{"id":6867,"date":"2024-05-03T20:27:36","date_gmt":"2024-05-03T20:27:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/internationalpulse.net\/?p=6867"},"modified":"2024-05-03T20:27:36","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T20:27:36","slug":"all-jailed-journalists-should-be-released","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internationalpulse.net\/?p=6867","title":{"rendered":"All jailed journalists should be released"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nWASHINGTON \u2014\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
U.S. President Joe Biden has called for the release of all imprisoned journalists \u2014 including three American reporters \u2014 who have been jailed over their work, in a Friday statement commemorating World Press Freedom Day.<\/p>\n
\u201cJournalism should not be a crime anywhere on Earth,\u201d Biden said in the statement. \u201cOn World Press Freedom Day, the United States calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all journalists who have been put behind bars for simply doing their jobs. And we call for the protection of journalists everywhere, including during military operations.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the end of 2023, 320 journalists were jailed for their work around the world, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.<\/p>\n
That total includes three American journalists: Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva in Russia, and Austin Tice in Syria.<\/p>\n
Gershkovich, a Russian correspondent for The Wall Street Journal<\/em>, has been jailed since March 2023 on espionage charges that he, his employer and the U.S. government vehemently deny. The State Department has also declared him wrongfully detained.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re so proud of him. I can\u2019t believe he\u2019s holding up so well. And he works so, so hard to be able to keep his spirits up,\u201d Gershkovich\u2019s sister Danielle said at a Friday in Washington Friday commemorating World Press Freedom Day.<\/p>\n
Danielle said her family manages to stay in touch with Evan through letters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get a letter from him \u2014 it\u2019s like Christmas morning. And I hear his voice in my head when I\u2019m reading it. And it just feels like I get to chat to my brother. It’s a lifeline to my parents and I,\u201d she said at the event, which was held at The Washington Post<\/em> headquarters.<\/p>\n
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\n<\/div>\nFILE – Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who is in custody on espionage charges, speaks with his lawyers while standing behind a glass wall of an enclosure for defendants as he attends a court hearing in Moscow, Russia, April 23, 2024.<\/span> \n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
Since his jailing, Russian authorities have not publicly revealed any evidence to substantiate the spying accusations against Gershkovich, who was accredited by Russia\u2019s Foreign Ministry to work in the country. The reporter will be held in pretrial detention until at least June.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Kurmasheva, a Prague-based editor at VOA\u2019s sister outlet Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty, has been jailed for more than six months and is also set to be held in pretrial detention until at least June.<\/p>\n
The dual U.S.-Russian national traveled to Russia in May 2023 for a family emergency. Her passports were confiscated when she tried to leave the country in June 2023. She was waiting for them to be returned when she was arrested in October 2023.<\/p>\n
Kurmasheva stands accused of failing to self-register as a so-called \u201cforeign agent\u201d and spreading what Moscow views as false information about the Russia military. The journalist and her employer reject the charges against her.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s the mom of two wonderful young women who had to grow up awfully quickly over the last six months that she’s been in prison,\u201d RFE\/RL President Stephen Capus said at the event.<\/p>\n
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\n<\/div>\nFILE – Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor for VOA sister outlet Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty, listens to her lawyer during a court hearing in Kazan, Russia, on April 1, 2024.<\/span> \n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
In a prerecorded video message, Kurmasheva\u2019s 15-year-old daughter Bibi called for her mother\u2019s immediate release.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mom, Alsu, has been behind bars in Russia for six months now, because she is a journalist,\u201d she said. \u201cMy sister and I are so proud of her, and we miss her so, so much. She needs to be freed immediately so she can come home to us. Free Alsu.\u201d<\/p>\n
Press freedom groups have criticized the State Department for not yet declaring Kurmasheva wrongfully detained, which would open additional resources to help secure her release.<\/p>\n
Russia\u2019s Washington embassy did not immediately reply to VOA\u2019s email requesting comment.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s World Press Freedom Day takes place against a backdrop that experts say is concerning for journalists around the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cMedia freedom is under siege,\u201d U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday in a statement. \u201cWithout facts, we cannot fight mis- and dis-information. Without accountability, we will not have strong policies in place. Without press freedom, we won\u2019t have any freedom. A free press is not a choice, but a necessity.\u201d<\/p>\n
In particular, the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas has led to the deadliest period for journalists since the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ, began gathering data in 1992. As of Friday, at least 97 journalists have been killed since the war began, including 92 Palestinians, two Israelis, and three Lebanese, according to CPJ.<\/p>\n
\u201cJournalists are civilians, so they need to be protected as any civilian is during a war zone. They shouldn\u2019t be targeted,\u201d CPJ chief Jodie Ginsberg said at the event on Friday.<\/p>\n
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\n<\/div>\nFILE – In this image taken from undated video posted to YouTube, American freelance journalist Austin Tice, who had been reporting for U.S. news organizations in Syria until his disappearance in August 2012, prays in Arabic and English while blindfolded in the presence of gunmen.<\/span> \n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
New York-based CPJ has accused Israel of targeting journalists, which the Israeli government has denied.<\/p>\n
About half of the world\u2019s population is set to vote in national elections in 2024, which has press freedom experts concerned about the safety of reporters and potentially harmful effects for press freedom.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year is going to be really indicative not just of the future of a free press, but the future of democracy, because how we treat our media in the run-up to these elections is a litmus test for how the other freedoms that we enjoy, and the other democratic rights we enjoy, are likely to be treated afterwards,\u201d Ginsberg said.<\/p>\n
Discussions about press freedom tend to center on the negative, but Clayton Weimers, the head of the U.S. office of Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, said it\u2019s also important to recognize governments that are defending press freedom.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorld Press Freedom Day should be a celebration of the values of the free press,\u201d Weimers said.<\/p>\n
RSF on Friday released its annual press freedom index, which ranks 180 countries and territories in terms of media freedom. Norway and Denmark topped the list this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no freedom without press freedom,\u201d Weimers said. \u201cIt\u2019s the freedom on which all the others are based.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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