Julian Assange
Geneva: Deploring the fact that Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has been held in a British prison for four years without trial, the global media safety and rights body, Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), today demanded that he be released on humanitarian grounds and that the charges against him be dropped by the United States of America.
The PEC also called for the immediate release of American journalist Evan Geshkovich who is detained in Russia on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day (being celebrated on 3 May across the world with the theme of freedom of expression as a driver for all other human rights). The arrest of the Wall Street Journal scribe by the Russian security services on March 30, 2023, marked a further escalation in the repression of the media in Russia, it stated.
The PEC also denounced the obstruction of the work of Palestinian journalists during the past weeks of violence in the occupied territories. A dozen Palestinian journalists have been assaulted or injured by Israeli security forces.
While observing that the number of journalists killed from January to April 2023 has fallen compared to the same period last year, the PEC noted that despite the improvement in the number of victims, there were various situations of great concern as press freedom continues to decline in Afghanistan, Myanmar (Burma), Iran and Russia.
PEC’s South Asia representative Nava Thakuria informed that Afghanistan under Taliban rule continues to be dangerous for the media fraternity. Besides two casualties (Husein Naderi and Akmal Nazari) the country also witnessed the mass exodus of media persons to foreign countries for security reasons. Many journalists have been imprisoned in Myanmar by the military rulers, he said.
The global media rights body though pointed out that since 1 January, 16 media workers were killed which was the lowest number in the past 15 years. “This figure is still too high, but if this trend continues, it is finally good news,” said Blaise Lempen, president of PEC.
During the same period in 2022 (marked by the initial weeks of the Russian offensive on Ukraine), 56 journalists were killed (the whole year reported 116 casualties in 29 countries). The first four months of 2023 represent a decline of 71%, added Lempen.
The status quo in the fighting in Ukraine partly explains this sharp decrease where only one journalist has been killed so far this year in Ukraine. The Ukrainian authorities have also taken measures to limit media access to combat zones. However, the PEC is concerned about the reported resumption of larger-scale clashes in Ukraine and reminds all sides that media workers are protected as civilians by the Geneva Convention.
To date this year, two journalists have been killed in Afghanistan as well as in Cameroon, Haiti and Mexico. One journalist each was killed in Bangladesh, Canada, the USA, Guatemala, India, Paraguay and Ukraine. The case of a journalist who died in a suspicious manner in Rwanda remains under investigation. The PEC condemned these killings and called for those responsible to be identified and brought to justice. Thakuria said Bangladesh and India have also maintained the tag of risky nations for journalists as they lost Ashiqul Islam and Shashikant Warishe respectively in the first four months of 2023.
– global bihari bureau
