The last year has seen tumultuous shifts for media freedom. But core problems still remain in the world’s troublespots, says Padraig Reidy
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Mexico’s Congress this week approved a law for the protection of human rights workers and journalists. The law requires that journalists and media outlets facing attacks because of their work should be offered protection.
The law was unanimously approved, perhaps as a result of the news that on 27 April, two days before the vote, journalist Regina Hernandez was found beaten and strangled in her home in the southern state of Veracruz.
In March, the murder of journalists was made a federal crime. State and municipal authorities are often suspected of being susceptible to pressure from organised crime groups or corrupt local officials. Most of the murders of journalists occur in the interior of Mexico, very often on the US border, where intense drug cartel wars have made the region one of the most dangerous in the world for reporters.
Threats have forced Liberian journalist Mae Azango into hiding after she reported on female genital mutilation (FGM). Azango, who is currently in the United States, faced a backlash after she wrote an article for leading independent daily newspaper FrontPage Africa titled Growing pains: Sande tradition of genital cutting threatens health of Liberian women. The piece forced Liberian officials to declare that the ritual should be stopped, people affiliated with the Sande secret women’s society — which performs FGM — have reportedly threatened the journalist with violence.
A Tunis court is expected to issue a verdict in the prosecution of a television station broadcaster which aired the award-winning French-Iranian film Persepolis tomorrow (3 May). If convicted of “violating sacred values”, Nabil Karoui, Nessma TV’s owner and two of his employees face up to to three years in jail which ironically is also UNESCO World Press Freedom Day.
The 2007 animated film, which contains a scene where God is depicted as a white-bearded man, was broadcast a few weeks before the October 2011 constituent assembly election. Its broadcast sparked violent protests: Nessma TV’s headquarters and Karoui’s home were attacked by ultra-conservative protesters who consider pictorial representations of God as haram (forbidden).
The court hearings were marked by tension and violence. In January, 23 journalists and activists standing in solidarity with Nessma TV were assaulted. On 19 April, and due to high tensions outside the courtroom where pro- and anti-Nessma protesters gathered, the court decided to delay issuing a verdict to 3 May.
“I hope that the court will shut this file for good, put law into practice, and put an end to this waste of time, and effort,” Sofiene Ben H’mida, a journalist for Nessma, told Index. Ben H’mida was himself assaulted by protesters showing support to the Interior Minister Ali Laarayedh on 11 January.
“The Nessma team is confident and no matter what the verdict will be, we have enough courage to continue our job”, he added.