Dear President Yudhoyono: We are greatly concerned about the case of Erwin Arnada, the editor of Indonesia’s defunct version of Playboy magazine, who was sentenced to two years in prison for indecency by the Supreme Court. The court tried the case on an appeal from the attorney general’s office in July 2009 and some time after that sentenced Arnada to two years in prison for public indecency for publishing purportedly indecent pictures in a 2006 issue of the magazine. The magazine closed in mid-2007 after printing 10 issues.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on you to ensure the immediate release of Abdulelah Hider Shaea, a Yemeni journalist known for his coverage of Islamist groups, including Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. We also call on you to publicly repudiate the abusive treatment to which Shaea has been subjected while in state custody.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the ongoing extrajudicial detention of Tal al-Mallohi, a Syrian blogger who has been held incommunicado for the past nine months. We call on you to instruct the proper authorities to ensure that al-Mallohi is afforded all her rights in accordance with Syrian law.
Dear President Otunbayeva: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to call your attention to the politicized prosecution of independent journalist Ulugbek Abdusalomov and human rights reporter and researcher Azimjon Askarov in the southern Jalal-Abad region. Both have been charged with extremism and other serious charges and face lengthy prison sentences, including a life term, if convicted. Their prosecution is in retaliation for their reporting on ethnic discrimination and human rights abuses in southern Kyrgyzstan, according to our research.
Your Majesty: The Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide, is deeply concerned about a provisional law on cyber crimes that was approved by the cabinet of ministers on August 3. We believe that the law contains several repressive aspects that can be used to harass online media. The law, if you endorse it through a royal decree, would undermine Jordan’s image as a free and open society.
Dear President Zuma: We are writing to express our concern about legislative proposals that would severely restrict South Africa’s independent press corps, which is distinguished for its dynamism and professionalism. We call on you as the head of state and leader of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) to ensure that such proposals are either amended in line with constitutional safeguards for freedom of the press and access to information, or withdrawn altogether in the interest of preserving the transparency, accountability, and democracy gained after apartheid.
Your Excellency: As you celebrate the 10th anniversary of your ascent to power this month, we are writing to draw your attention to conditions that continue to undermine press freedom in Syria. In 10 years, conditions for the media have hardly improved, with the government still deciding who is and isn’t a journalist, filtering the Internet, and imprisoning reporters for their critical work.
Dear Members of the OSCE Ministerial Council: In advance of your July 16-17 meeting at the Ak-Bulak Resort in Kazakhstan, the Committee to Protect Journalists—an independent advocacy group that defends the rights of journalists worldwide—would like to draw your attention to the poor press freedom record of Kazakhstan, the current chair of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
Dear Secretary Clinton: We are writing to express our deep concern about the U.S. State Department’s denial of a visa that would enable prominent Colombian journalist Hollman Morris to participate in a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University. The denial, based on a “terrorist activities” provision of the Patriot Act, is unsupported by any available evidence and may be based on misleading or inaccurate information provided by Colombian authorities.
Your Excellencies: As you gather in Paris for festivities that celebrate your nations’ 50 years of independence, we, the undersigned African press freedom advocates petition for your public commitment to a free, vibrant, and self-sustaining press as a cornerstone of the development of francophone Africa in the next five decades.