24 May 2007
Iranian authorities are refusing to return the passport of Radio Farda correspondent Parnaz Azima and allow her to leave Iran, even though Azima and her family have posted a bail bond worth approximately US$440,000. Azima’s lawyer, Mohammad-Hossain Aghasi told Radio Farda in an exclusive interview yesterday that the bond amount set by the court was “unprecedented” in Iranian jurisprudence. Aghasi also asserted that the entire case against Azima has no basis in Iranian law, as the prosecutor’s office cannot cite a single clause that would support the charges prosecutors plan to bring against Azima.
RFE/RL President Jeffrey Gedmin drew attention to what appear to be stalling tactics on the part of the Iranian Judiciary, saying “There is absolutely no reason for Iranian authorities to be treating Ms. Azima in this way. She was traveling to Iran on private business when her passport was seized. I find it ludicrous that Iranian authorities feel the need to criminalize a daughter’s desire to visit her severely ill mother.” Gedmin also expressed his appreciation for the efforts of U.S. diplomats, and their Swiss colleagues in Tehran, to resolve all issues that are keeping Azima from leaving Iran.
On May 15, during an appearance at the “Special Security Bureau of the Revolutionary Court’s Public Prosecutor’s office” Azima and Aghasi were told that she would be charged with working for Radio Farda, an organization that prosecutors claim is “an institution that spreads propaganda against the Islamic Republic.” Based on these charges, bail was set at 400 million tooman — an amount prosecutors based on an estimate of the salary Azima earned during her nine years of employment with RFE/RL; the prosecutor’s office claims this money was earned in an “illegitimate” way. Azima was given until May 20 to secure the bail.
When, on May 20, her lawyer reported back to the “Special Security Bureau of the Revolutionary Court’s Public Prosecutor’s office” with bail, in the form of the deed to her mother’s home in Tehran, prosecutors claimed that a “technicality” prevented them from accepting the proffered bail. When asked, prosecutors said the passport would not be returned immediately upon receipt of the bail, due to “sensitivities” linked to interest on the part of Iran’s Information Ministry in the case. On May 21 Aghasi was again at the “Special Security Bureau,” where the bail was accepted — but the passport was not returned.
Azima’s passport was confiscated upon her arrival at Tehran’s airport in February 2007 to visit her ailing mother. She holds U.S. as well as Iranian citizenship.
Azima is a broadcaster with Radio Farda, the joint RFE/RL-Voice of America 24-hour, seven-day-a-week Persian-language broadcast service to Iran. She joined RFE/RL in 1998 and is based at RFE/RL’s broadcast headquarters in Prague, Czech Republic. Azima endured a similar situation in Iran during the spring of 2006, when her Iranian passport was seized and held for several weeks before being returned to her.
24 May 2007
An Uzbek reporter for Deutsche Welle faces up to 10 years in prison after being accused of defaming President Islam Karimov. Yuri Chernogayev is accused of defaming President Islam Karimov.
The DW correspondent said Tashkent prosecutors also charged him with tax evasion and “illegal dissemination of information threatening public security and order.”
“This is a provocation with many episodes,” he told The Associated Press by telephone from the Uzbek capital. “They want other journalists to watch out and shut up.”
Authorities in the tightly controlled ex-Soviet republic have stepped up pressure on Western and independent journalists since after the bloody crackdown in 2005 on an uprising in the eastern city of Andijan; survivors and human rights groups say hundreds were killed by government troops, while the government insists fewer than 200 died.
In the months following the Andijan uprising, Karimov’s government shut down the local offices of the BBC, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and a dozen US-funded aid groups, two of which worked to promote free media.
Several journalists working for foreign media have also been jailed or beaten. In March, Chernogayev and his colleague, Natalya Bushuyeva, were accused of tax evasion. After Bushuyeva left Uzbekistan, Chernogayev was accused of aiding her escape, but after several interrogations he said he was left alone by authorities.
Chernogayev said he was told to stay in his apartment until the trial begins next week.
Last year, Deutsche Welle’s two Uzbek reporters were stripped of their media accreditation after reporting that 30 people had frozen to death on a stranded bus en route to Russia. Authorities denied the incident happened.
