14 May 2007
Baathist regime has dissident
journalist sentenced to three years in jail
Reporters
Without Borders
Press release
13
May 2007
SYRIA
Reporters
Without Borders voiced outrage at the three-year prison imposed today on journalist and writer Michel Kilo for “weakening
national sentiment.” Another dissident, Mahmud Issa, also got a three-year
jail term.
“There is something
seriously wrong with a justice system that
imposes long jail terms on anyone who dares
to express views that are
not in tune with Baathist thinking,” the press freedom organisation said. “Journalists and human rights
activists have virtually no
room for manoeuvre. Kilo’s conviction is yet further evidence,
if any were needed, of government
intervention in judicial matters.”
Reporters
Without Borders added: “We appeal
to President Bashar Al-Assad – who is holding an entirely predictable referendum in two weeks that will
allow him to continue to be president – to pardon prisoners of conscience and to
put an end to the constant harassment of the most outspoken journalists.”
Kilo
and Issa were arrested in May 2006 after signing the “Beirut-Damascus,
Damascus-Beirut” appeal for
a radical overhaul of relations between
Syria and Lebanon. Another signatory, human rights lawyer Anwar
al-Bunni, received a five-year prison sentence on 24 April.
Reporters
Without Borders established a system of sponsorship
16 years ago in which international media are encouraged
to adopt imprisoned journalists. More than 200 news
organisations, journalists’ associations, press clubs and other entities throughout the world are currently supporting journalists by regularly calling on the authorities to release them and by publicising their cases.
Kilo
has been adopted by Le Pèlerin (France), France Bleu
Azur (France), various Spanish
forums, the Almería Press Association (Spain) and the Calafell
City Hall (Spain).