Release of British newsman demanded
PESHAWAR- Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontiers) has criticized the government for failing to secure the releases of British journalist of Indian origin, Amardeep Bassey.
“It has now been nine days since the interior ministry ordered that the British journalist be expelled, but the order has clearly not reached the competent authorities in Peshawar. Such incompetence is disgraceful when it affects the freedom of an innocent person,” said RSF General Secretary Robert Minard in a letter sent to the Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider. The RSF called for immediate application of the decision to release the reporter of weekly Sunday Mercury and his two Pakistani guides.
“Holding a foreign journalist on simple suspicion of spying, and based on discriminatory prejudice, is a terrible shame for a government, which claims to respect press freedom,” the letter read.
According to information obtained by the RSF, Bassey is being held in a cell in Khyber House here. In spite of an order given on May 27 by the interior ministry to expel Bassey, his jailers have still not made the necessary arrangements for his release and expulsion. In spite of affirmations by several officials, including the Pakistani ambassador to Belgium, Bassey has still not left his cell.
According to the RSF statement, Bassey, 29, was arrested on May 10 on the Afghan border because of a visa problem. Members of the secret police questioned him for several hours, trying to get him to admit to spying for India, and seized his journalistic equipment.
Source: Dawn
Date:6/7/2002
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