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The 15th Reporters Without Borders – Fondation de France prize was presented in Paris on Tuesday, 12 December 2006

The 15th Reporters Without Borders – Fondation de France prize was awarded to a journalist, a media, a press freedom defender and a cyber-dissident. The 2006 laureates are:

- U WIN TIN (Burma) in the "Journalist" category

- NOVAYA GAZETA (Russia) in the "Media" category

- JOURNALISTE EN DANGER (Democratic Republic of Congo) in the "Defender of press freedom" category

- GUILLERMO FARINAS HERNANDEZ (Cuba) in the "Cyberdissident" category

The 15th Reporters Without Borders - Fondation de France 2006 prize is awarded to:

THE JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR who, through their work, attitude or principled stands demonstrated a strong commitment to press freedom.

The laureate is 76-year-old Burmese journalist U Win Tin, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for "subversion" and "anti-government propaganda" in 1989. After more than 17 years in prison and despite faltering health, the country’s most renowned journalist will not give way. In his special cell at Insein jail, near Rangoon, Saya, "The Sage", as his comrades call him, refuses to renounce his commitment to the National League for Democracy, robbed by the military junta of a landslide electoral victory in 1990. He continues to call for the unconditional release of thousands of prisoners of opinion held in the country’s prisons. U Win Tin was one of the political mentors of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, also deprived of her freedom. U Win Tin, who has been weakened by a urinary infection and two heart attacks, is only allowed two visits per month.

The other 2006 nominees in this category were Dawit Isaac (Eritrea) and Hollman Felipe Morris (Colombia).

A MEDIA which exemplifies the struggle for the right to inform the public and to be informed.

The prize goes to Russian bi-weekly Novaya Gazeta, the newspaper for which Anna Politkovskaya was working when she was murdered in Moscow on 7 October 2006. Novaya Gazeta carries out investigations regularly exposing corruption in the Russian administration. Also highly critical of government policy, the newspaper carried numerous reports by Anna Politkovskaya on Chechnya, but also on developments in Russian society. The founders of the “New Newspaper” set themselves the objective of being independent and of extending its circulation throughout Russia.

The other 2006 nominees in this category were the Democratic Voice of Burma (Burma), Uthayan (Sri Lanka) and An-Nahar (Lebanon).

A DEFENDER of press freedom

The prize is awarded to the organisation “Journalist in danger” (JED), based in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Founded in 1997 by journalists Donat M'Baya Tshimanga and Tshivis Tshivuadi, JED is one of Africa’s most active and respected press freedom organisations., JED is particularly combative when it comes to reminding easily corrupted journalists of their duty. It is also in the vanguard of the struggle to get the government to reform unfair and illiberal legislation under which journalists are regularly sent to the capital’s Penitentiary and Re-education centre in the capital.

The other 2006 nominees in this category were the Centre for Journalism and Public Ethics (CEPET, Mexico), Tadjigoul Begmedova (Turkmenistan) and Anwar al-Bunni (Syria).

A CYBER-DISSIDENT prevented from informing the public online

The prize is awarded to Guillermo Fariñas Hernández (Cuba), head of the independent news agency Cubanacán Press. In February 2006, he began a hunger and thirst strike to demand access to a “free Internet” for all Cubans. The authorities forcibly hospitalised him and put him on a drip to bring his protest to an end, a step which led to even greater international media interest., Guillermo Fariñas has said he is ready to die so that his compatriots can finally have the right to be informed. He has been in intensive care since 20 August because of kidney and heart problems. The authorities did offer to allow him “limited” access to the Internet, but he refused, explaining that he could not honourably exercise his profession as a journalist by only looking at news that had been filtered by the government. He is continuing his work at Cubanacán and has become one of the leading voices among Cuban opposition journalists.

The other 2006 nominees in this category were Habib Saleh (Syria) and Yang Zili (China).

Reporters Without Borders pays tribute to Gebran Tuweni

Gebran Tuweni, publisher of the daily An-Nahar, was murdered in a car bombing in Beirut on 12 December 2005. He was the third journalist - after Samir Kassir and May Shidiac - to be targeted during 2005. The investigation into his death has now stalled, because of political obstacles and violence which continues to rock the country.

Dancer Yalda Younes will perform at the ceremony in tribute to this major Lebanese press figure in the play NO, written by Zad Moultaka in honour of the Lebanese journalist Samir Kassir, created in Beirut on 2 June 2006, to mark the first anniversary of his murder.

