Saturday, May 17, 2014

PFUJ condemns large-scale retrenchment of DawnNews employees

29/01/2010
PFUJ condemns large-scale retrenchment of DawnNews employees

            ISLAMABAD, Jan 29: The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) has expressed grave concern and dismay over large-scale removal of more than 45 employees from their services in the DawnNews at Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad and termed  it  arbitrary, mala fide and without lawful authority.

        Taking strong exception to this arbitrary action of the DawnNews channel management, the PFUJ said that "the way about 50 employees of the channel have summarily been removed from the service without any cogent reasons clearly indicates that "there is no rule of law" in media organisations, and that there is also no job security to employees.

        "It is pity that such media channels and its owners who round-the-clock give sermons of human rights, exposing those agencies in the government and private sectors who violate laws, were themselves depriving people of their basic rights and there was no job security for their own employees, and they are summarily removed from service.

        The highheadiness of media owners can be judged from the fact that a majority of the employees      removed from the services were working in various organisations for years together. But such employees were lured for better jobs and commitments were made with them that they would be given job security besides attractive packages.

        "The employees worked with zeal and enthusiasm and hard labour round-the-clock and successfully aired such channels, thereafter they were made victim of "so-called financial constrains" and subsequently, removed from services," the PFUJ added.

        "Such practice is in vague in DAWN-News and other channels and during the last 180 days over 500 employees have summarily been removed from service, indicating the cruelty and malafide intentions of media owners," the PFUJ argued.

        The PFUJ pointed out that when media owners apply for acquiring licenses for launching transmission of their channels, they make tall claims about their extra-ordinary excellent financial health. However, after making ground in the market and when they start fetching profit, such owners with the lust of wealth resort to restructuring of the organizations ultimately terminating the employees.

        The PFUJ said that it is the duty of the PEMRA to stake stock of such uncalled for and arbitrary acts of media owners and appropriate steps be taken for restraining the media owners from terminating their employees.

        Why PEMRA is keeping a mum and why it never comes to the rescue of the "removed employees." It is the duty of the PEMRA to oversee and monitor that media organizations are running their channels as per terms and conditions and as per undertakings given by them that they have ample financial resources to run the channel, but after making them on air why they resort retrenchments," the PFUJ questioned.

        The PFUJ directed all its affiliated unions of journalists and media persons to express sympathies and support with the "removed employees of the DawnNews" to condemn such acts, and stage protest rallies.

        The PFUJ also demanded of the government to take stock of the situation and ensure implementation of the labour laws in the media organisation which has become a "no-go area” for law and there prevails a law of the jungle.

        The PFUJ also urged international media, and human rights organisations to condemn the arbitrary acts of removal of media persons from the DawnNews channel.      

        It, however, recalled that earlier the Dawn News management had removed 75 employees a year ago when PFUJ was in its biennial delegates meeting in Faisalabad last year. And now once again they have chosen an occasion when all unions of journalists throughout the country are busy in their organizational matters.

They have always stabbed the employees in the back when their trade unions extraordinarily remain busy in their organizational setups. PFUJ added.

 
Shamsul Islam Naz
Secretary General 
PAKISTAN FEDERAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS
12-Nazimuddin Road, F-6/1
Islamabad, Pakistan
Phone Office +92(0)51 2870220-1
Facsimile +92(0)51 2870223
Cellular +92(0)300 8665523
http://www.shamsulislamnaz.com
http://www.pfuj.pk

No protection for domestic servants:


              No protection for domestic servants:

