Third World Media Journal, A Quarterly Publication of TWMN

MEDIA NEWS

  IRNA Reporter Kidnapped in Iraq
  Four Suspected Killers of Bangladesh Journalist Held in India
  Journalist Gets Suspended Prison Sentence for Libel
  Fifth Filipino Journalist Killed
  Iran Reporters Protest Newspapers' Closure
  Iraq Shuts Al Jazeera Baghdad Office for a Month
  Filipino Journalists Allowed to Carry Firearms for Protection

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IRNA Reporter Kidnapped in Iraq

TEHRAN, Aug 11 – A correspondent of Iran's official IRNA news agency in Baghdad was reported missing on Wednesday after efforts to reach him over telephone failed for two consecutive days.
Eyewitnesses told IRNA that gunmen, purportedly from the Iraqi police, had arrested head of the IRNA Bureau in Baghdad, Mostafa Darban, and three local staff including two reporters and an office driver on Monday.
Also, local police told a relative of one of the three Iraqis working at the bureau that they were informed of the arrests.
Iran's embassy in Baghdad in a letter to the foreign ministry called for investigating the matter.
The Iraqi police expressed ignorance over the kidnappers' identity or their place of hiding.
Another report said Iraqi police also confiscated the equipment of IRNA's office in Baghdad. The arrested journalists are currently being held at the Iraqi interior ministry.
The agency's office in Baghdad has been out of telephone contact with Tehran since Monday, IRNA said, adding the Iranian charge d`affaires had asked for an explanation from Iraqi authorities. Journal Desk

Four Suspected Killers of Bangladesh Journalist Held in India

DHAKA, Aug 11 - Indian police arrested four suspects in journalist Humayun Kabir Balu murder case from Bongaon check-point when they crossed the border on August 1, press reports said here today.
The four identified as Khalil, 30, Ferdaus Shaikh, 28, Khokon, 25, and Faruque, 32, were sent to Alipur Central Jail in Kolkata after they confessed to Indian police their link with the killing of Janmabhumi Editor Balu on June 27 this year, the Daily Star newspaper reported, quoting police sources in bordering Benapole landport.
Benapole police said the suspects fled the country through Sadipur border in the face of a combing operation launched by Rapid Action Battalion (Rab).
Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Khulna Kotwali police station Mosharef Hossain said the four youths are operatives of an underground party. Senior officials of Khulna Metropolitan Police also confirmed the arrest by the Indian police.
Sources said Indian daily 'Bartoman Dinkal' carried a story on the arrest in its August 2 issue. The police also recovered a revolver loaded with eight rounds of bullets from one of the arrestees, they said. Journal Report

Journalist Gets Suspended Prison Sentence for Libel

BANGUI, 10 Aug 2004 - A court in the Central African Republic (CAR) has handed down a one-year suspended prison sentence and a US $1,000 fine to a journalist of a privately owned newspaper for "publicly insulting" an official of the country's electricity company.
However, state-owned Radio Centrafrique reported on Monday that the Bangui Court of First Instance acquitted Maka Gbossokotto, the publisher of the Le Citoyen daily newspaper, of slander, saying there was no evidence to prove the charge. However, the court directed Gbossokotto to pay the plaintiff, Jean-Serge Wanfio, one franc of the local CFA currency.
Gbossokotto was arrested on 8 July 2004 after Wanfio, a relative of CAR leader Francois Bozize, filed a complaint before the court.
The radio quoted Trinité Bango-Sangafio, who presided over the trial, as saying Gbossokotto's sentence was in accordance with Article 142 of the CAR penal code, which states that "public insult" is a punishable offence.
Court prosecutor Firmin Feindiro had sought a one-year prison sentence for Gbossokotto.
The case against Gbossokotto arose from an articled published in the Le Citoyen criticising Wanfio's management of the country's electricity firm, ENERCA, and alleged misappropriation in the state utility.
ENERCA's board of directors dismissed Wanfio in July after the publication of the newspaper article.
Reacting to the court's decision, Gossokotto told IRIN on Monday that he was disappointed. "It's a shame for justice in the CAR," he added.
Gbossotto becomes the second journalist to be sentenced by the Bangui Court of First Instance after Jude Zosse, who was sentenced to six months imprisonment in March for slandering Bozize. Zosse had described Bozize as the "state tax collector" in a newspaper article. Journal Desk

