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As Karzai seeks aid, a call for press freedom
June 11, 2008
President
Hamid Karzai
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
C/o The Embassy of Afghanistan
2341 Wyoming Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20008
Via facsimile: 202-483-6487
Dear
President Karzai:
News
reports have described your plan to present a $50 billion, long-term
development strategy to international donors in Paris on Thursday. Those reports have also
noted the concerns of international donors about allegations of widespread
corruption in Afghanistan.
Free
and robust news media serve as a check against corruption, underlining the
credibility of your government and allaying concerns about malfeasance. Your
administration has done much in the past to allow development of a free press,
but your government’s failure to stem recent attacks on journalists has
undermined those achievements.
CPJ
calls on you at the Paris
conference to pledge that your government will safeguard press freedom. In
doing so, we urge you to commit to the following steps:
·
Call for the release of imprisoned
journalism student Parwez Kambakhsh, who was sentenced to death by a provincial
court in January on blasphemy charges. A devout Muslim, Kambakhsh denies the
accusation and has filed an appeal. Among the allegations are that Kambakhsh
possessed published material about the Prophet Mohammed and discussed it with
fellow students. We share the concerns of local journalists that Kambakhsh is
being targeted to put pressure on his brother, journalist Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi,
who has repeatedly angered officials with his articles for the Institute for
War and Peace Reporting.
·
Identify and prosecute the killers
of BBC journalist Abdul Samad Rohani, who was slain in Helmand
province on June 7. Violence stemming from political instability continues to
jeopardize the local and international press, but journalists are more likely
to be murdered than killed covering combat situations, CPJ research shows. Your
government has failed to solve the slayings of seven other journalists in Afghanistan
since 1998, sending an alarming message to the press and anyone who plans to
attack them. The Taliban has denied responsibility for Rohani’s killing,
according to The Associated Press.
·
Investigate reported attacks in
western Herat
province against two female journalists who later resigned their news media
positions. Unidentified assailants twice hurled grenades at Khadija Ahmadi’s
house in April after she was anonymously warned to quit her post at Faryat radio
station, according to news reports. Herat TV presenter Nelofar
Habibi says an intruder stabbed her in her home on May 15, news reports say.
·
Direct prosecutors to drop
criminal charges against the privately run television network Tolo TV for
defying a parliamentary ban on selected Indian soap operas. Saad Mohseni,
Tolo’s founder and director, and local press freedom advocates are alarmed that
this ban is a first step toward censoring other types of programming, including
news programming. Your statement, cited in the Chicago Tribune, that
“unsuitable material should not be broadcast” appears to give tacit support to
censorship. It is a matter of record that Tolo’s news agenda is often at odds
with Afghanistan’s
Ministry of Information and Culture. It has repeatedly broadcast a video clip
of Information Minister Abdul Khuram dismissing freedom of speech issues
as “useless talk,” according to news reports. Faizi Zadran, an announcer for
state-run Radio Television Afghanistan,
was recently threatened with dismissal after appearing in a press freedom
discussion broadcast by Tolo, according to the Tribune and the local
news Web site Quqnoos. Tolo is accused of offending public morals and
endangering national security, according to The Washington Post.
A
free and healthy press will help assure international donors that they are
making a wise investment in Afghanistan.
Your promise at Thursday’s Paris
conference to uphold press freedom would send a very positive message to the
international community.
Sincerely,
Joel Simon
Executive Director
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