By Shamsul Islam Naz

THE NUMBER of female domestic servants has increased manifold in Faisalabad, as elsewhere, due to a variety of reasons, including the spread of heroin culture and increasing unemployment. Taking advantage of the situation, the employers fully exploit the job-seekers, asking them to agree on nominal salary and fringe benefits.
Domestic servants have various categories. Some work on a daily-basis from eight to 10 hours, and are paid every week. Others work on a monthly basis. The third category belongs to those who are provided shelter in servant quarters in lieu of work.
Another type of servants gets paltry remuneration for discharging specific duties like sweeping, washing and ironing, cooking, baby sitting and stitching. House servants in this category normally work two to three hours for earning their livelihood. Yet another category is of those who have been working as domestic servants for decades. Generations of such servants are provided necessities of life by their employers such as shelter, food and clothing. This category is bound to remain house servants and dare not send their kids to schools or work without the permission of their masters.
It was noticed that domestic servants were neither paid salaries according to working hours nor given the required food. Majority of them look weak and pale due to poor nutrition. During the last many years, wages of female workers have not been increased despite the price escalation.
It has been revealed that maid servants are also maltreated. Although the government has taken stringent steps for the welfare of women, the labour laws do not cover the domestic sector which is not in a position to voice its grievances at any forum.
This correspondent had a talk with one, Hameeda Bibi, 45, who has been working at various places as a maid servant. Her husband died in a road accident 13 years ago. She sold the property and gold ornaments for his treatment. Presently, she is not in a position to arrange marriage of her two daughters. Her children play in streets and have become urchins because of poverty.
Kaneez Akhtar, after the death of her husband, was married to an addict who beats her and her six children to satisfy his chauvinistic instinct. She failed to get any domestic job in the city and apprehended that her addict husband might sell her children, having disposed of the household articles already.
A widow, Safia Bibi, said she was paid a meagre salary of Rs600 a month after working round-the-clock. She cannot even properly feed her five children. She said she could not even think of getting her children admitted to an educational institution. In sheer frustration, she got them employed in the houses of moneyed people by getting advances to meet her daily expenses. Whenever any family member falls sick, there is no money for medical treatment.
Rehana, 13, said her mother was divorced by her father without any reason. Her mother sent her to work from 7am to 11pm daily for only Rs700 per month which she gave to her mother. She said she had a keen desire for education but her dream could not materialize due to poverty.
Shahnaz Bibi, with tears in her eyes, said she had been working in the houses of rich people, but she did not have a place of her own to live. She said she never sent her three young daughters for work because they would be unsafe in the houses of the rich. She proposed that the government should set up industrial schools for the poor and give financial assistance to their daughters so that they could spend their lives with dignity and honour.
Naseema Sadique said she had seven children. Her husband was a cobbler and earned only a few rupees a day which were hardly enough to run the house. To supplement the income, she had been washing clothes and utensils in three houses. But she and her husband were still unable to properly feed and clothe their children. After payment of rent, they were hand to mouth and could not even provide medical treatment to the ailing family members.
An old woman, Fatima, said she migrated from Haroonabad to Faisalabad in search of a job but failed to do so. However, a God-fearing woman engaged her for two meals a day.
Another old woman, Sughran Bibi, said she had been serving in three houses and getting only Rs700 a month. Her three grown-up sons were jobless while her two daughters helped her in domestic chores. They had only one tent to live in even during the scorching heat.
However, Naseema Bibi said the rich people contributed a lot to their survival, otherwise they would die of starvation. She said her husband was a daily wage earner and used to come back home in sheer frustration, not getting any work. Her children had become psychic witnessing the hobbies of the sons and daughters of the rich. They demanded schooling and new clothing she could not afford.
She demanded that the government should set up colonies for the poor and arrange some work for their children, or else provide unemployment allowance to them.
Now some words for a woman of a rural area who though not a servant was working hard round-the-clock.
Basheeran Bibi of Chak Jhumra says her husband owns one-and-a-half acres of land. She has seven daughters and three sons. All live in a joint family system with the parents of her spouse. She says she is required to wake up at 4:30am daily. She prepares fodder for the animals, milks the buffaloes and walks three kilometres to deliver the milk at the sale-point of a multinational company.
On return, she is supposed to make butter and lassi. Afterwards she is required to prepare breakfast for 15 members of the family. Then she has to send her four daughters to school and help her husband in the field. In-between she has to rush home to cook lunch for the whole family and do other works. These are her permanent duties she cannot afford to ignore.
Complaints of sexual violence against women working in the houses are also being heard which is a matter of shame for our society. NGOs fighting for the rights of women are working for creating awareness among the womenfolk but there is hardly any worthwhile activity to protect maid servants from the ill-treatment of their employers.

