Committee for Protection of Journalists (CPJ) approaches for Afridi’s fair retrial
LAHORE- A recently formed association of Pakistani journalists in the United States has sought ‘fair’ retrial of Rehmat Shah Afridi, owner-editor of the The Frontier Post.
The South Asian Journalists Union of North America (SAJUNA), as the body has been named, recently took up Mr. Afridi’s case with the Committee for Protection of Journalists (CPJ) at its New York office.
The CPJ said it would approach Pakistani authorities for justice to the chief editor of the Peshawar-based daily.
According to a message received here, this assurance was given to a SAJUNA team which called on CPJ’s editorial and programme director Richard Murphy and programme coordinator for Asia Kaveeta Menon recently.
Mr. Afridi was handed down death by a court on the charge of drug trafficking earlier this month.
The CPJ is working for press freedom and safeguarding the interests of working journalists all over the world.
The SAJUNA team comprised its president Wahid Bux Bhatti Wahidi; Jehangir Khattak, secretary general; Syed Nasim Akhtar, publisher of New York based Pakistan Voice; columnist Tahir Malik; and Huma Ali, former president of the Lahore Press Club.
The SAJUNA team presented a memorandum to the CPJ, asking it to call upon the Pakistan government to give Rehman Shah Afridi a fair chance to defend himself in the court of law as “his earlier conviction was done in a manner which raised questions about fairness of the trial.”
SAJUNA believes that Mr. Afridi’s arrest and subsequent trial did not meet the demands of justice.
Source: Dawn
Date:7/30/2001
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