The Association for International Broadcasting (AIB) has today – 12 May 2016 – condemned the leaking of the personal details of thousands of journalists and media workers who have reported from eastern Ukraine and the support for the publication by member of the Ukrainian parliament.
Above – Simon Spanswick, AIB chief executive, interviewed on RT English
On 7th May, a group of hackers claimed on the website Myrotvorets (Peacemaker) that they had breached computers used by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine to keep track of journalists they had allowed to work in the region. The hackers published a database containing the names, affiliations, and contact information of more than 7,000 individuals. The database includes over 4,500 local and international journalists and media workers who have reported from the conflict zone.
According to the US based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) the separatists have been collecting journalists’ contact information as part of an accreditation process even though their authority over eastern Ukraine is not internationally recognised.
The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office on Wednesday announcedthat it had opened an investigation into the publication of the journalists’ names and contact information under article 171.1 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code, which covers “obstruction to journalism.”
The hackers wrote that they did not know what the consequences of their action would be, but added, “Be certain: It is important to publish the list because these journalists collaborate with terrorist guerillas.”
“The Association for International Broadcasting and its Members condemn without equivocation the publication of these data,” said Simon Spanswick, chief executive of the AIB. “The names and contact data of many journalists and news crews working for AIB Members – and hundreds of other agencies, TV channels, radio stations and newspapers – are included in the release. There is no excuse for releasing information of this sort. The journalists working in East Ukraine were there legitimately, reporting the situation for the benefit of audiences and readers throughout the world. Accusations that the journalists ‘collaborated with terrorists’ are completely unfounded and without any substance. We call on the authorities in Ukraine to take steps to have these data removed from the Internet and to prosecute those involved in this hack.”
Oksana Romanyuk, head of the Institute for Mass Information, a press freedom group in Kiev, told the CPJ that the hackers’ actions had remained largely unnoticed until Tuesday, when Anton Geraschenko, a member of Ukraine’s parliament, praised them on the social media site Facebook. Geraschenko suggested that Ukraine’s authorities should introduce specific actions to “counter Russian propaganda.”
Geraschenko’s recommendations included: “imposing control over broadcast programming and cable networks to prevent distribution of information that could destabilize Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity;” “imposing control over accreditation of reporters, specifically those from Russia;” “deportation of reporters found in breach of national laws;” and “developing legal and technical resources to block online content that incites to violence and destabilises Ukraine’s national security.”
Ukrainian and foreign journalists have condemned the publication of personal data of reporters, including those from the Ukrainian broadcaster Hromadske TV, the Moscow-based newspaper Novaya Gazeta, Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, the BBC, The New York Times, The Daily Beast, The Economist, and others. In a statement signed by 37 journalists and published on Wednesday 11th May, they rejected the description of the accredited journalists as “collaborators with terrorists” and demanded that the personal data leak be investigated by law enforcers, saying it violated Ukraine’s privacy laws, the nation’s constitution, and the European Convention on Human Rights
According to the statement, journalists started receiving threats by phone and email after the list was made public. The signatories said that by obtaining accreditation from the separatists, they were able to inform the public of the crimes committed in the area, including the downing of the Malaysian Airlines plane over the region in July 2014.
The journalists also said that in 2014 alone, at least 80 journalists were detained by eastern Ukrainian separatists in connection with their work and that some of them were tortured. They urged the hackers to remove the list from the Internet.
The AIB encourages the journalists and media workers on the list to take extra precautions for securing their email accounts and digital information.
A video purporting to show the execution of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto by “IS” militants has been released.
Kenji Goto went to Syria in October, reportedly to secure the release of another Japanese man, Haruna Yukawa.
In the video, Goto is seen kneeling in an orange jumpsuit beside a black-uniformed, masked figure who addresses the Japanese government in British-accented English and wielding a knife. The speaker has been tentatively identified as “Jihadi John”, who has apparently appeared in other execution videos. The video cuts back and forth between two camera positions and care has been taken in recording the speaker. The video also contains carefully designed graphics.
Goto’s mother, Junko Ishido, read from a prepared statement from her home in Koganei, western Tokyo:
“Kenji has passed away. I am at a loss for words, facing such a regretful death. The only thing I can do now is to shed tears of deep sorrow…I strongly hope we can hand down Kenji’s wish of creating a society without war and saving children’s lives from war and poverty.”
An Azeri court has extended the pre-trial detention of independent journalist and RFE/RL contributor Khadija Ismayilova for an additional two months.
“We are devastated by this decision, which lacks any factual basis and violates the basic requirements of due process,” said Nenad Pejic, editor in chief and co-CEO of US state broadcaster RFE/RL. “The extension of her sentence can only be interpreted as an act of revenge by Azeri authorities against the country’s leading investigative reporter.”
RFE/RL’s Baku bureau was raided and sealed shut on December 26 by agents of the state’s “grave crimes investigations committee” in connection with a new law on so-called “foreign agents.” The same law was invoked to force the National Democratic Institute, IREX, and other organizations supporting civil society development to suspend their local operations.