This musical and choreography play takes as the source of its soundtrack the memory of war and of fear and fascination which the composer transforms to extract the emotion. The sounds come from a 1975 recording made at the start of the war which ravaged Lebanon. Behind the "flamenco" steps of the dancer can be heard the roar of machineguns, explosions and so on….

For further information about this show, contact Catherine Peillon on 06 08 18 69 98 or catherinepeillon@wanadoo.fr.

New York, December 7, 2006—The number of journalists jailed worldwide for their work increased for the second consecutive year, and one in three is now an Internet blogger, online editor, or Web-based reporter, according to a new analysis by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

CPJ's annual worldwide census found 134 journalists imprisoned on December 1, an increase of nine from the 2005 tally. China, Cuba, Eritrea, and Ethiopia are the top four jailers among the 24 nations who imprison journalists. Detailed accounts of each imprisoned journalist are posted on CPJ’s Web site.

Print reporters, editors, and photographers continue to make up the largest professional category, with 67 cases in 2006, but Internet journalists are a growing segment of the census and now constitute the second largest category, with 49 cases. The number of imprisoned journalists whose work appeared primarily on the Web, via e-mail, or in another electronic form has increased each year since CPJ recorded the first jailed Internet writer in its 1997 census. The 2006 figure is the highest number of Internet journalists CPJ has ever tallied in its annual survey. The roster of jailed Internet journalists includes China’s “citizen” reporters, the independent Cuban writers who file reports for overseas Web sites, and the U.S. video blogger Joshua Wolf who refused to hand over footage to a grand jury.

“We’re at a crucial juncture in the fight for press freedom because authoritarian states have made the Internet a major front in their effort to control information,” CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said. “China is challenging the notion that the Internet is impossible to control or censor, and if it succeeds there will be far-ranging implications, not only for the medium but for press freedom all over the world.”

Over all, “antistate” allegations such as subversion, divulging state secrets, and acting against the interests of the state are the most common charges used to imprison journalists worldwide. Eighty-four journalists are jailed under these charges, many by the Chinese, Cuban, and Ethiopian governments.

But CPJ also found an increasing number of journalists held without any charge or trial at all. Twenty imprisoned journalists, or 15 percent, have been denied even the most basic elements of due process, CPJ found. Eritrea, which accounts for more than half of these cases, keeps journalists in secret locations and withholds basic information about their well-being. The United States has imprisoned two journalists without charge or trial: Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein, now held for eight months in Iraq without due process; and Al-Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Haj, jailed five years and now held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

“In Cuba and in China, journalists are often jailed after summary trials and held in miserable conditions far from their families. But the cruelty and injustice of imprisonment is compounded where there is zero due process and journalists slip into oblivion. In Eritrea, the worst abuser in this regard, there is no check on authority and it is unclear whether some jailed journalists are even alive,” Simon added.

For the eighth consecutive year, China is the world's leading jailer of journalists, with 31 imprisoned. About three-quarters of the cases in China were brought under vague “antistate” laws; 19 cases involve Internet journalists. China’s list includes Shi Tao, an internationally recognized journalist serving a 10-year sentence for posting notes online detailing propaganda department instructions on how to cover the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. The government declared the instructions a “state secret.”

Cuba ranked second, with 24 reporters, writers, and editors behind bars, most of them jailed in the country's massive March 2003 crackdown on dissidents and the independent press. Nearly all of those on Cuba’s list had filed news and commentary to overseas Web sites. These journalists used phone lines and faxes, not computers, to transmit their reports; once posted, their articles were seen across the world but almost never in Cuba, where the government heavily restricts Internet access.

Eritrea is the leader among African countries, with 23 journalists in prison. These prisoners are being held incommunicado, and their well-being is a growing source of concern. A non-bylined report, circulated on several Web sites in August and deemed by CPJ sources to be generally credible, claimed that three of the journalists may have died. CPJ and other international organizations have urgently sought information from Asmara, but the government has refused to provide basic facts about the journalists’ whereabouts, their health, or whether they are still alive. 

Neighboring Ethiopia has imprisoned 18 journalists, most of whom are being tried for treason after being swept up by authorities in a November 2005 crackdown on dissent. A CPJ investigation in April found no basis for the government’s treason charges. Burma, which is holding seven journalists, is fifth among nations, followed by Uzbekistan, which is holding five journalists. The United States, Azerbaijan, and Burundi are seventh on the list of nations, each having jailed three journalists.

