Standard, the only remaining independent newspapers in Zimbabwe which have been critical of the present adminis-tration of president Robert Mugabe.
If Ncube lost his citizenship, he would not be able to own a majority interest in his Zimbabwean newspapers as laws prohibit foreign ownership to exceed 40 percent.
“There is speculation that they (government) want to make me a foreigner so they can get their hands on my newspapers. There is also a message they are sending to journalists in Zimbabwe—if we can do this to your boss, then we can do this to you,” Ncube said in a press conference on Jan. 23.
According to the Media Institute of South Africa, Ncube’s passport was seized by immigration officials in Bulawayo, the second largest city in Zimbabwe after the capital Harare, upon his arrival from South Africa, on Dec. 8. The seizure was made under a law that empowers the government to seize the passport of any citizen accused of undermining the national interest. The country’s parliament enacted the law through their 17th constitutional amendment done on Aug. 2005.
Shortly after his passport was seized, Ncube’s citizenship was revoked by register-general Tobaiwa Mudede contending that he is Zambian because his father was born in Zambia.
Ncube applied to the court for redress in early January, saying that he has never been a citizen of any other country other than Zimbabwe and that his father, who was born in Zambia, is a Zimbabwean citizen.

Fighting restricts info flow in Sri Lanka
NEWS ABOUT the conflict in Sri Lanka between government forces and the rebel Tamil Tigers has increasingly been restricted with the breakdown of information facilities caused by the fighting.
The Free Media Movement (FMM) reports that Internet facilities and roughly 8,000 landline telephones owned by Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) have been shut down in Jaffna since Jan. 28. SLT, which is partly owned by the Sri Lankan government, is the sole Internet provider in the area.
Two Tamil-language news-papers, Sudaroli and Thinankkural, told FMM that they have been unable to send or receive news or photos via email to other newspapers in their media group. Other journalists based in Jaffna are also unable to communicate by e-mail or access the Internet.
Members of the International Press Freedom and Freedom of Expression Mission to Sri Lanka report that newspapers in the city of Galle are suffering from a shortage of newsprint and ink because of road closures and a government ban on such supplies being carried on ships to Jaffna.
Jaffna’s best-selling paper, Uthayan, may be forced to close down in a month if it does not receive more newsprint and ink, warned Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The newspaper, which normally prints 12 pages and sells about 20,000 copies a day, has been reduced to printing four pages and 7,500 copies.
FMM says the violence in Jaffna, in which both sides of the conflict have committed atrocities, has fostered a culture of fear, making it difficult for journalists to corroborate information from sources. “No one is ready to give the details or information regarding any (security-related incident), leading to a situation where rumor and speculation is rife.” —IFEX

2 journalists convicted for defamation
A DISTRICT Magistrate’s Court in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, West Africa, sentenced two journalists on Jan. 22 to serve two-month suspended prison terms each, after being convicted for defaming François Compaoré.  François is the younger brother of Burkina Faso’s president, Blaise Compaoré.
Germain Bittou Nana and Newton Ahmed Barry—pub-lisher and editor, respectively of the bimonthly publication L’Evenement—were also fined 300,000 CFA Francs (P29,000) each.
The libel suit stemmed from articles published by L’Evenement on its Oct. 25 issue about a news conference of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) which discussed new evidence in the Dec. 13, 1998 murder of journalist Norbert Zongo. The article named François Compaoré as one of the main suspects. The newspaper also published his photograph and wrote, “So it’s him, François Compaoré. Until now we had not been able to say his name. RSF has finally done so.”
Compaoré then sued the L’Evenement for defamation, claiming the article damaged his honor and reputation.
Zongo was murdered after L’Indépendant, where he was then editor in chief, began investigating the murder of a driver who had worked for Compaoré. An Independent Commission of Inquiry later concluded that Zongo was killed because of the investigations he was conducting. Compaoré was charged but it was later dropped by a military tribunal when the president’s brother appealed against it. On July 21, 2006, Judge Wenceslas Ilboudo dismissed the case against Mercel Kafando, the only person ever charged, for lack of evidence.—MFWA/IFEX

Bangladesh slaps rules vs media
NEW REGULATIONS have been imposed in Bangladesh by the interim government restricting press coverage of political news and setting penalties of up to five years in prison for violations, according to a report by the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The Emergency Power Rules of 2007, imposed on Jan. 25, allow the government to ban or censor print and broadcast news about rallies and other political activities that it deems “provocative or harmful.”
Under the rules, the government can seize printed material and confiscate printing presses and broadcast equipment. The government also has power under the regulations to censor or block news transmitted in any form.
Bangladesh has been embroiled in political turmoil since October when Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s administration came to an end in the run-up to the constitutionally mandated elections. Voting had been scheduled for January but was postponed when opposition parties protested irregularities.
President Iajuddin Ahmed stepped down as leader of the caretaker government and declared a state of emergency on Jan. 11, following a three-day nationwide blockade against the elections. The three-day strike led by the political party Awami League caused a grave decline in peace and order and left hundreds wounded, crippling the nation’s transport and economy.
The country’s eight private TV stations were also told by the Information Ministry to suspend regular news programming and just relay bulletins from state-run television, a CNN report said. The regulations will be in effect until the government decides to lift the state of emergency.

Turks protest murder of editor
TENS OF thousands of mourners poured into the streets of Istanbul, Turkey, on Jan. 23 to mark the death of editor Hrant Dink whose murder stunned the country.
An outspoken critic of the Turkish government’s refusal to acknowledge the genocidal campaign waged against ethnic Armenians during the last years of the Ottoman Empire, Dink was gunned down outside his newspaper office on Jan. 19.
The genocide campaign remains one of the most sensitive issues in Turkey today. Dink’s newspaper Agos sought to provide a voice for Turkey’s Armenian community and create a dialogue between Turks and Armenians. He had faced prosecution for his views and had reportedly also received death threats.
Turkish police have arrested a 17-year-old man suspected of carrying out the murder.—IFEX n

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