Indian journalists held in Myanmar

Myanmar will deport two Indian Journalist stopped and detained for being found without a valid travelling document in a restricted Myanmar area at the beginning of December. Rajjb Bhattacharya and photographer Pradip Gogoi were trying to interview Paresh Baruah, the leader of the United Liberation Front of Asom, a separatist group fighting for the independence of the northern Indian Assam state and considered a terrorist group by New Delhi. The two were reported to have been detained for investigations in the north eastern part of Myanmar, near the Chinese border. Indian authorities obtained the release of the two journalists after diplomatic efforts. The Myanmar authorities accepted to expel the journalists after further investigation and, probably, the confiscation of their cameras and phones.

Israel and press freedom

The saga of the detained journalist continues:

Ma'an is pleased to share news that Tel Aviv District Judge Mirium Solokov agreed to hear the case of its chief English editor, Jared Malsin, during proceedings held at her court on Thursday morning.


Solokov rejected a request by the Israeli attorney general to dismiss an injunction filed by Ma'an that would temporarily prevent Malsin's impending expulsion. Setting a hearing for Sunday, Solokov asked both sides to gather additional information.

Malsin, an American citizen, was originally detained upon arrival at Ben Gurion International Airport on Tuesday, 12 January 2009. He was held along with his girlfriend, Lutheran Church volunteer Faith Rowold, who was deported early Thursday morning.

Since he was detained, Malsin has been denied contact with anyone but a consular representative and his lawyer, who has been permitted to visit just once and for less than 20 minutes. According to the attorney, Carlos Daoud, ever since the judge accepted Malsin's case, new obstacles have been put in place to prevent him from seeing his client.

More than 48 hours after he was first detained, Malsin is still being denied access to any of his belongings. He was not been given a change of clothes, toiletries, or offered the chance to shower. "I have nothing," he said during a visit to his detention cell by a US consular official on Thursday afternoon. "I don't even have a pen or paper, not even a book."

While Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev has described as "absurd" multiple reports that Malsin's detention was linked to his position as a professional journalist, documents filed by the attorney general suggest otherwise. Indeed, the official explanation filed by the country's own immigration department cited news stories Malsin had authored "inside the territories," and "criticizing the State of Israel."

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, and the International Press Institute have all issued public statements condemning Israel's decision to detain Malsin, and have urged his unconditional release.

Dutch officials, whose government provided some of Ma'an's initial funding in 2005, expressed concern and are monitoring the situation. US consular staff continue to closely monitor the case and have contacted Israeli officials over the incident. Dozens of government representatives in Palestine have privately contacted Ma'an to express their own concerns, indicating they may try to take action.

Ma'an scrupulously maintains its editorial independence and aims to promote access to information, freedom of expression, press freedom, and media pluralism in Palestine. It has no other agenda. Israel's arbitrary detention of the head of its English Desk is an affront to journalists not only in Palestine, but also in Israel and abroad, who rely on Ma'an for its accuracy, impartiality, and independence.

For more information please contact

George Hale (English) +972(0)52.785-4907 Raed Othman (Arabic) +972(0)59.925-8704

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=253864 For a timeline of the detention

Blogging in the Arab World

Sad this - but a complaint about the detention of a blogger in Saudi from Mona. This kind of thing is becoming too common by half:

VELEN, Germany -- “If it’s longer than three days, I want this message to reach everyone. I don’t want to be forgotten in jail,” wrote Fouad al-Farhan, a 32 year-old Saudi, to a friend in anticipation of his detention. Now it's been almost a month since security forces picked him up at work, took him home to get his laptop, and then put him behind bars on December 10.Farhan’s “crime”: Blogging.

TO VIEW FULL ITEM CLICK HERE

In Egypt, Debate on Press Freedom Follows Imprisonment of Opposition Press Editors

Recently, Egyptian courts handed down prison sentences for editors of Egypt's opposition press for publishing material against senior government officials. These rulings have sparked public debate over freedom of the press in Egypt; the debate is also fueled by unconfirmed reports on the declining health of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Human rights organization, the Egyptian Journalists Association, and the convicted editors themselves have condemned these rulings, calling them an attack on freedom of expression. In an interview, President Mubarak stated that he believed in freedom of the press, and reiterated his promise to abolish prison sentences for journalists provided that they act according to professional ethics and with sincere intent to safeguard national interests.

Articles in the Egyptian government press in support of these court rulings claimed that the issue concerned boundaries that the journalists should not have crossed, and that court decisions must not be interfered with. Other articles were critical of the rulings, on grounds that they contradicted democratic principles.

For full article click HERE

UAE rules journalists not to be jailed over work

Not before time wouldn't you say?

Agence France-Presse - 26 September, 2007
The prime minister of the United Arab Emirates decreed on Tuesday that journalists should not be jailed over their work, two days after two were jailed for libel, the state WAM news agency reported.Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed al-Maktoum "has issued instructions ... not to imprison journalists for reasons related to their work," said the head of the National Media Council, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan.

TO VIEW FULL ITEM CLICK HERE

Reuters journalist arrested

This item was submitted by Uri Avnery:

Urgent: Sign, phone, fax, email to help achieve the release of Reuters video-journalist Emad Mohammad Bornat of Bil'in

Your help is needed to help release Emad Mohammad Bornat of the village of Bil'in,
video photographer for Reuters and documentary film maker, who was arrested on Friday October 6th, 2006 by a Israeli Border Police unit that entered the village, firing rubber bullets and sound grenades. Emad is being held in Israeli military custody and will be brought in front of a judge at Ofer military base today Tuesday the 10th of October.

Please, phone, fax, write to the addresses at: http://toibillboard.info/gov_addr.txt

Emad, who was filming at the time, was arrested by an Israeli Border policeman. When Emad arrived at the police station in Givat Zeev, he was wounded. The Border Police soldiers claimed a radio "fell" on him in the jeep, on the way to the station. He was taken to the Hadassah - Har Hatzofim hospital and was then taken back to the police station in Givat Zeev. After he was interrogated, the police refused to view the tapes that Emad filmed. Emad is accused of "assault on an officer" and of stone
throwing and was sent to the Etzion prison. Israeli Border Police have in the past been rebuked by military judges on false testimonies towards arrested Palestinian demonstrators and their Israeli supporters.

Emad has tirelessly documented the struggle of his village against the wall and settlements, and is known by many other professionals with whom he works and cooperates, giving them video material for their films and reports. He is a man of peace and a dedicated and responsible video-photo-journalist. His video footage has been broadcast throughout the world, showing the demonstrations against the wall Israel is constructing on his village's land. It shows the routine, and often
brutal, violence of the Israeli military in general and the Border Police in particular on the demonstrations, especially as used against Palestinians.

For more information:

Attorney Gaby Laski: 054 449 18988
Mohammed Khatib: 054 557 3285
Shai Polack: 054 533 3364

See also: Meron Rapaport: Judge orders probe over Palestinian cameraman hurt in Bil'in

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/772866.html (English)

http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/spages/772855.html (Hebrew)