DAWN - Features; September 24, 2002


Thursday, March 27, 2014

The custom of vani: Tit-for-tat, the tribal way


Even when victims are able to register a case, this seldom leads to justice.
Faisalabad:  What started as an elopement has devolved into a criminal case involving forced marriage, gang-rape and torture. 22-year-old Saleem*, of Chiniot’s Mawar Bhattian locality, eloped with 19-year-old Baano* on 27th February this year, after the girl’s parents did not consent to the marriage. Baano’s father, Mukhtar*, then called for a punchayat [a form of jirga held in tribal regions of Punjab] and demanded his daughter’s return.
The punchayatees [elders at a Punchayat] came to an agreement that Saleem had disgraced Mukhtar’s family and so, Saleem’s 20-year-old sister, SB*, should be handed over to Baano’s 24-year-old brother, Zulfiqar*. When SB refused to comply, she was kidnapped and her thumb impressions forcibly made on her nikkahnama to Zulfiqar on 1st March.
Two weeks later, Zulfiqar reported that his new wife was ‘out of his control’; she was subsequently divorced and remarried to Zulfiqar’s 50-year-old uncle, Noman*. At his haveli, SB was reportedly gang-raped by her new husband and three other men. She was stripped and tied to a tree inside the haveli. Noman then sent a message to SB’s family, saying, “Hand over Baano to us and take SB from here.”
The practice of vani
In tribal areas, girls pay the price for crimes committed by men of their family. A man commits a crime and in return, a girl from his family, aged between 4 to 14 years, is ‘forcibly’ married to a man from the aggrieved party’s family. This is the tribal tradition of vani. A 400-year-old tradition, this practice was initially used to settle feuds between tribes. Later, tribal elders called for jirgas in which girls were declared vani. Although banned and declared illegal by the government in 2011, the custom still exists and has spilled over into other provinces in the country.
SB’s family informed the police of the treatment meted out to her, and she was rescued by elders from the haveli and returned to her home. When the media took notice of the case on March 19th, an FIR was registered – five days after the incident took place – at the Muhammad Wala police station in Chiniot.
“We did not register an FIR earlier because SB had not approached us immediately after the incident,” said an official at the police station. On the other hand, SB says she went to the police station but was told to go to another station. “I was running from one police station to another,” SB told The Express Tribune. SB’s father is said to be under pressure from the accused party to withdraw the case. Additionally, locals have refused to give testimony in the case, fearing retaliation.
Making a case
According to Advocate Chaudhary Umar Daraz Aasi, SB’s lawyer, the police did not handle the case correctly. “If a female is married twice without completion of Iddat, it is considered manhoos (ominous). The punchayat deliberately did this to disgrace SB,” he said.
Aasi said the accused rapists are in police custody and are being treated well as they are ‘influential people’ in the area. While speaking to The Express Tribune, Aasi shared that the police is pressuring SB to retract her statements. “She is being threatened. The police have told her that they will implicate her in fabricated cases if she does not take her case back.”
SB’s advocate also revealed that sections 310-A and 354-A of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) were not added to the FIR. According to section 310-A, “Whoever gives a female in marriage or otherwise in badal-i-sulh shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment which may extend to ten years but shall not be less than three years.” On the other hand, section 354-A says, “Whoever assaults or uses criminal force to any woman and strips her of her clothes and in that condition, exposes her to the public view, shall be punished with death or with imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.”
District Prosecution Officer Imtiaz Ahmad said the FIR includes only section 376 (2). It says: “When rape is committed by two or more persons in furtherance of common intention of all, each of such persons shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life.”
Investigation Officer Ahmad Khan Sapra, a sub-inspector at Muhammad Wala police station, said that 10 out of the 12 accused have been arrested while two were given bail. He said that evidence and statements collected in defence of the accused have questioned SB’s account. “They have created doubts as to whether the gang rape and torture ever took place,” he said. Sapra further revealed that an initial medical report, conducted by a female medical officer of District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital Chiniot, revealed that injuries on SB’s body were 10 to 12 days old.
“The statements recorded in favor of the accused by notables of the area pointed out that the accused has been implicated in the case for taking revenge at the instigation of their opponents,” Sapra claimed.
*Names have been changed to protect identities
Published in The Express Tribune, March 28th, 2014.