RFE/RL sent a letter to Azeri authorities earlier this week requesting that the Baku bureau be reopened and employees resume their work without fear for their security and safety.
Ismayilova, who has reported extensively on the financial activities of family members of Azeri President Ilham Aliyev, was arrested and jailed for two months on December 5 on charges of inciting a former colleague to attempt suicide.
The Association for International Broadcasting today condemned the detention of Baku-based staff of RFE/RL and a raid on the broadcaster’s bureau in the Azerbaijani capital.
Police detain RFE/RL staff in Baku, Azerbaijan
The raid on RFE/RL’s bureau took place on 26 December, seizing documents, computers, memory sticks and other items. The office was then sealed, preventing staff from accessing the bureau. The following day the first of a series of raids on homes of RFE/RL employees in Baku began, with a number of staff – including the bureau’s cleaner – detained. No charges have been brought against any of the RFE/RL staff.
“It appears that Azerbaijan is continuing a comprehensive campaign against the freedom of expression and the press,” said Simon Spanswick, chief executive of AIB. “This latest act follows the detention in February and most recently in December of Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova, who contributes to RFE/RL and other media outlets. The raid on RFE/RL’s bureau in Baku and the detention of many of the station’s staff – including the office cleaner – shows a total disregard for media freedom in the country. AIB calls on the authorities to cease this campaign of intimidation and allow free reporting in Azerbaijan.”
The raids and detention of RFE/RL staff comes as the broadcaster is under investigation as a “foreign-funded entity”. The offices of a range of non-governmental organisations including the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX), the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) and the Media Rights Institute were raided and sealed in August 2014.
International radio stations – including the BBC, Radio Azadliq (the Azeri-language service of RFE/RL), and Voice of America – were taken off the air in Azerbaijan in 2008. International stations have broadcast on satellite or via the Internet since then.
The raids come soon after Azerbaijan’s six-month presidency of the Council of Europe ended in November. The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation.
“Azerbaijan has sought to position itself as an important player both regionally and in the global arena,” commented Spanswick. “These latest moves are against international broadcasters and non-governmental organisations that are seeking to assist in the development of Azerbaijan. The raids demonstrate that the country is retreating from the international stage, rather than taking its place on it. It is time to once again move forward. The country can demonstrate this through ceasing the harassment of journalists and NGOs. Instead, the country should uphold the ideals of the Council of Europe.”
AIB will be raising the matter with the Azerbaijan Ambassador in London and with the authorities in Baku.
Twelve employees of RFE/RL’s Baku bureau have been forcibly detained by Azerbaijani authorities for questioning, with more ordered to appear for questioning today or face similar detentions.
All 12 were released without charge on December 28 after being questioned for up to 12 hours in the latest crackdown against the activities of RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service, known locally as Radio Azadliq. Those summoned for questioning were not allowed representation by a lawyer.
Journalists with RFE/RL’s Azerbaijani Service reported Saturday that police were pursuing them individually, going directly to their homes to take them in for questioning following a raid on the service’s Baku bureau on Friday.
In a move the news bureau’s legal team called “unprecedented – even by Azeri standards,” police late in the evening on December 27 knocked on the doors of at least four bureau reporters demanding that they accompany them to the prosecutor’s office for questioning. An additional eight journalists were told to report for questioning on Monday.
“These people are being dragged to the prosecutor’s office by force and by threats,” said one of the lawyers, who asked that his name be withheld out of concerns for his personal safety. “By being summoned over the weekend, they are being denied the opportunity to have any legal defense, despite the fact that by Azeri law a witness is normally summoned by phone or official summons to enable a lawyer to be present.”
RFE/RL Editor in Chief and Co-CEO Nenad Pejic condemned the police action, and said Azeri authorities are “terrorising our staff and their families.”
In one case, a journalist’s mother answered the door and was told by police that RFE/RL’s bureau is closed and that the daughter must go with them to have “a conversation.” In addition to the journalists, the bureau’s cleaning woman was also confronted at her home by Azeri police.
The employees, who have all requested legal representation for their questioning sessions, have been told they will be taken by force to the prosecutor’s office if they do not cooperate. A lawyer for the bureau who demanded that his clients’ right to counsel be respected was threatened by Iqbal Huseynov, a senior investigator in the case, with being disbarred.
Siyavoush Novruzov, deputy executive secretary for the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party, commented on the raid on Friday, characterizing it as a national security issue. Speaking to the local web portal Media Forum, he said, “Every place that works for foreign intelligence and the Armenian lobby should be searched.”
In a related development, a Baku court yesterday heard and rejected the appeal of investigative reporter and RFE/RL contributor Khadija Ismayilova, who remains in prison after being sentenced on December 5 to two months’ detention on charges of inciting a colleague to attempt suicide.
