IFJ Says End to Persecution of Journalists Is Key to Protection of Human Rights for All

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today says an end to the legal persecution of journalists is an essential step towards providing human rights protection around the world.

The IFJ, which is the world’s largest journalists’ group, says that governments who use criminal defamation and other legal restrictions to silence critical reporting undermine the role of media in exposing violations of rights across society

In a statement marking United Nations International Human Rights Day, the IFJ has called for a new global campaign to free the press from restrictive laws.

“Freedom of expression is a basic human right,” said IFJ General Secretary Aidan White. “Without it we cannot hope to defend or promote the rights of people set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and we dramatically reduce opportunities to expose violation of those rights.”

The IFJ is calling on governments to end prosecution of journalists to silence investigative reporting. “Press freedom is under attack in many countries and journalists find themselves in the dock often on trumped up charges accused of defamation or endangering national security or undermining government and the authorities. Whenever such an attack takes place, everyone suffers. When access to information is blocked and journalists are muzzled the public loses its ‘right to know,’ says the IFJ.

The IFJ says that countries led by authoritarian regimes are the chief culprits, but the Federation warns that many of the recent attacks are coming in countries that are supposed to be the models of democracy.

“In Europe and the United States we have seen numerous court cases where the government has prosecuted journalists in an effort to find out their confidential sources or simply to silence their reporting,” said the IFJ.

In a case last week in France, Le Monde reporter Guillaume Dasquié was accused of “compromising national defence intelligence” over an article published on April 17th where he revealed classified reports showing that French intelligence services knew of some Al Qaeda plans, including a potential plot to highjack an airplane. Dasquié has refused to name the person who gave him the information.

The European Court of Human Rights recently condemned the Belgian state for acting illegally for raiding a journalist’s home and office three years ago following a complaint by the European Union that he was bribing officials for access to secret documents. No evidence was found to justify the complaints and the IFJ has asked searching questions over the affair.

The United States military has finally allowed Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein and his lawyers to see some of the evidence against him after holding him for almost 20 months without charges. An Iraqi magistrate will decide whether Hussein will stand trial before a three-judge panel. Hussein’s attorneys are still being denied copies of the evidence or time alone with the photographer, which the IFJ fears will make mounting his defence a difficult and unfair task.