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Seminar on Media Ethics


Seminar on Media Ethics
Speakers at a seminar on Tuesday urged media to make ensure implementation of the media ethics, end to sensationalism in news, and give solution to the social issues of common man, instead of focusing on crime and politics in large. They were addressing a seminar on Media Ethics arranged by Public Relations and Publications Department, University of Agriculture Faisalabad and Higher Education Commission in collaboration with the Press Council of Pakistan. The Council Chairman, Justice (r) Shafqat Abbasi, chaired the seminar while Director Publication, HEC, Ayesha Ikram, UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan, former Dean, Punjab University, Prof Dr Mughees ud Din Shiekh, Dr A.R Khalid and journalist Shamus Islam  Naz were guests of hounour on the occasion.      
Justice (r) Shafqat Abbasi said that the self-regulation within the media organizations must be developed to keep a check on the media ethics and make it ensure to convey real issues of the public by ending sensationalism. He said press councils were functioning in the 90 countries across the globe. By involving the journalists, civil society, members of parliament and others, we are determined to make Press Council of Pakistan more effective in order to implement the media ethics and framing a course of action in this regard. He said that the council also worked to address the issues of the common man and the media persons.  Lauding the efforts made on the part of the media persons, the credit goes to the journalists who are doing their best to give information to the people even in the time of war. 
He said that the press council was constituted in India in 1965, Bangladesh 1975 and in Pakistan, it started functioning a couple of years ago. But the Indian media was not enjoying freedom of Press as Pakistani journalists  were enjoying under the constitution.
UAF Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Iqrar Ahmad Khan stressed the need to avoid the sensationalism. Uses and gratification process should have the truth, accuracy and reality in news, information and cultural goods. He lauded the efforts of the journalists to highlight the issue of the county and aware he people about the various issues of national interests. He said that the University is launching a FM radio to guide the farming community about the latest agricultural practices of the country. He said that under the outreach programs and Agri Extension, the university was putting its best to translate the knowledge into good and services by using the mass communication.  
Ayesha Ikram said that no one can deny the importance of the media as it is the power to change the minds and the presenting the real picture and truth was prerequisite to make development. He said that in this regard, the media was doing tremendous job to give voice to the issues of the common man. She said media had the power to change the public opinion and this power must be used for social changes, social mobilization, awareness and give a roadmap to the progress of the nation.    
Prof Dr Mughees Ud Din Sheikh said that it was must to follow the objectivity but absolute objectivity was a mere a dream as the frame of minds affect the selection and news treatment.  He said it is very vital to prioritize the socio political health of the public through credible and news worthy information and positive entertainment.
Dr A.R Khalid said that it is vital to ensure the national security at every stage in the production process of news and cultural goods.  He said that the constitution of the Pakistan in article 19 A gives the freedom of the press that must be used keeping in view the presenting the real issues instead of sensationalism. He stressed the need to spread the truth in the society. He also said to shun the blame game. Ha lauded the efforts of media for the progress of the country.
Shamsul Islam Naz said according to a survey, the majority of people from Pakistan believed that the media failing to present the real picture and truth. He said media ethics kept the journalism and cultural industries with the responsibility to perform for the betterment of society, but in the race to be first in delivering the news and information to the audience and for the sake of being popular among the viewers, readers and listeners, they compromised the media ethical values. PRP Principal Officer said Prof Dr Jalal Arif said that that it is still a debatable issue that to what extent media has liberty to act upon the code of ethics and to what limits they intentionally do not follow the rules to gain advantage of the corporate world.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Journalist killed by sniper fire in eastern Syria

Journalist killed by sniper fire in eastern Syria
A journalist falls to the ground amid sniper fire in the ancient Christian Syrian town of Maalula. (file photo)
A journalist falls to the ground amid sniper fire in the ancient Christian Syrian town of Maalula. (file photo)

A cameraman working with a Beirut-based television channel has been killed in eastern Syria, becoming the latest journalist to lose his life in the war-torn country.
Omar Abdel Qader, who worked for al-Mayadeen station, was killed on Saturday in Deir Ezzor, the largest city in eastern Syria.
The privately-owned channel said Abdel Qader was killed on his 27th birthday while covering clashes between Syrian troops and foreign-backed militants in Deir Ezzor.
In a telephone interview, a Syrian army officer told the broadcaster that the cameraman died in hospital after he was "shot in the neck by a sniper from a distance."
Dozens of journalists, including a Press TV correspondent, have been killed in Syria since the deadly conflict began more than three years ago.
The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has described Syria as the most dangerous country in the world for journalists, blaming al-Qaeda-linked militants for kidnappings and murders of journalists, even in neighboring Iraq.
According Reporters Without Borders (RSF), over 130 news providers were killed in Syria between March 2011 to December 2013.
More than 130,000 people are said to have been killed and millions displaced in Syria since the country plunged into rampant violence in March 2011.
The Western powers and their regional allies -- namely Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey – have reportedly been supporting the militants operating inside Syria
.

Syrian journalist killed covering fighting - Al Mayadeen TV

Syrian journalist killed covering fighting - Al Mayadeen TV

(Reuters) / 9 March 2014

Beirut-based Al Mayadeen said on its website that its cameraman Omar Abdelqader was shot in the neck on Saturday and was pronounced dead in hospital shortly afterwards. 