Here are other trends and details that emerged in CPJ's analysis:

In about 10 percent of cases, governments used a variety of charges unrelated to journalism to retaliate against critical writers, editors, and photojournalists. Such charges ranged from property damage and regulatory violations to drug possession and association with extremists. In the cases included in this census, CPJ has determined that the charges were most likely lodged in reprisal for the journalist’s work.

Spreading ethnic or religious “hatred” was the next most common charge used to imprison journalists worldwide. Such charges were lodged in about four percent of cases.

Criminal defamation charges were filed in about three percent of cases, a slight decline from the rate recorded in recent years. A growing number of nations, particularly in Western Europe, have moved to decriminalize defamation and insult.

Violations of censorship rules account for another three percent of cases. Burma, for example, jailed two journalists in March for violating prohibitions on photographing or filming the country’s new capital, Pyinmana.

The longest-serving journalists in CPJ's census were Chen Renjie and Lin Youping, who were jailed in China in July 1983 for publishing a pamphlet titled Ziyou Bao (Freedom Report). Codefendant Chen Biling was later executed.

CPJ believes that journalists should not be imprisoned for doing their jobs. The organization has sent letters expressing its serious concerns to each country that has imprisoned a journalist. In addition, CPJ sent requests during the year to Eritrean and U.S. officials seeking details in the cases in which journalists were held without publicly disclosed charges.

CPJ's list is a snapshot of those incarcerated at midnight on December 1, 2006. It does not include the many journalists imprisoned and released throughout the year; accounts of those cases can be found at www.cpj.org. Journalists remain on CPJ’s list until the organization determines with reasonable certainty that they have been released or have died in custody.

Journalists who either disappear or are abducted by nonstate entities, including criminal gangs, rebels, or militant groups, are not included on the imprisoned list. Their cases are classified as "missing" or "abducted." Details of these cases are also available on CPJ's Web site. 

The emergence of the new publications has brought the total number of private magazines and journals being sold in the domestic markets to 250 and 200 respectively, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Board of the Ministry of In-formation was quoted as saying.

According to the report, among the journals granted over the past two years, sports journals dominated in number, followed by news journals which carry domestic and international news, news related to arts, children, health and crime.

Myanmar has readjusted its press scrutiny and registration policy by lifting some restrictions previously imposed upon news writing by journals and magazines with the aim of enhancing the development of press society.

According to the ministry which has taken over the duties of the press scrutiny and registration from the Ministry of Home Affairs since February 2005, the publication and distribution of journals and magazines are being continuously granted as long as it conforms to the prescribed policy.

The ministry outlined seven-point press policy for writers to adhere to, which include opening up to reporters of journals and magazines on writing about government departments but be constructive; permitting of writing on domes-tic and international news quoting foreign media but be in the interest of the nation orbe rejected if harming the nation.

The policy permits carrier of translated international news andcomments in local media but with assurance that it does not cause disturbances among the nations.

The policy permits writing news on natural disaster but in a confirmed manner.

The number of journals covering domestic news has grown over the past eight years in Myanmar, thanks to market demand and the emergence of more such journals also contributes to the development of journalism, readers said.

Leading news journals include Flower News, Yangon Times, Myanmar Times, Weekly Eleven News, 7-Day News, Kumudra, Khit Myanmar, International Eleven, Voice, 24/7 News, Zaygwet, Internet,Snap Shot and Popular.

Meanwhile, the New Light of Myanmar, both Myanmar and English languages, as well as the Mirror remain as the country's three major state-run dailies acting as the government's mouthpieces.

Nearly 100 Burmese reporters, authors and editors from several media groups, together with foreign correspondents and media consultants, attended the conference in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand.

BMA Chairperson Maung Maung Myint said the media group is trying to set up an identification or press card system for Burmese journalists traveling and working in Thailand and throughout the region that would give them greater freedom to do their job without harassment or interference.

This year’s conference saw the formation of the Burmese Journalist Protection Committee, which will be responsible for issuing press cards beginning next year. “I expect it will take at least six months [to issue identification cards],” said Maung Maung Myint.

The group is also considering the formation of the Burma Media Institute, which would provide educational assistance, including scholarships, to Burmese journalists.