Fifth Filipino Journalist Killed

MANILA, Aug 10 - Radio broadcaster Jonathan Abayon, 27, who was shot in the southern city of General Santos on Sunday after an argument with the suspected gunman, died in hospital late yesterday, police said.
He was the fifth journalist to be murdered in the Philippines this year and the 44th since the fall of dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.
National police Deputy Director Edgar Aglipay said in Manila that threatened reporters would be given a security detail as long as they coordinated with the police.
"All they have to do is coordinate with the police in their respective areas so the necessary assistance could be given. If they feel their lives are threatened, then we will provide security coverage," Aglipay said.
The National Police last week said they would issue gun permits to threatened journalists following the murder of newspaper and radio reporter Arnel Manalo in Batangas province, south of Manila.
Superintendent Willie Dangane said authorities were hunting for the suspect in the Abayon shooting, an ex-army sergeant who was working as a bodyguard for Filipino world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao.
It was not clear if Abayon's shooting was related to his job, although co-workers of Abayon had said that there had been friction over his criticism over the radio of the boxing champ.
President Gloria Arroyo has already called on police to provide more protection to journalists after three broadcasters were killed.
Crusading radio commentator Rogelio Mariano was killed on July 31 after completing a broadcast over Radyo Natin-Radio Aksyon. Mariano had been highly critical of local politicians in the north whom he had accused of protecting illegal gambling rackets.
Two other provincial broadcasters were shot dead earlier this year.
Unknown gunmen last week opened fire on three journalists in the central city of Cebu. They survived the attack after returning fire but it is still unclear if the journalists had permits for their guns.
The attacks on journalists have taken place in the largely-rural areas outside Manila, where politicians and prominent figures usually travel with armed bodyguards and criticism by the press often becomes a personal issue.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said 43 journalists have been killed in the Philippines since democracy was restored in 1986, making the country one of the world's most dangerous places for mediamen.
None has been prosecuted for any of the murders, the committee said. Journal Desk

Iran Reporters Protest Newspapers' Closure

TEHRAN, Aug 8 - Around 150 Iranian journalists, some of them wearing black armbands, attended a mourning ceremony yesterday for reformist newspapers closed in a press crackdown by the hard-line judiciary.
Copies of closed newspapers were laid out on a table, surrounded by black candles. Two liberal dailies and a monthly magazine were shut by the judiciary last month.
“I send my condolences that pens do not enjoy safety in our country,” leading academic dissident Hashem Aghajari told the reporters who had gathered on Iran's “Journalists' Day”.
A freer press was one of the main achievements of moderate President Mohammad Khatami after he came to office in 1997, but more than 100 publications have now been banned and many writers jailed for “spreading lies” and “acting against state security”.
There is now little left to show for Khatami's efforts after hardliners took over parliament in May and began to unravel his reforms, particularly on economic liberalization. “Is not the closure of more than 100 publications enough?” read one banner.
The meeting room was decked with photographs of Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi who died in detention in Iran last year, and of imprisoned journalists Abbas Abdi and Akbar Ganji.
Abdi was jailed for publishing a poll suggesting that three-quarters of Iranians favored patching up relations with the United States.
“Today is meant to be a day for journalists to celebrate, but when we have pressure on the media, colleagues in jail and periodicals are banned ... it is not a day to celebrate. It is a day to mourn,” said journalist Zhila Bani-Yakoub.
Issa Saharkhiz, head of the Association for Press Freedom, said attention also needed to be given to the non-print media that were under attack, such as Rouydad, the Web site affiliated to Iran's main reformist party. “From now on we have to remain accountable to Internet-based journalists in addition to print,” he said.
Meanwhile, nearly 200 Iranian women wearing head coverings considered insufficient under the country's Islamic code have been arrested, newspapers reported yesterday. Iranian security forces launched raids in cities of central Semnan and northern Gilan provinces, arresting 183 women in recent weeks, the reports said.
Some 132 “badly covered” women were picked up in Semnan Province, the Sharq daily reported, adding that 69 of them face trial. Another 1,250 women in the province have received verbal warnings to respect the Islamic dress code, police told the paper.
In Gilan, 51 women and girls were arrested “to fight open spectacles of corruption,” the Iran newspaper quoted provincial security forces as saying. Similar raids have been reported in recent weeks, mainly in Tehran shopping centers.
Police have been seen taking scores of teenaged girls from commercial centers, while both police and Islamic militiamen have also reportedly stepped up raids on private parties where they suspect the presence of alcohol or mixed-sex dancing.
Observers said that although such anti-vice operations occur every summer, the crackdown could be a sign of further tightening of rules in the wake of February's parliamentary election, which resulted in a shift to the right.
In large cities in recent years, many women have progressively flouted the rules by wearing skimpy headscarves and brightly colored short coats. Women ignoring the Islamic dress code can be jailed for up to two months or fined between 50,000 and 500,000 rials ($6.25 and $62.50).
In another development, a convicted kidnapper has been hanged publicly in the city of Zahedan in the southeastern province of Sistan Baluchestan, Sharq said. Yusof Porsheh was charged with a series of armed robberies, opening fire on police, escape from jail and kidnapping as well as disturbing and terrifying people, Sharq quoted the city's court as saying.
The gang he belonged to was also smashed by police, the report said, adding that more than 10 cases of kidnapping had been carried out in Zahedan in the last couple of months amid conflicts over money stemming from illegal deals. The police have so far arrested eight kidnappers and killed one in operations. Journal Desk

