H.E. Pervez Musharraf
President
Office of the President
Awan-E-Sadar
Constitution Avenue
Islamabad
Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Fax: (011.92.51.2) 920-3938
Your Excellency:
We write to protest your country@quot;s part in the continuing worldwide abuse of press freedom.
On this day, World Press Freedom Day, there are — to the best of our knowledge –193 journalists imprisoned in the jails of 29 countries, most of them solely for having done their jobs. Pakistan is one of the 29, and we are informed that you are holding three journalists in prison.
Khawar Mehdi Rizvi was arrested in December of 2003 while working on a story near the Afghan border. Enquiries about him were futile as authorities denied they had him as a prisoner. After spending 35 days in jail, from where allegations have emerged that he might have been tortured, suddenly he was presented in court to face charges of “”fabricating”” a story about the Taliban. He faces a life sentence for writing that story.
Although Rehmat Shah Afridi, arrested in 1999, is officially charged with drug offenses, our colleagues in the region, with very good contacts, have reported that he was jailed for his stories in The Frontier Post alleging corruption in the anti-drug program in Peshawar. Colleagues who have visited him report that he has been tortured and kept in abominable conditions.
Munawar Mohsin was arrested for blasphemy in an incident involving a letter to the editor of The Frontier Post , for which the newspaper has admitted responsibility and apologized. Seven other staffers were arrested, but only Hasan remains behind bars. He faces a life sentence.
Your Excellency, these prisoners should be released both on principle and as a matter of expediency. The principle is simple, as stated in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “”Everyone,? according to the Declaration, ?has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”” UN members recognize that this right is sometimes inconvenient and troublesome. Yet, it is crucial to uphold, and for practical reasons as well as principle: A nation that stifles freedom of thought and expression forfeits the good opinion of the world and isolates itself. This may prompt political or economic sanctions, with loss of diplomatic influence and domestic prosperity; at the least, it relegates a country to the company of North Korea, Iraq under Saddam Hussein, or Zimbabwe. And in long or short order, a repressive regime will be overturned.
The Overseas Press Club of America, an independent organization that has defended press freedom around the world for 65 years, urges you to re-think your policy, to welcome free expression of ideas and opinions, and to release Khawar Mehdi Rizvi, Rehmat Shah Afridi and Munawar Mohsin.
The courtesy of a reply would be appreciated.
Respectfully yours,
Robert E. Sullivan
Larry Martz
Freedom of the Press Committee