The three-day conference included panel discussions and presentations on issues such as networking, media law and ethnic news agencies, in an effort to support Burmese journalists inside Burma and in neighboring countries such as Thailand, India and Bangladesh. Attendees also received newsroom vocabulary and pronunciation guides

Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association voiced outrage today at the military government's use of intimidation to disrupt the celebration of leading writer and journalist Ludu Daw Amar's 91st birthday today in the central city of Mandalay.

"The treatment reserved for this 91-year-old woman writer is akin to the way 77-year-old U Win Tin, another famous journalist, has been held for the past 17 years in Insein prison," the two organisations said. "Burma's generals are obsessed with controlling dissident writers and have no consideration for people in general and intellectuals in particular."

The two organisations added: "We also condemn the Rangoon high court's refusal to hear the appeal presented by the lawyer of two men who were unfairly sentenced to 19 years in prison for publishing a collection of poems."

The celebration of Ludu Daw Amar's birthday was monitored by the authorities and paramilitary groups. The military government forced Taung Lay Lone monastery to cancellation its celebration, which in recent years has been drawing hundreds of writers and artists from all over the country. Ludu Daw Amar who co-founded the Ludu Daily News, has often used these occasions to condemn political and social oppression and the lack of press freedom.

This year, many government opponents and journalists cancelled plans to go to Mandalay for fear of reprisals. Military intelligence agents and members of the pro-government UDSA group kept both the monastery and Ludu Daw Amar's home under surveillance. Today, police were deployed around her home and filmed guests as they arrived.

The appeals rejected by the Rangoon high court were filed on behalf of Aung Than, a member of the National League for Democracy and Zeya Aung, a Pegu university student, who were given 19-year prison sentences in June for publishing a collection of political poems, crossing the Thai border illegally and cooperating with "illegal organisations."

Dr. Agnès Callamard, Executive Director, ARTICLE 19 said: "The UN Security Council holds the unique authority to act against threats to international peace and security, which includes situations of extreme and widespread human rights abuses. The Council must now take affirmative and immediate action in the form of a binding resolution on Burma. Failure to do so will be a slap in the face to human rights and an abrogation of its obligations under the UN Charter."

The UNSC held a formal discussion on Burma on 29 September, but no commitment to passing a resolution was made. The discussion had been prompted, at least in part, by a report commissioned by former President of the Czech Republic, Vacláv Havel, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The report concluded that Burma satisfies all the conditions for the adoption of a Security Council resolution to address cases of extreme violations of human rights.

The human rights situation in Burma is dire, with freedom of expression a serious casualty. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who has come to symbolise the fight for democracy and free expression in Burma, has spent a total of eleven years under house arrest. Leader of the National League for Democracy, Suu Kyi led her party to victory in the 1990 general elections, only to see the results nullified and the military refusing to hand over power. Suu Kyi's health is now said to be declining and she has reportedly been denied medical care.

Iris Lee

BANGKOK, Nov 13 (IPS) - They have completely different styles, but they are bound by a common goal -- a free Burma.

"Even if we don't see the riverbank, we still have to swim to reach the other side," murmurs Burmese cartoonist-in-exile Harn Lay during an interview. While he does not see the light at the end of the tunnel for his country at the moment, he is still hopeful.

This is a sentiment shared by New York-based Win Tun who, in an e- mail interview, said he believes he will one day be reunited with his family in Burma.

The works of the two cartoonists, being shown in a month-long exhibition at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand (FCCT) here in Bangkok, are aimed at creating more awareness -- through images, humour and irony -- about the plight of their country, which has been under military rule for decades. The show ends Nov. 30.

Harn Lay was in his early 20s when the pro-democracy uprising against the military in 1988 took place, sending thousands into exile and putting Burma in the international headlines. The crisis ended with a bloody military crackdown which left scores, mostly students killed, injured, or jailed.

Having studied fine arts at the School of Fine Arts Academy in Rangoon, Harn Lay never imagined that he would eventually move on from illustrating cinema billboards to witty, funny yet blunt portrayals of reality.

"I used to do just line art, that is, very simple, black-and- white drawings. But I thought that people are more attracted to coloured cartoons. The funnier, the more colourful, the better," says Harn Lay, who is known for his amusing and vibrant cartoons as shown in the Chiang Mai-based 'The Irrawaddy' magazine, where he is editorial cartoonist.

