Attacks on journalists and activists must stop

November 23rd, 2012

Take action to end impunity: Ampatuan massacre victims

November 23rd, 2011

MURDERED 23 NOVEMBER 2009
Ampatuan massacre victims, Ampatuan — Maguindanao, Philippines

Join us in demanding action for the victims of the Ampatuan massacre. On 23 November 2009, Esmael Mangudadatu planned to register his candidacy for governor of Maguindanao. His rivals from the Ampatuan clan – who have controlled Maguindanao since 2001 with the backing of the Philippine government – had vowed to block his efforts, so instead he sent along journalists and some female relatives, believing they would be safe. An hour into the drive, 200 armed men ambushed the convoy; 58 people, including 32 journalists and media workers, were slaughtered in the single deadliest incident for journalists in history.

Two years on, dozens of suspects remain at large, including members of the Ampatuan family. The trials have been painfully slow, and attempts to subvert the judicial process – with bribes, threats and intimidation of families and witnesses – continue. The Ampatuans have been linked to at least 56 other killings over the past 20 years. The government has failed to seriously investigate any of the atrocities.

Click here for a full list of those killed.

Take Action: Write a letter demanding justice for victims of the Ampatuan massacre

International Day to End Impunity is on 23 November. Until that date,  we will reveal a story each day of a journalist, writer or free expression advocate who was killed in the line of duty.

Take action to end impunity

November 23rd, 2011

To mark the inaugural International Day to End Impunity on  23 November,  join Index in demanding justice for journalists’ murdered in the line of duty

Freedom of Expression Organisations Call for Justice on International Day to End Impunity

London, November 23, 2011

Today Index on Censorship, Article 19, the Committee to Protect Journalists and English PEN  join dozens of freedom of expression organisations around the world to mark the inaugural International Day to End Impunity.

In the past 10 years, more than 500 journalists have been killed. In nine out of 10 cases, the murderers have gone free. Many others targeted for exercising their right to freedom of expression — artists, writers, musicians, activists — join their ranks.

On this day two years ago the single deadliest event for the media took place when 30 journalists and two support workers were brutally killed in Ampatuan, Maguindanao province, The Philippines. The journalists were part of a convoy accompanying supporters of a local politician filing candidacy papers for provincial governor. In total the “Maguindanao Massacre” as it has come to be known, claimed 58 victims. Not one of more than a hundred individuals suspected of involvement in the atrocity has been convicted yet.

We join those in the Philippines not only in honouring their slain colleagues, friends and family members, but demanding justice for them and hundreds more in Russia, Belarus, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Colombia, Iraq and Somalia and other countries where killings of journalists and free expression activists have repeatedly gone unpunished. Above all we demand an end to the cycle violence and impunity.

This year alone at least 17 journalists were murdered for their work. These include Pakistani journalist Saleem Shahzad, whose body was found May 31 showing signs of torture. They include Mexican journalist and social media activist Maria Elizabeth Macías Castro Macías, whose killers left a computer keyboard and a note with the journalist’s body saying she had been killed for writing on social media websites. These heinous acts not only silence the messenger, but are intended to intimidate all others from bringing news and sharing critical voices with the public.

We call on governments around the world to investigate and prosecute these crimes and bring an end to impunity.

Article 19                                                        English PEN

Committee to Protect Journalists                  Index on Censorship

Take Action: Write a letter demanding justice for:

1 November: Mohammad Ismail
2 November: José Bladimir Antuna Garcían
3 November: Abdul Razzak Johra
4 November: Laurent Bisset
5 November: Carlos Alberto Guajardo Romero
6 November: Wadallah Sarhan
7 November: Ahmed Hussein al-Maliki
8 November: Francisco Castro Menco
9 November: Dilip Mohapatra
10 November: Misael Tamayo Hernández
11 November: Johanne Sutton, Pierre Billaud and Volker Handloik
12 November: Gene Boyd Lumawag
13 November: José Armando Rodríguez Carreón
14 November: Seif Yehia and Ibraheem Sadoon
15 November: Fadia Mohammed Abid
16 November: Olga Kotovskaya
17 November: Meher-un-Nisa
18 November: Tara Singh Hayer
19 November: Eenadu-TV staff
20 November: Namik Taranci
21 November: Ram Chander Chaterpatti
22 November: Raad Jaafar Hamadi
23 November: Ampatuan massacre victims

23 November marks the anniversary of the 2009 Ampatuan massacre, in which 34 journalists were murdered in an election-related killing in the Philippines, making it the single deadliest incident for journalists in recent history.

Take action to end impunity: Raad Jaafar Hamadi

November 22nd, 2011

MURDERED 22 NOVEMBER 2006
Raad Jaafar Hamadi, Journalist, “Al Sabah” — Baghdad, Iraq

Join us in demanding justice for Raad Jaafar Hamadi who was killed in the east Baghdad neighbourhood of Al-Washash on 22 November 2006. His car was fired on by four gunmen in another vehicle. He worked as a journalist for “Al Sabah”, a daily paper of the state-owned Iraqi Media Network (IMN). Iraq’s biggest media group with more than 3,000 employees, IMN was created by coalition forces in 2003. Many journalists working for the network have received threatening letters telling them to quit.

