A dangerous year for journalism

No year passes without challenges for journalists and affronts to press freedoms and 2009 has shown that conflict zones and elections provide as much danger as ever.

Two appalling events this year have highlighted these risks and made 2009 one of the most dangerous years for journalists. On 23 November, the largest ever massacre of journalists on a single day took place in the Phillipines. A total of 12 journalists and 18 others were killed by the private militia of a governor in the southern Philippines in election related violence. The second shocking event of the year was the massive restrictions on press freedoms in Iran during rallies disputing election results and the subsequent mass arrests of journalists and bloggers.

Press freedoms organisation, Reporters sans Frontières, says that 76 journalists have been killed this year and a further 573 arrested. Their annual report also shows that 1456 journalists had been physically assaulted or threatened this year, a 56% rise on 2008.

Furthermore, RSF claim that 1 blogger has been killed and an additional 151 bloggers and cyber-dissidents arrested, a 155% increase from 2008 figures. The press freedom report also notes that 61 bloggers had been physically assaulted.

The massacre of journalists in the Philippines, a dark day for press freedom, was condemned by RSF as "an incomprehensible bloodbath". The organisation said that "Never in the history of journalism have the news media suffered such a heavy loss of life in one day,". Nonoy Espina, Vice-President of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said “The government must without question bring those responsible for this massacre to justice, not just the killers but also the masterminds, whoever they are.” The deaths in the Philippines along with 21 others made the country the most dangerous in the world for journalists. These deaths made up 75% of the 44 deaths in the Asia-Pacific region making it the most dangerous region, by numbers of deaths.

The most recent death of a journalist came only yesterday, when award-winning Canadian journalist, Michelle Lang, was killed in Afghanistan. The Calgary Herald reporter became the seventh female journalist to be killed this year and the first Canadian journalist to die in the war in Afghanistan. Lang was embedded with Canadian troops in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar and was killed by a roadside bomb whilst traveling in a Canadian military vehicle. Reporters sans Frontières said “Lang’s death just two days before the New Year is a cruel reminder of the dangers that journalists face in war zones,”.

Not only have journalists faced the threat of death or physically injury this year, 33 have been kidnapped over the past 12 months. Despite the endeavours to of journalists report from the most hostile of regions, 570 media have been censored this year, a 61% increase on last year.

Additionally, 157 journalists have gone into exile this year, most notably from Iran where 50 journalists fled and 27 who left Sri Lanka. Somalia also saw around 50 journalists leave along with dozens of others who sought refugee abroad from Eritrea, Mexico, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Colombia and Guinea. RSF described the number of exiled journalists as "a dangerous tendency and it must be very strongly condemned,".

Reporters sans Frontières rounded up this tragic year by saying "Three years have passed since the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1738 on the protection of journalists in conflict zones but governments still seem incapable of protecting reporters,".

'Arbeit macht Frei' Auschwitz sign stolen

The sign over the entrance to the Nazi death camp, Auschwitz, has been stolen.

The sign which reads 'Arbeis macht Frei', made in 1940 by Polish prisoners at the camp, was stolen in the earlier hours of Friday morning. Israel's Holocaust Museum branded the theft an 'act of war' and the Muzeum Auschwitz Memorial called it a 'desecration'.

The 5 metre long, 40kg sign reads 'Work will set you free' in English and police say it was removed between 3:30 and 5:00am on Friday morning.

It is not yet known why the sign was stolen, but police say that selling such a well known item would be very difficult. Avner Shalev, director of Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial has speculated that the crime had been committed by Neo-Nazis.

A replica of the sign has been erected while the search continues and a 5,000-zloty ($1,700; £1,050) reward has been offered for information which leads to the arrest of the thieves.

The phrase was also used outside other Nazi concentration camps including Dachau and Sachsenhausen, although the sign at Auschwitz is the most well known. Hundreds of thousands of prisoners passed under the sign on entering the camp, most of whom were killed or worked to death. Over a million inmates were murdered at the camp, 90% of whom were Jewish.

"A Disgrace to Humanity" - The paper's reaction

Anti-facist protestors outside BBC TV Centre

UN rights chief speaks out on Iranian juvenile exections

The UN High Commisioner on Human Rights, Navi Pillay, criticised Iran, yesterday, for their execution of juveniles.

Her comments come after Behnoud Shojaie, a 17 year old Iranian, was executed on Sunday after being found guilty of murder. Expressing her dismay, Pillay said that Iran must "end execution of juvenile offenders once and for all."

Both the High Commissioner and UN Special Rapportuers had raised Behnoud Shojaie's case with Iranian authorities, reminding them of their international obligations not to execute minors. Iran is signed up to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, both of which prohibit the death penalty for convicted youth offenders.

