| | During the summer, I worked for Doctors Without Borders, a medical help organization. They really piqued my interest in the topic, and I've got to admit... I'm hooked. I can't imagine not working in a related area.
So good news for me: Doctors Without Borders has a sister organization, Reporters Without Borders. I knew (abstractly) that it existed before, but I didn't really take notice untill I read today's Independent. The front page was all about bloggers who have been imprisoned for their posts; a topical subject if there ever was one. It focused on four people:
Shi Tao, from China, who's currently serving 10 years in jail for releasing the details of the Chinese government's plans to handle news coverage of the 2004 Tianamen Square anniversary. Disturbingly, it as Yahoo!'s Hong Kong branch that dug and found the links that proved that Shi was the person to leak the details. (Disturbing in the sense that a supposedly independent company acted as -- and this is Reporters without Borders' words -- a "police informant".)
Kianoosh Sanjari, from Iran. He's being held in the "notorious" ward 206 of Evin prison after blogging about other dissidents who were arrested before him. (The blog can be found here, if you can read Persian.)
Quoth Regime Change Iran:
"According to received reports, esteemed activist and blogger, Kianoosh Sanjari is now officially known to be detained in the notorious ward 209 of Evin prison which is the section belonging to the torturers and agents of the ministry of intelligence and security. Reportedly, the prison guards refuse him blankets and continue to reiterate to him that: “This time we’re not going to let you get away”. He is brought out of his solitary confinement several times a day under the guise of being taken to interrogation; however it is for nothing more than continued beatings and harassment."
Mohammed Abbou, from Tunisia, a lawyer who has been imprissoned since imprisoned since March 1 last year after criticising Tunisian president Zine el Abidine Ben Ali in an article posted on the Internet. He is serving a four year sentence, The Independent says, after he denounced the torture of political prisoners in Tunisia, and compared Ben Ali to Israels' then prime minister Ariel Sharon.
And finaly,
Nguyen Vu Binh, from Vietnam. Seven years in prison and three years house arrest for "spying", The Independent says. Vu Binh wrote articles, which were posted online, calling for greater political and economic freedoms. The journalist, who previously worked for Tap Chi Cong San, the Communist Newspaper’s magazine, also called for the establishment of a liberal democratic political party.
In every case; Reporters Without Borders were involved. By the way, China (163rd), Iran (162nd), Tunisia (148th) and Vietnam (155th) are all far far at the bottom of Reporters Without Borders' Annual Press Freedom Index, listing 168 countries by how open they are towards freedom of the press.
Throwing in a (well, maybe not quite) random statistic, the United States is in a shared 53rd place, together with Botswana, Croatia and Tonga, part of a regular fall down from 17th in 2002. A legacy of the Bush administration and its war on terror if there ever was one.
So, appart from being a good read, The Independent turned me towards Reporters Without Borders. I'm going to contact them and see if I can get any work with them; even a smidgeon of work experience would be fantastic. I think there's a lot I can learn from this organization. Wish me luck.
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| | Posted 10/27/2006 6:41 PM - 79 Views - 2 eProps - 2 comments
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