Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF), an international press...
Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF), an international press rights group, condemned the sentencing to death of a Pakistan newspaper editor on drugs charges, calling it an attempt to gag him for his critical reports
Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF), an international press rights group, condemned the sentencing to death of a Pakistan newspaper editor on drugs charges, calling it an attempt to gag him for his critical reports.
In a letter to President General Pervez Musharraf, the Paris-based RSF called for the military ruler to ensure a fair hearing of Rehmat Shah Afridi's appeal and to grant him a pardon if the harsh sentence is upheld.
Afridi, chief executive and editor-in-chief of the Peshawar-based, English-language daily The Frontier Post, can appeal against the death sentence within a week, legal sources said."RSF fears that the journalist was punished more for his critical coverage of Anti-Narcotics Force activities than for supposed drug trafficking," RSF general secretary Robert Menard said in a statement. His arrest came weeks after his newspaper published stories accusing ANF officers of being involved in drug smuggling.
In a letter to President General Pervez Musharraf, the Paris-based RSF called for the military ruler to ensure a fair hearing of Rehmat Shah Afridi's appeal and to grant him a pardon if the harsh sentence is upheld.
Afridi, chief executive and editor-in-chief of the Peshawar-based, English-language daily The Frontier Post, can appeal against the death sentence within a week, legal sources said."RSF fears that the journalist was punished more for his critical coverage of Anti-Narcotics Force activities than for supposed drug trafficking," RSF general secretary Robert Menard said in a statement. His arrest came weeks after his newspaper published stories accusing ANF officers of being involved in drug smuggling.
— SOURCES
- (Sources: Reuters, 28/06/2001)