Pillay stressed that "Under international law, the death penalty can only be applied when very strict conditions are met, for example only in respect of the most serious crimes and only after scrupulously fair trials," She added that the UN human rights body believes the imposition of a death penalty where the crime did not result in loss of life goes against the ICCPR.

The High Commisioner also said she had "major concerns about the way the recent trials of opposition activists were conducted, and I hope these judgments will be reviewed carefully by the higher courts,"

Joe Stork of New York-bases rights Watchdog, Human Rights Watch, said that "The Iranian Judiciary's enthusiasm to execute juvenile offenders despite its international obligations and objections in Iran itself to such brutal acts is shocking...This is a callous affront to basic human dignity."

According to 2008 figures from Amnesty International, Iran has executed at least 37 juvenile offenders since 1990. Amnesty says that Iran was the only country to execute a juvenile in 2008 and carried out at least six executions.

Abbas 'dissapointed' with Obama administration

A leaked memo from Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas accuses the Obama administration of buckling under Israeli pressure and said that any hope had "evaporated".

The document, which reflects a wider frustration with the White House's lack of action on Middle East peace, says that "All hopes placed in the new US administration and President Obama have evaporated,".

The memo continued to say that Obama "couldn't withstand the pressure of the Zionist lobby, which led to a retreat from his previous positions on halting settlement construction and defining an agenda for the negotiations and peace".

Palestinians have remained resolute that talks cannot begin until the construction of Israeli settlements ceases. They are also pushing for the pre-1967 war borders to be respected by Israel before they are willing to negotiate.

Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior aide to Abbas said "The Israelis need to acknowledge that the 1967 borders are the borders between the two states, and this is the foundation of any negotiations,".

Despite a meeting between Obama, Abbas and Netanyahu and the US president's Nobel Peace Prize there have been difficulties in starting negotiations. Notably, the White House has changed the language used on the Israeli settlements, no longer calling for an immediate cessation but for a toned down "restraint".

Tensions remain heightened between Israel and Palestine after the Gaza War early in the year and the subsequent calls for international prosecutions of both sides for war crimes.

Iranian blogger challenges Obama

An Iranian blogger has asked US President Barack Obama how he would have reacted to electoral fraud in the US election.

The blogger, 'harfehesaaby'(meaning logical words), asked the president how he would have felt if, despite the movement for change in America and against the will of the people, McCain had been declared winner of last year's ballot. Harfehesaaby asks if people in America had been "killed, jailed, and raped...how would you have expected the world to react?"

“President Obama,

First allow me to congratulate you on winning the Nobel Peace prize. I hope that your future record will also make you and the Norwegian decision-makers proud.

Let me say a few words about the vote that brought you to power. I'm sure you remember the enthusiasm with which Americans voted for you and the excitement that your slogan of "change" created among voters who were upset with the policies of former President Bush. You know very well that the majority of the people in the world shared the feelings of the American people and pushed for your election even though they couldn't vote for you.

If you were to multiply all the excitement and enthusiasm that your election generated, you'd have a picture of what happened during the Iranian presidential vote. And if you multiplied Americans' dissatisfaction with Bush, you'd understand the degree of Iranians' dissatisfaction with Mahmud Ahmadinejad and his allies. The repressed people of Iran were determined to put an end to superstition, warmongering, and fecklessness by casting their ballots and trying to change it through a democratic vote. The 85 percent turnout is good evidence of the degree to which Iranians thirst for change.

But President Obama, a coup took place in Iran, the votes of the people were stolen, and a fake president was introduced to the world. The lie was so big that Iran's streets became the scene of demonstrations by millions of Iranians who wanted their stolen vote back.

But the coup leaders shot at the people following orders by Iran's supreme leader. Many were arrested, some were forced into making false confessions, a number of detainees were raped and tortured. Still, people stood firm to get back their votes and to call for justice.

Now I have one question for you, Mr. President: If the fraud and the above-mentioned events had happened in your country -- if they had announced John Mc Cain as the winner of the presidential vote, if they had have killed, jailed, and raped people -- how would you have expected the world to react?

With regards and respect,

An Iranian blogger

”

The bloggger's comments come four months after violence erupted following Iran's presidential election, which saw inucumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reelected. In the days and weeks following the vote large numbers of supporters of reform candidate, Mir Hossian Mousavi, turned out on the streets to protest against alleged voting rigging and to contest the official results.


Harfehesaaby's blog including the message to Obama in Persian/Farsi can be found at harfehesaaby.blogspot.com