A Syrian journalist has been killed covering clashes between government forces and opposition fighters in the eastern city of Deir al Zor, a regional broadcaster said.
Beirut-based Al Mayadeen said on its website that its cameraman Omar Abdelqader was shot in the neck on Saturday and was pronounced dead in hospital shortly afterwards.
Syria was the deadliest place for journalists in 2013 for the second year, the Committee to Protect Journalists, a media rights group based in New York, said in December.
At least 29 journalists were killed last year in a three-year-old conflict that turned into civil war after a crackdown on peaceful protests, and has claimed more that 140,000 lives.
Al Mayadeen quoted a local Syrian military commander as saying Abdelqader was shot by a sniper while he was filming government forces advancing on an area in the rebel-held city.

His sister was quoted as saying the family was preparing to celebrate his 27th birthday when news of his death arrived.

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Forced to flee false perceptions, ICC, and Kenyan press

Forced to flee false perceptions, ICC, and Kenyan press

Omwa Ombara left Kenya for the United States. (CPJ)
Omwa Ombara left Kenya for the United States. (CPJ)
EDITOR'S NOTE: February 15, 2014 marked one year since Omwa Ombara arrived in the U.S. to seek political asylum after attempts on her life in Kenya between May and December 2012. She fled her native land after being contacted by International Criminal Court (ICC) investigators probing the violence that followed the Kenyan elections in 2007-2008, in which more than 1,000 people were killed, according to news reports. Ombara was never a witness, nor did she ever meet any ICC investigators, but the mere suspicion that she was participating in the ICC process prompted a spate of threats. She describes her own ordeal and the culture of silence that has settled over most of the Kenyan media. CPJ's Journalist Assistance program supported Ombara throughout her ordeal.
As the world watches the efforts of the ICC to prosecute Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, his deputy William Ruto, and journalist Joshua Sang for post-election violence in Kenya, few realize the repercussions for those of us perceived to have been witnesses. Nowadays in Kenya, even the word "witness" has been tagged with such a hostile connotation that one had rather not use it.
Anyone who attempts to say anything they know about the infamous post-election violence in Kenya in 2007-2008 risks being branded an "unpatriotic traitor," whistleblowers who want to reveal Kenyan society's "dirty secrets"--they can lose their lives at any time.
Many Kenyans do not want to believe that among prosecutor Fatou Bensouda's list of Kenyan witnesses, some could be real and deserve a chance to be heard. It is as if a political spell has been cast on the Kenyan people. Some Kenyan journalists too have caught the conspiracy bug, while some have been bewitched into emotional propaganda reporting, or dazed into silence.  Most have lost their tongues and pens.
Indeed post-election violence did take place and those of us who were reporters in the field covered both the election campaign and the violence. The lack of balanced reporting is a big failure in the journalism fraternity. Political wolves hound those who will testify as well as those they think might enter the witness box, ready to dismiss any account that could put the politicians they support on the spot. And while this happens, the Kenyan media continue to run with the crowd. There is hardly any analytical reporting on The Hague trials, merely a regurgitation of a dangerous public chorus. Instead, the Kenyan media focus on the apparent failures of witnesses and the prosecution.
I arrived in the U.S. a year ago to seek political asylum after attempts on my life in Kenya between May and December 2012.
A mere phone call in May 2012 from an investigator from the International Criminal Court (ICC) changed my life and put me in danger. I was never a witness nor did I ever meet any Hague investigators but some people somewhere in government perceived that I was one and from there the intimidation started. People I believe to be state agents not only followed my every move, but also tried to abduct me twice--in the capital, Nairobi, and the western city of Kisumu. Some men in plainclothes went to homes of my relatives demanding to know my whereabouts. They hacked my e-mails and blocked my phones. I immediately went into witness protection and contacted the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The Hague investigator wanted to discuss an interview I had done in 2008 with an investigative journalist regarding corruption by both media and politicians. The story was later published in a local magazine called Expression Today under the title "Dirty Hands" by Otsieno Namwaya. They were interested in candid comments I made about corruption in the media while I was the Standard's bureau chief in the coastal city of Mombasa. Corruption in the media involved incidences where individual reporters and editors accepted bribes either in kind, cash, or gifts from certain politicians to have their stories captured favorably. This practice is common among journalists and politicians in East Africa. This interview was about some media coverage in 2007, prior to the Kenya's chaotic elections, and touched on some politicians who the ICC later had an interest in prosecuting.
Being perceived to be a witness put my life in danger. In an effort to escape from my pursuers I fled from one part of the country to another. I tried to hide. Walking in the streets, in dark shadows waiting for a shot in my back any moment was one of the scariest experiences I have ever had.
With the help of the Committee to Protect Journalists' Nairobi and New York offices, and witness protection agencies, I escaped by the skin of my teeth. A driver in an unmarked car not only tried to knock me down as I waited for a taxi in Kisumu, but just moments after I had served dinner and sat to eat in Nairobi, a white unmarked car with four men tried to abduct me from my house. I jumped out of my back window and fled. Being under protection meant a humble monthly allowance of 20,000 Kenyan shillings (US$231) a month, far below my monthly income of 120, 000 to 150,000 shillings (US$1,300-$1,700) that I made while working.
But today is an exciting day for me. As I sit in my room, awaiting my asylum interview, I toast to my freedom. I live in the inner city. I have moved from a shelter where I lived for the past six months. The winter chill is biting and everyone is in a hoodie. I watch the fierce winter snowstorm through my window. But I am not afraid of it. I do not even feel the cold weather everyone is complaining about. The warmth of safety emanating from my heart keeps me warm and safe and that is all I feel now. Living in a small neighborhood in the city is a unique experience, something akin to living in the rural villages of Kenya, where everyone knows everyone's business and is always friendly and ready to assist.
I miss home--no Kenyan should feel more entitled to citizenship than another. Those who cast the stones at real and perceived witnesses have never had a phone call from The Hague asking them to be a witness. They have never worn the shoes of being in the middle of a bloodthirsty emotive crowd and Hague investigators. Like mourners at a funeral who cry louder than the bereaved and eat the chunkiest meat, they are nothing but actors who feel nothing for the dead or the bereaved. If they truly loved Kenya they would have come up with the truth by now.
I am a product, or should that be a casualty, of investigative journalism; that secretive world of bringing things that happen in darkness to light. A world that is often wrought with danger, something akin to being on the war front, and few journalists opt for this dangerous and narrow road. Some are shot dead after exposing crime, corruption, and other evils in society. Some are declared enemies of the state, while some become enemies of the very society they are trying to protect. It is a risky job and definitely not for the fainthearted.
Freedom of expression still remains elusive in Kenya as real witnesses are denied a chance to give evidence in court through threats and intimidation. Kenyan media need to support the work of investigative journalists--to nurture society's watchdog and restore its image as the Fourth Estate. With investigative journalists who do not fear exposing the truth, the circus going on at The Hague now would long have been put to rest.