One of his memorable cartoons is that of Burmese leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe holding a birthday cake with candles that completely shut in detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy party whose victory in the 1990 election was never recognised by the military.

The cartoon, commemorating her 60th birthday and her 17th year under house arrest, has since featured in a textbook released by the Indian National Council of Educational Research and Training and used by ninth grade political science students.

In stark contrast is Win Tun's style-- the more familiar black-and- white, traditional cartoon. Popularly known as 'Mr Burma' after the English-language daily 'Bangkok Post' published his first cartoon outside Burma, 53-year-old Win Tun was a freelance cartoonist for several journals and magazines in Burma.

After receiving warnings from the government for his cartoons' anti-establishment content, he went into exile in 1990 and drew under the 'Mr Burma' pseudonym. When the Burmese government discovered his true identity, Win Tun was blacklisted. In 1995, he and his wife fled to the United States as political refugees. His mother, some brothers and sisters were left behind.

The government still issues warnings about his cartoons on the ‘Faxtoon' website and the Voice of Burma bulletin. However, this does not scare him. "I do not care how they (the government) could bother me, because I believe that I'm doing the right thing for my country," Win Tun said.

Like Win Tun, Harn Lay takes these threats in his stride. Both have embraced the difficulties that come with living in exile.

For Harn Lay, being free to express himself as an artist is like a breath of fresh air. "Although it's hard to live away from one's country, at least I can draw whatever I feel like, especially when it concerns Burmese politics," says Harn Lay who tries to keep in touch with relatives no matter how difficult.

Win Tun, meanwhile, says everything is fine where they are. "I am also learning a lot about how their system works here (in the United States). I hope someday we will be able to set up a good system for my country. That is my dream...," he says.

Both believe that cartoons are powerful means of delivering a message to the world, especially with regard to peace and freedom.

Explains Win Tun: "Cartoons are a very effective and peaceful method to point out the mistakes and unfair practices of people. (This is why) I always try to use language in my cartoons, for the government and all the Burmese people for them to read and notice. Because sometimes cartoons without words do not have as strong an impact than those with words."

Harn Lay is aware of this medium's power and says that his and his colleagues' cartoons somehow find their way to Burma. "It's not easy to distribute political cartoons in the country, but I have heard that these are being photocopied and circulated in Burma," he says.

Harn Lay's best piece may even have reached the hands of the junta's highest officials. This cartoon, a satire on the Burmese government's dam projects, shows a military official gloating over the new sources of electricity, but holding a fan in his hand in a room that has a light bulb that does not work.

Asked why the dream of a free Burma has been so elusive, Win Tun opines that the country needs a "new kind of medicine or a cure", especially when treating a "disease" such as the military.

Harn Lay says it does not help that many countries still maintain close ties with the junta-led government because this legitimises their rule. "The regime is supported by neighbouring countries through trade and business, which makes it hard for pro-democracy groups campaigning for a free Burma.''

Commenting on the U.N. Security Council's initiative to finally open formal discussions about Burma, Win Tun says, "The U.N. can do so many things if they (really) want to."

The FCCT exhibit, according to Shan Women's Action Network (www.shanwomen.org) activist Nang Hseng Noung will be just one of many future exhibits for Burma's cartoonists-in- exile.

"This early, someone has already asked if these cartoons can travel and we said, hey, why not?'" says Nang Hseng Noung.

Also included will be some selected strips drawn by Kham Pang, another artist.

Both Han Lay and Kham Pang have been with S.H.A.N. since 1994. The former, 40, became famous among Shan readers with his illustrations of Surkhanfah (1291-1364), the Shan king who had conquered most of today's Burma, a fact never mentioned by the country's current rulers.

"Han Lay's cartoons have greatly helped outsiders to understand Burma's highly complex politics," Jean-Luc Lemahieu, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's Europe, West and Central Asia Sections Chief, who had served in Burma for a number of years, was quoted as saying, during S.H.A.N.'s visit to Vienna in September.

The United States and Japan slip further ; Seven Asian countries among the bottom 20

New countries have moved ahead of some Western democracies in the fifth annual Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index, issued today, while the most repressive countries are still the same ones.

"Unfortunately nothing has changed in the countries that are the worst predators of press freedom," the organisation said, "and journalists in North Korea, Eritrea, Turkmenistan, Cuba, Burma and China are still risking their life or imprisonment for trying to keep us informed. These situations are extremely serious and it is urgent that leaders of these countries accept criticism and stop routinely cracking down on the media so harshly.