“Journalists and other employees of the Iraqi public media… are often the victims of violence by people hostile to the government,” Reporters Without Borders said at the time. “The main communication tool of the Iraqi authorities, these media are seen as government mouthpieces and have suffered a heavier toll in casualties than the other media since the start of the war.”

Take Action: Write a letter demanding justice for Raad Jaafar Hamadi

International Day to End Impunity is on 23 November. Until that date,  we will reveal a story each day of a journalist, writer or free expression advocate who was killed in the line of duty.

Take action to end impunity : Ram Chander Chaterpatti

November 21st, 2011

MURDERED 21 NOVEMBER 2002
Ram Chander Chaterpatti, Editor, “Poora Sach” — New Delhi, India

Join us in demanding justice for Ram Chander Chaterpatti. Chaterpatti, 52, editor of the Hindi-language newspaper Poora Sach, died in a New Delhi hospital of injuries sustained in an assassination attempt made a month earlier. He was gunned down outside his home in Sirsa on 24 October 2002, allegedly by members of the religious sect Dera Sacha Sauda. Officials said that sect members are believed to have ordered Chaterpatti’s murder in reprisal for the journalist’s reporting on sexual abuse and other crimes allegedly committed at the group’s compound in Sirsa. Several journalists in the area said they had received death threats for reporting on the sect’s activities.

Police arrested three suspects, including the alleged gunman and a leader of Dera Sacha Sauda. But to this day, the case remains unsolved.

Take Action: Write a letter demanding justice for Ram Chander Chaterpatti

International Day to End Impunity is on 23 November. Until that date,  we will reveal a story each day of a journalist, writer or free expression advocate who was killed in the line of duty.

Take action to end impunity : Namik Taranci

November 20th, 2011

MURDERED 20 NOVEMBER 1992
Namik Taranci Reporter, “Gercek” — Diyarbakir, Turkey

Join us in demanding justice for Namik Taranci, who worked for the leftist weekly “Gercek”, was attacked and killed by at least two armed assailants on a Diyarbakir street on 20 November 1992. One attacker grabbed Taranci by the shoulder, shot him three times in the head, and continued firing after the journalist fell to the ground. Before his murder, Taranci reportedly received a death threat by telephone. “Gercek” had reported on the Shi’ite Muslim militant group Hezbollah, which was allegedly collaborating with Turkish security forces in their fight against the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK).

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 20 journalists have been killed in Turkey since 1992.

Take Action: Write a letter demanding justice for Namik Taranci

International Day to End Impunity is on 23 November. Until that date,  we will reveal a story each day of a journalist, writer or free expression advocate who was killed in the line of duty.

Take action to end impunity : Eenadu-TV staff

November 19th, 2011

MURDERED 19 NOVEMBER 1997
Eenadu-TV (E-TV) staff — Hyderabad, India
Raja Sekhar, assistant; Jagadish Babu, producer; Gangadhara Raju, cameraman; Srinivas Rao, assistant cameraman; S. Krishna, assistant cameraman

Join us in demanding justice for Eenadu-TV staff.  On site to cover a film production, the E-TV crew were leaving the studio on 19 November 1997 when they were killed by a car bomb detonated near the entrance. The attack is believed to have targeted the film’s producer, Paritala Ravi, a former guerrilla leader who had become a state legislator. According to the International Federation of Journalists, the E-TV staff were “collateral damage” in a cycle of murders and vendettas involving powerful political factions and families in Ravi’s home district of Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh.

Soon after the blast, eight among the alleged suspects surrendered to local police. But the trial floundered and all were released on bail. In January 2005, Ravi himself was killed in an ambush – allegedly by the bombing conspirators. Since then, one suspect has been killed. Today no remaining suspects have been brought to justice.

Take Action: Write a letter demanding justice for Eenadu-TV Staff

International Day to End Impunity is on 23 November. Until that date,  we will reveal a story each day of a journalist, writer or free expression advocate who was killed in the line of duty.

Take action to end impunity :Tara Singh Hayer

November 18th, 2011

MURDERED 18 NOVEMBER 1998
Tara Singh Hayer, Publisher, “Indo-Canadian Times” — Canada 

Join us in demanding justice for Tara Singh Hayer. Already paralysed from an assassination attempt 10 years earlier, Hayer was shot to death outside his home on 18 November 1998. A week before his death, he said ominously, “If they get me, they get me. There’s nothing I can do and I’m not going to stop my work.” Hayer’s murder appears to be connected to his investigation into the 1985 bombing of an Air India flight, which resulted in the deaths of all 329 passengers and crew. Hayer had made statements to police that would incriminate members of a militant Sikh separatist group.

Police were accused of failing to provide Hayer with adequate protection, mismanaging his case, and dismissing the possibility of a link between Hayer’s death and the bombing. Hayer’s case is the first and only case of a journalist murdered specifically for his work in Canada. It remains unsolved.

Take Action: Write a letter demanding justice for Tara Singh Hayer

International Day to End Impunity is on 23 November. Until that date,  we will reveal a story each day of a journalist, writer or free expression advocate who was killed in the line of duty.