Crimean authorities take two more broadcasters off air

Crimean authorities take two more broadcasters off air

Cossacks stand guard near the Crimean parliament building in Simferopol, March 6. (Reuters/David Mdzinarishvili)
Cossacks stand guard near the Crimean parliament building in Simferopol, March 6. (Reuters/David Mdzinarishvili)
New York, March 6, 2014--Crimean authorities should immediately restore broadcasting in the region by the independent Ukraine television stations Channel 5 and Channel 1+1, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
According to local journalists in Crimea and news reports, regional authorities in the administrative center Simferopol stopped transmitting the two privately owned broadcasters' analogue signals to the peninsula today on the order of Sergei Aksenov, the recently appointed pro-Russian prime minister of the region. Earlier this week his government threatened in a statement to "shut off the flow of deceitful and biased information in order to save the public from negative impact," the independent news website Lenta reported.
A spokeswoman for Channel 5 told CPJ by phone that the station's programming is currently unavailable in Crimea and that regional authorities have not responded to Channel 5's requests for explanation. Evgeniy Garkusha of the Simferopol-based Center for Investigative Journalism told CPJ that some regional cable networks also stopped carrying programming of the two channels. Garkusha said Russian state-owned broadcasters Rossiya and Rossiya-24 are being transmitted on the airwaves of Channel 5 and Channel 1+1.
CPJ's calls to Crimea's State Television and Radio Transmitting Center for comment went unanswered.
This is the second time this week that regional authorities have moved to censor independent broadcasters in Crimea. On Monday, popular independent broadcaster Chernomorskaya Teleradiokompaniya (Black Sea TV) had its signal removed from the air without explanation.
"We condemn this blatant censorship of Ukrainian television stations which is part of a growing pattern by Crimean authorities of restricting the flow of independent news and opinion," CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova said. "All inhabitants of the peninsula have a right to unfettered access to news. The authorities must restore transmission of Channel 5, Channel 1+1, and Chernomorskaya Teleradiokompaniya immediately."  
Chernomorskaya Teleradiokompaniya and Channel 1+1 have also experienced debilitating denial-of service (DOS) attacks on their websites. According to the BBC, hacking and DOS attacks between Ukrainian and Russian websites and telecommunications networks have intensified in recent weeks.
Separately today, pro-Russian protesters attacked a Channel 5 crew when the journalists approached the Ukrainian navy headquarters in the city of Sevastopol, news reports said.
According to Institute of Mass Information (IMI), a Kiev-based press freedom group, journalists reporting on the stand-off between Russia and the interim Ukrainian government over the future of Crimea have faced official obstruction, intimidation, and physical attacks from pro-Russian protesters. The IMI documented 24 such incidents since mid-February.
Tension in the predominantly Russian-speaking southern and eastern Ukraine hasincreased since Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych fled the country and was oustedby Parliament late last month. Over the weekend, the Russian military occupied parts of the Crimean peninsula. Today, the Crimean Parliament voted to become part of Russia, and scheduled a referendum on the issue for March 16, news reports said.  