"Each year new countries in less-developed parts of the world move up the Index to positions above some European countries or the United States. This is good news and shows once again that, even though very poor, countries can be very observant of freedom of expression. Meanwhile the steady erosion of press freedom in the United States, France and Japan is extremely alarming," Reporters Without Borders said.

The three worst violators of free expression - North Korea, bottom of the Index at 168th  place, Turkmenistan (167th) and Eritrea (166th) - have clamped down further. The torture death of Turkmenistan journalist Ogulsapar Muradova shows that the country's leader, "President-for-Life" Separmurad Nyazov, is willing to use extreme violence against those who dare to criticise him. Reporters Without Borders is also extremely concerned about a number of Eritrean journalists who have been imprisoned in secret for more than five years.  The all-powerful North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, also continues to totally control the media.

China (163rd) has dropped four places. The country's media outlets are more numerous and aggressive now, but repression, carried out jointly by the government departments of propaganda and public security, has increased. The government of the world's most populous country stresses that it wants to keep its monopoly on all news, mainly through the state-run Xinhua news agency. Censorship has been stepped up, penalties increased, many news websites shut down and physical attacks have escalated.  One journalist was killed by police.

Northern European countries once again come top of the Index, with no recorded censorship, threats, intimidation or physical reprisals in Finland, Ireland, Iceland and the Netherlands, which all share first place.

Asia trails behind

Seven Asian countries are in the bottom 20 in the Index and none in the top 20.

The continent's dictatorships stepped up their repression over the past year. Burma (164th) slipped anopther place, with seven journalists imprisoned, 11 arrested and prior censorship maintained. Pakistan (157th), despite fairly outspoken media outlets, saw kidnappings of journalists and physical attacks by police or intelligence agents. Vietnam (155th) moved up three places, though it continued to stifle freedom of expression online. Laos (156th) remained in the same position, with its media obeying the information ministry's orders.

Some of the worst-ranked countries fell even lower. Singapore (146th) slipped six places because of new legal action by the government against foreign media. The Philippines (142nd) was three places down with continuing murders of journalists and increased legal harassment, including by President Gloria Arroyo's husband. Bangladesh (137th) moved up slightly, with fewer journalists killed, though more than 80 cases of censorship were recorded.

The young democracies of East Timor (83rd) and Mongolia (86th) tumbled some way down the Index due to physical attacks and threats against journalists.

The continent's best performers

New Zealand (18th), South Korea (31st) and Australia (35th) scored best in the region, but Australia lost ground because of anti-terrorist laws potentially dangerous for journalists.

Taiwan (43rd) continues to move up and is now just behind Spain. Hong Kong (58th) fell back though some of its media continued to be very free and the Internet is not censored at all. Vandalism against the daily paper Epoch Times and a parcel bomb sent to a journalist made some fear further attacks.

Bhutan (98th) rose furthest (44 places) with the appearance of the small kingdom's first privately-owned newspaper.

Two countries moved into the Index's top 20 for the first time. Bolivia (16th) was best-placed among less-developed countries and during the year its journalists enjoyed the same level of freedom as colleagues in Canada or Austria. Bosnia-Herzegovina (19th) continued its gradual rise up the Index since the end of the war in ex-Yugoslavia and is now placed above its European Union member-state neighbours Greece (32nd) and Italy (40th).

Deterioration in the United States and Japan, with France also slipping

The United States (53rd) has fallen nine places since last year, after being in 17th position in the first year of the Index, in 2002. Relations between the media and the Bush administration sharply deteriorated after the president used the pretext of "national security" to regard as suspicious any journalist who questioned his "war on terrorism."  The zeal of federal courts which, unlike those in 33 US states, refuse to recognise the media's right not to reveal its sources, even threatens journalists whose investigations have no connection at all with terrorism.

Freelance journalist and blogger Josh Wolf was imprisoned when he refused to hand over his video archives.  Sudanese cameraman Sami al-Haj, who works for the pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera, has been held without trial since June 2002 at the US military base at Guantanamo, and Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein has been held by US authorities in Iraq since April this year.

France (35th) slipped five places during the past year, to make a loss of 24 places in five years. The increase in searches of media offices and journalists' homes is very worrying for media organisations and trade unions. Autumn 2005 was an especially bad time for French journalists, several of whom were physically attacked or threatened during a trade union dispute involving privatisation of the Corsican firm SNCM and during violent demonstrations in French city suburbs in November.

