Journalists Gather for Press Freedom
By RAVI NESSMAN, Associated Press Writer
WINDHOEK, Namibia (AP) - Since 1989, 71-year-old journalist U Win Tin has been imprisoned in Myanmar, subjected to beatings and forced for a time to live in a former kennel for prison guard dogs.
On Thursday, he was awarded an international press freedom prize by the United Nations, part of an event in Windhoek, Namibia held to commemorate World Press Freedom Day.
Myanmar's military regime has offered to free U Win Tin, editor of the independent Hanthawati daily newspaper and a pro-democracy activist, if he renounces all political activities.
``Even crippled with pain, with no prospects of ever leaving the cell where he is kept, U Win Tin has regularly refused these offers,'' said Prescott Low, former president of the World Association of Newspapers, who accepted the award on U Win Tin's behalf.
Participants at the meeting called the plight of U Win Tin and other journalists evidence that a decade after the international movement for press freedom began in earnest, journalists across the world continue to be beaten, jailed, harassed and executed. They called press freedom an antidote to oppression.
``Freedom of the press ensures that the abuse of every other freedom can be known, can be challenged and even defeated,'' U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a statement read to the conference.``Where a free press is imperiled, muzzled or banned altogether, every other freedom is limited too, and democracy itself threatened,'' he said.
The gathering in Namibia marks the 10th anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, a document written under the auspices of the United Nations that promised to promote free, independent media throughout Africa. That gathering was followed by similar meetings in Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Europe.``Freedom of expression has become so much a way of life in many democratic societies that, in some places, World Press Freedom Day goes largely unnoticed,'' said Koichiro Master, director-general of UNESCO. ``However, in many other countries, freedom of the press is far from a reality.''More than 80 journalists remain in jail across the world, activists said. In Colombia, two journalists were killed since April 27. Other countries harass journalists and ban newspapers with impunity .
U Win Tin has been imprisoned by the government of Myanmar, also known as Burma, on accusations he was a member of the Communist Party. His sentence is expected to keep him in jail until 2008. Human Rights Watch said he was kept in a cell in Myanmar's notorious Insein prison that once housed prison dogs.
After he was found smuggling letters to the United Nations, he was sentenced to five more years in prison for possessing writing materials, Human Rights Watch said.On Thursday he was awarded the $25,000 Guillermo Cano World Freedom Prize, named after a Colombian journalist assassinated in 1986 by the drug cartels in that country.
In a brief statement smuggled out of Myanmar and read to the conference, U Win Tin said he accepted the award on behalf of all people fighting for democracy in his country. He said, he hoped to use the money one day to support a foundation for writers fighting for democracy.
Also Thursday, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists released its annual report of the top 10 enemies of the press. Russian President Vladimir Putin was added to the list because of accusations of harassing the independent media, failing to stop attacks on journalists and using a government-controlled company to take over a private television station, newspaper and newsweekly.The list also included Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
The Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists said Wednesday that more than 1,000 journalists and media staff have lost their lives over the past decade.