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Six men convicted of murdering TV journalist in Pakistan

Six men convicted of murdering TV journalist in Pakistan

A Pakistani court has convicted six people for their roles in the murder of Wali Khan Babar, a Geo TV journalist who was shot dead in Karachi in January 2011.
The convictions are significant because they are the first in a decade to follow the murder of any journalist in Pakistan, where impunity has reigned.
Babar, who had been threatened because of his coverage of political corruption, extortion and land-grabbing, was shot to death while driving home from work.
After his murder, several people connected to the investigation, including a police informant, two police officers and the brother of an investigating officer, were also killed.
In 2012, the one remaining witness to the case who had agreed to testify in court, was murdered. And the two original prosecutors in the case were threatened and fled into exile.
Police said the murders were organised by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Pakistan's third-largest political party, which has repeatedly denied any involvement.
A special anti-terrorism court sentenced Naveed Polka, Muhammad Ali Rizvi, Faisal Mahmood and Mohammad Shahrukh Khan to life in prison for the murder of Babar. Two others, Kamran (alias "Zeeshan") and Faisal Mota, who have not yet been arrested, were sentenced to death in absentia.
Bob Dietz, the Asia programme coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), said: "These convictions mark a significant step in addressing the deep-rooted culture of impunity surrounding the murders of journalists in Pakistan.
"They indicate what can be achieved when the country's legal system commits itself to pursuing justice."
The CPJ published a special report in May 2013, Roots of impunity,which documented the lead-up to Babar's murder and its aftermath.
Prior to these convictions, the high-profile killing of US reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan was the only known journalist murder case in the country in which partial justice was carried out.
At least 46 journalists have been killed in Pakistan over the course of the last decade, according to CPJ research.
Source: CPJ

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Security agents still hound journalist after detaining, torturing him

Security agents still hound journalist after detaining, torturing him

SECURITY AGENTS STILL HOUND JOURNALIST AFTER DETAINING, TORTURING HIM

PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY 25 FEBRUARY 2014.
Reporters Without Borders is appalled by the way the National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) is persecuting Mohamed Bare, the director of Mogadishu-based Radio Danan.
Released on 13 February after being held arbitrarily for three days and tortured, Bare received a summons yesterday for interrogation at NISA headquarters.
“Repeated arrests and interrogations are being used to hound the media and, in this case, Radio Danan in particular,” said Cléa Kahn-Sriber, the head of the Reporters Without Borders Africa Desk.
“The intelligence agencies seem to have embarked on a witch-hunt against the media although there are clearly other security priorities in Somalia to which they should be devoting their energies. ”
“Arresting journalists arbitrarily, holding them without charge and mistreating them in detention will just tarnish the image of a government that is trying to establish itself. The new communication minister should use his appointment to defuse tension with the media. We urge the authorities to end the previous government’s policy of hounding and persecuting media personnel and instead to guarantee journalists’ safety.”
In response to yesterday’s summons, Bare went to NISA headquarters today accompanied by Ismail Yussuf, the president of the Somali Independent Media House Association (SIMHA), and other SIMHA representatives. However, instead of being received, he was told to return tomorrow for interrogation.
The summons is linked to the interview he gave to local media after his release in which he named certain NISA officers as the persons who should be held responsible if he was murdered.
NISA officers arrested Bare on 11 February for posting photos on the Radio Danan website showing the Lower Shabelle region’s vice-president after he was injured by a bomb. Bare was arrested on the Sayidka road on the outskirts of Mogadishu along with Radio Haatuf directorIbrahim Mohamed Ali and Radio Antenna technician Abdikarim Fiidow.
The three media workers were taken to NISA headquarters for interrogation and were then held for three days in the NISA’s notorious Mogadishu detention centre, where NISA officers tortured the two radio directors and threatened to kill them if they continued their critical coverage of the government.
NISA officers also raided Radio Danan and threatened its employees for reporting Bare’s arrest. Bare continued to receive threatening phone calls after he and the other two media workers were released on 13 February.
Somalia is ranked 176th out of 180 countries in the 2014 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.
Photo : Mohamed Bare