Rising nationalism and the system of exclusive press clubs (kishas) threatened democratic gains in Japan, which fell 14 places to 51st.  The newspaper Nihon Keizai was firebombed and several journalists physically attacked by far-right activists (uyoku).

Fallout from the row over the "Mohammed cartoons"

Denmark (19th) dropped from joint first place because of serious threats against the authors of the Mohammed cartoons published there in autumn 2005. For the first time in recent years in a country that is very observant of civil liberties, journalists had to have police protection due to threats against them because of their work.

Yemen (149th) slipped four places, mainly because of the arrest of several journalists and closure of newspapers that reprinted the cartoons. Journalists were harassed for the same reason in Algeria (126th), Jordan (109th), Indonesia (103rd) and India (105th).

But except for Yemen and Saudi Arabia (161st), all the Arab peninsula countries considerably improved their rank.  Kuwait (73rd) kept its place at the top of the group, just ahead of the United Arab Emirates (77th) and Qatar (80th).

War, the destroyer of press freedom

Lebanon has fallen from 56th to 107th place in five years, as the country's media continues to suffer from the region's poisonous political atmosphere, with a series of bomb attacks in 2005 and Israeli military attacks this year. The Lebanese media - some of the freest and most experienced in the Arab world - desperately need peace and guarantees of security.  The inability of the Palestinian Authority (134th) to maintain stability in its territories and the behaviour of Israel (135th) outside its borders seriously threaten freedom of expression in the Middle East.

Things are much the same in Sri Lanka, which ranked 51st in 2002, when there was peace, but has now sunk to 141st because fighting between government and rebel forces has resumed in earnest. Dozens of Tamil journalists have been physically attacked after being accused by one side or the other of being biased against them.

Press freedom in Nepal (159th) has shifted according to the state of the fighting that has disrupted the country for several years. The "democatic revolution" and the revolt against the monarchy in April this year led immediately to more basic freedoms and the country should gain a lot of ground in next year's Index.

People of Burma were shocked by the sudden death of a 34-year old student leader Thet Wing Aung in Mandalay prison. He had played an active role in the 1988 anti-military demonstrations. Arrested in 1998, Thet Win was 'awarded' a 59-year jail term. As his health deteriorated in recent months appeals went out from all over the world from the United Nations to the Amnesty International and human rights groups to junta to spare the life of this promising young man. The Junta turned a deaf ear and according to informed sources, his end came in his cell on 16 October 2006. He had completed just eight years of his sentence by then. This very fact is by itself a telling commentary on the conditions in the Myanmar jails. Since the present regime seized power, the country has become a prison- state. A hundred and thirty political prisoners, including Members of Parliament and journalists became martyrs to the jails.

The military junta has repeatedly declined to release of political prisoners. In that sense, what it did in respect of Thet Wing Aung was not an exception. It is a part of the pattern people of Burma have become familiar with over the years. Of late, the Junta is throwing into the jail anyone speaking his or her mind on, for and about national reconciliation. Recently, on 27 September, the military arrested three prominent 1988 student leaders - Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi and Htay Kywe. By inquiring about their fate, two others found themselves jailed as well. They - both formerly student leaders, Min Zeya and Pyone Cho - were picked up from their homes on 30 September, a day after they wrote to the junta chairman inquiring about them status of the three student-activists. These arrests violate Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and challenges the decisions made by the UN sitting at the dialogue-table in order to settle the Burma Issue. But who cares in Rangoon for such niceties.

Any announcement made by the military regime concerning national reconciliation will continue to be meaningless unless there is political space for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD and the representatives-elect of the ethnic parties. This means the Nobel
laureate and the ethnic leaders must be released from detention and must be free to travel and communicate with members and supporters.

The Burmese people have not been allowed to participate in the nation's political processes. The junta must take the voice of the people into account in any process of political reform in Burma. At the same time, it should not discard the result of the 1990 general elections in which people made clear their desires for the future.

Today, Burma has been going through a terrible ordeal under the unrivaled military dictatorship of the century. The situation has gotten worse to worst these days. Its spill over affects - drugs, illegal migrants, refugees, human trafficking and AIDS - undermine
the regional stability in various ways. Oppression aimed at annihilating the existence of opposition parties, students and workers unions continues. Members of legal political parties are being prohibited from meeting and traveling in their own country. The goodwill expressions of the people – such as signature-campaign – are severely suppressed.