Iraq Shuts Al Jazeera Baghdad Office for a Month

BAGHDAD, Aug 7 - Iraq's interim government ordered Qatar-based Al Jazeera satellite television network to close its Baghdad office for one month on Saturday, a move criticized as unjustifiable by the channel.
Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, confirming the decision at a news conference, said a commission had been monitoring Al Jazeera for the past four weeks to see whether it was inciting violence and hatred, and that the decision had been taken "to protect the people of Iraq."
"It's regrettable and we believe it's not justifiable," Al Jazeera spokesman Jihad Ballout said. "This latest decision runs contrary to all the promises made by Iraqi authorities concerning freedom of expression and freedom of the press."
Iraqi police officers went to the station's Baghdad office late on Saturday and argued with Jazeera staff before locking the newsroom.
Iraqi Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib said this week that Arabic satellite channels were encouraging kidnappings by showing images of hostages threatened with execution.
Another government official at the press conference said the station had "encouraged criminals and gangsters" in Iraq.
Al Jazeera's Ballout denied the charge.
"We are not a political organization that is for or against anybody. We display what happens on the ground as objectively as possible and in a balanced way," he said.
In recent weeks several senior Iraqi officials have criticized Jazeera's coverage of the country.
Earlier this week, the station reported a videotaped statement from a militant group linked to al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi saying it had released two Turkish drivers because their company agreed to stop working in Iraq.
Scores of hostages from two dozen countries have been seized in the past four months. Most have been freed but at least 10 have been killed, and at least 20 are still being held in Iraq.
Last month, Al Jazeera, accused by the United States of graphic and anti-American conflict coverage, unveiled a code of ethics it said would ensure balanced and sensitive reporting.
Jazeera won over millions of Arab viewers before and during the U.S.-led war on Afghanistan in 2001 after airing exclusive footage of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden following the September 11, 2001, attacks on U.S. cities. Journal Desk

Filipino Journalists Allowed to Carry Firearms for Protection

MANILA, Aug. 7 – The journalists in the Philippines will be allowed to carry firearms outside their residences following the assassination of two of their colleagues over the past two weeks, local media reported Saturday.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Friday announced the decision as the country's journalists raised their voice of protest against violence aimed at media workers.
The PNP chief, Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr., Friday issued the directive allowing journalists to bear arms. PNP spokesman Joel Goltiao said that media men should meet the necessary requirements, including drug test, neuro-psychological test, gun-safety seminar and other requirements, before they are allowed to carry firearms outside their residences.
Newspaper columnist and radio broadcaster Arnell Manalo was killed by unidentified gunmen Thursday in Bauan, Batangas in southern Luzon, when he was leaving his workplace for home.
Manalo was the second journalist killed in five days and the fifth since January. Roger Mariano, who worked for a local radio station in Ilocos Norte in northern Luzon, was shot dead on July 31 by unknown assailants shortly after he left the radio station.
In Cebu City, central Philippines, the car of three reporters of a local radio station was also attacked by gunmen Thursday night. None of the journalists were hurt.
The PNP spokesman said that journalists applying for a firearm "must show valid proof that they are under threat, have no criminal record and are not involved in criminal activity or illegal drugs."
The National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) on Friday issued a statement calling on the government to do its best to protect journalists.
As all the suspects who have killed 11 journalists in the Philippines since 2003 remain at large, NUJP said if the trend is not stopped, the Philippines could follow Colombia to become a country dangerous for practicing journalists.
President Gloria Magapagal-Arroyo last December set up a task force to hunt down the assailants, as well as a one-million peso (about 17,800 US dollars) award for each person who can help hunt down the suspects. Journal Desk

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