Pakistan most dangerous place for journalists: PFUJ

Pakistan most dangerous place for journalists: PFUJ


 
QUETTA: The president of PFUJ (Pakistan federal Union of Journalists), Hafiz Afzal has declared Pakistan as the most dangerous place for journalists, with 103 of them being the victims.

Addressing the 2nd 3-day meeting of central executive committee (CEC) of PFUJ here in Balochistan’s Provincial capital, he expressed his strong concerns that unfortunately none of the killers of the journalists, facing multi- faceted wraths of terrorism, official censure and high discriminations of media bosses , had been brought to justice.
Speaking on the occasion, President Afzal Butt cited 35 journalistic killings in Balochistan, and while paying rich tributes to the resolving that nothing would deter the journalists from conveying truth to masses.
Terming the year 2014 as worst for journalists, he also lambasted callous and indifferent rulers for being totally indifferent to problems faced by journalists. “When in opposition everybody terms journalists as Apple of their eyes, while once in power, these very journalists rather become a sore thorn in eyes” he scoffed, resolving that “we would have to fight our Jihad against such discrimination and suppression of truth”.
Joint declarations for immediate resolve of 7th wage board award, compensation fund for kin of slain journalists, arrest of murderers of journalists, and unwonted downsizings and replacements in media houses were also approved, and publicly announced.
A regular movement from PFUJ platform, for creating awareness among journalist fraternity about their rights was also agreed upon, and 20th March was selected for being celebrated as “day of demand(ing rights)”, during which thousands of journalists from across Pakistan would stage a sit-in outside Punjab Assembly.
The presidents and secretaries of all respective journalistic unions also presented their performance reports, while also deliberating over administrative issues. The CEC also asked all union journalists to open their memberships, and complete the scrutiny process for expediting elections.
The event was participated by PFUJ presidents, secretaries of Rawalpindi-Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta, Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Abbottabad, Multan, Rahimyar Khan, Sukkur, Hyderabad and Karachi.

Irish journalist faces 50 sex charges

Irish journalist faces 50 sex charges

GardaThe accused must sign on three times a week at Ballymun Garda Station in Dublin
A 50-year-old journalist has appeared in court in the Republic of Ireland charged with 50 sex offences involving teenage girls.
The man, who cannot be identified at this stage of the proceedings, was arrested just after 09:00 GMT and taken to Ballymun Garda Station in Dublin.
After caution, he made no reply to the charges.
He faces seven charges of engaging in a sexual act with an underage child on dates in 2011.
The man also faces three charges of sexual assault against the same person on dates in 2007 at a number of locations, including a hotel car park in Dublin, and in Donegal.
He faces 40 charges relating to child exploitation, including inducing or coercing a child to engage in the production of child pornography and inducing or coercing her to engage in a sexual, indecent or obscene act.
These offences are alleged to have occurred between 2008 and 2011.
The man was remanded on bail on his own bond of 500 euros (£412) and an independent surety of 2,000 euros (£1,648).
As part of his bail conditions, he must sign on three times a week at Ballymun Garda Station. He has also surrendered his passport.
He is due in court again on 29 April.
The court heard the Director of Public Prosecutions had directed he be tried on indictment, which means he will be sent forward to a higher court for trial.
He has not yet indicated how he will plead to the charges.
A defence solicitor told the judge that the DPP agreed the case should have reporting restrictions because of the nature of the charges.
This means the man cannot be identified at this stage.
Mr Hennessy told the judge the man would be applying for legal aid at the next court sitting.