Afghanistan - Letter asks presidential candidates to pledge to advance press freedom

    http://www.rsf.org/Letter-asks-presidential.html

    MONTREAL, July 31 /CNW Telbec/ - Reporters Without Borders wrote today to
Afghanistan's leading presidential candidates - including Hamid Karzai,
Abdullah Abdullah, Ashraf Ghani, Ramazan Bashardost and Sayed Jalal Karim -
urging them to give a clear undertaking to ensure that press freedom becomes
firmly rooted in the everyday life of Afghans. The election is due to take
place on 20 August.
    The letter asked them to publicly express their concern about a recent
wave of press freedom violations, pointing out that the threats to Afghan and
foreign journalists in Afghanistan do not come from the Taliban alone, but
also from criminal groups, politicians and security officials.
    "We sincerely hope you take up the issue of press freedom (...) and
relaunch the investigations into murders and physical attacks on journalists,"
the letter said, mentioning the murders of Peace Radio director Zakia Zaki,
BBC reporter Abdul Rohani and Jawed Ahmad, a fixer for Canadian news media.
    Reporters Without Borders condemned the impunity enjoyed by those
responsible for the violence against journalists, who include the security
forces. In the most recent case, five journalists were beaten by police
officers in Herat on 30 July while investigating the death of a civilian at
the hands of the police.
    Without concrete improvements in respect for press freedom, "your country
risks losing the confidence of journalists and the support of international
public opinion," the letter said. "This would complicate the task of foreign
governments, including those of the European Union, which support your country
financially, militarily and politically."
    Reporters Without Borders also asked each candidate "to pledge to release
Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, a young journalist who was unjustly sentenced to 20
years in prison on a blasphemy charge for downloading an article from the
Internet." It added: "More than 1 million people around the world have already
signed a petition for his release. The confirmation that he was tortured by
members of the security forces has cast doubt on their ability to respect
international standards in this regard."
    Urging the candidates to publicly oppose the politicisation of the charge
of blasphemy, the letter said it was vital that article 130 of the Afghan
constitution, concerning blasphemy, should stop being used to prosecute people
for the views they express.
    The letter also mentioned a proposed new press law that has been blocked
for political reasons, the need to decriminalise press offences and the need
to pass a law that improves the situation of journalists as regards contracts
and salaries.

For further information: Katherine Borlongan, secretary general,
Reporters Without Borders, [phone], Cell: [phone], Fax: (514)
521-7771, [e-mail]