“This is a travesty of justice designed to silence those working for foreign media,” Reporters Without Borders said in a statement posted on its Web site.
Uzbek media are strictly monitored and censored, and the independent online publications are filtered by government-controlled Internet service providers.
24 May 2007
Mr Hanh Tran has been selected as the new Chief Executive of Radio Australia.
Hanh is currently Executive Producer of Vietnamese content for Radio Australia and was, from 1997 until 2001, Head of the Vietnamese Service at the BBC World Service. Hanh has led the Vietnamese content team at Radio Australia in response to new media opportunities. The Vietnamese service of RA is built around online content on radioaustralia.net.au.
Having worked as a radio commentator, producer, reporter and presenter, Hahn has over 10 years experience in international broadcasting.
Hanh came to Australia in the late seventies as a Colombo Plan student and studied forestry at the Australian National University and media at the University of Canberra. Hanh is a recognised photographer with work in the Parliament House Art Collection. He lectured in photomedia at both the Canberra Institute of the Arts and at the Australian Centre for Photography.
“I am pleased to announce the appointment of Hanh Tran as Chief Executive of Radio Australia,” ABC Managing Director Mark Scott said today.
“I am delighted that from a very strong field of internal and external applicants that the next person to lead Radio Australia has come from our own team of managers and executive producers.
“He will bring a wealth of expertise in radio and digital media that will contribute to enhancing the services provided by Radio Australia, while exploring opportunities to expand the service into new markets.
“Radio Australia, together with the Australia Network, International Projects and International Relations, is part of the new entity I announced in February. ABC International provides an opportunity for cross platform production in an area of core ABC activity: producing content for international audiences, particularly in the Asia Pacific.”
Mr Tran will begin in the role of Chief Executive immediately.
17 May 2007
The Polish parliament [Sejm] unanimously passed a resolution on 10 May to mark the 55th anniversary of the first programme aired by Radio Free Europe.
“The Sejm thanks Radio Free Europe authors, employees and associates in Poland and in the West on the occasion of the 55th anniversary of the RFE first broadcast from Munich,” the resolution reads.
“Their daily, arduous work allowed many of our compatriots to get to know the world during the decades of communism, allowed them to get to know the uncensored truth about Poland.”
The resolution recalls that Radio Free Europe spoke about Stalinist crimes, helped to understand the Solidarity trade union and raised hopes during martial law.
16 May 2007
The AIB recommends…
events, shows, content
Hometech Middle East
Dubai, UAE
15-16 May 2007
A major conference and exhibition looking at the development in home
entertainment, technology and systems. AIB chief executive Simon Spanswick
will be speaking at the conference.
11 May 2007
Al Jazeera is continuing its efforts to gain clarification on the UK Daily Mirror newspaper report of a leaked memo alleging “President Bush planned to bomb Arab TV station Al Jazeera”. The Doha-based broadcaster has repeated its call to see a copy of the relevant section of the memo.
British civil servant David Keogh and parliamentary researcher Leo OConnor were jailed on 10 May for leaking the secret four-page memo. Press and public were banned from the trial which has been heavily criticised by MPs and civil rights groups. The memo is purported to have recorded discussions regarding the events in Falluja between Tony Blair and George Bush in the Oval office in 2004. Former defence minister, Peter Kilfoyle, stated that “There remain unanswered questions about the discussions about the attack on Falluja and subsequent deaths of many hundreds of civilians.”
Al Jazeera submitted a Freedom of Information application early in 2006 requesting the disclosure of the contents of the memo but the request was denied. Any substantiation of the contents of the memo would be extremely serious not only for Al Jazeera but for media organisations across the world. It would cast significant doubts on the US administration’s version of previous incidents involving Al Jazeera’s journalists and offices. Both Al Jazeeras Kabul Bureau and Iraq Bureau were bombed by the US resulting in the death of Al Jazeera journalist Tareq Ayoub.
Al Jazeera has urged Downing Street to clarify the Daily Mirror report on the contents of the memo.