The economy is taking a direct hit of this misrule. It is not wrong to say a humanitarian crisis with food scarcity spreading across the country. Rice is the staple food of the people of Burma. With rice bags fast disappearing from the shops, the spectre of soaring prices is looming large. It is bad news for the junta and they are bound to lose sleep if the prices keep skyrocketing; The possibility of a social breakdown is also becoming real with each passing day.

Readers of "Asian Tribune" may recall that sparks that fuelled the protests against the military regime in 1988 were provided by the soaring prices of the staple food and other basic commodities. Will history repeat? Well, history has a tendency to repeat if we go by the sharply increasing rice prices across Burma these days.

A bag of low-quality rice which was about $8 early this year is now $15 and one viss (3.6 pounds) of onion, which cost the equivalent of $0.30 is now $1.50. Grocery store owners predict that prices would continue increasing as cost of transportation has gone up.

Burma faces constant fuel shortages due to limited domestic oil production and tight foreign exchange reserves. It has had a rationing system since the Ne Win era, allowing motor-vehicles owners to purchase 60 gallons per month. Vehicle owners who do not fully use their fuel sell their quotas to black-market vendors, who in turn sell it to other needy drivers.

Currently, the junta is taking measures to check price spiral. Three commodity price control committees, representing the country's three regions - the central, upper and lower parts, have been established; these are seeking ways to bring down the commodity prices. But it seems a vain attempt.

In the eighteen years since the nation-wide civil uprising in 1988, little progress has been made in the areas of democracy and human rights in Burma. The UN Special Rapporteur Prof Paulo Sergio Pinheiro has repeatedly criticized Burma's Junta, saying its political reforms are moving at snail's pace. His suggestion to the Generals: speed up change and free all political prisoners as a gesture of sincerity. The Professor's advice has no takers as of now amongst the Junta.

The Special Rapporteur in his Sept 21, 2006 report opined that impunity is one of the main underlying causes of the degrading economic and social conditions of farmers who represent the majority of the population of Myanmar. The militarization of rural areas has created a vicious circle of impoverishment of villagers. While the number of army battalions has gone up in the past 25 years, no corresponding attention was to improve by the same proportion the lot of the poor villagers and urban daily wage earners. What is more the so called self-reliance policies adopted by the local military contributed to undermine the rule of law at the expense of the livelihoods of local communities.

SPDC continued to impose severe restrictions on freedom of movement freedom of expression, freedom of association and freedom of assembly. Special Rapporteur received several complaints that the regime was cracking down on initiatives by people to organize themselves even for non-political purposes, such as fighting against the HIV/AIDS.

Remarks Prof Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, "If the Government of Myanmar resumes, without further delay, dialogue with all political actors, including NLD and representatives of all ethnic groups to complete the drafting of the Constitution, the International Community would be in a better position to recognize the democratic legitimacy of a constitutional framework to be built on Myanmar people's aspirations."

The launching of a concerted effort among international community to free political prisoners in Burma is laudable. This issue is not only intertwined with regional politics, but it is also connected with global humanitarianism. For that reason, world leaders should consider pressuring the SPDC to free all political prisoners immediately and unconditionally. The international community, especially Japan, China, India and ASEAN, shouldn't put up with the military dictatorship in Burma any longer.

Zin Linn - The author, a former Burmese political prisoner, is a freelance journalist, and an executive member of the Burma Media Association, which is affiliated with the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers. At present he is living in exile.

To propose a blog, write to [internet at rsf.org] by 30 September with a brief description of the blog you like.

Email providers Gmail, as well as Internet telephone services Gtalk and Skype, have been blocked in Burma since the end of June. It appears however that the blocking of this Internet services is not absolutely constant and that Internet-users can occasionally access them.

"The decision to ban Gtalk and Skype were taken partly for financial reasons. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services were breaking into the profitable long-distance telephone call market, in which the state has a monopoly," said the press freedom organisation.

"But it is also since, like webmails, this type of communication is very difficult to monitor. The Burmese Internet is more controlled than the Net in China," it added.

The authorities, who already block access to Yahoo! and Microsoft (Hotmail) email services, want to force Burmese Internet-users to use Mail4U from Myanmar Teleport (formerly Bagan Cybertech), a state enterprise which filters and controls email content.

At the end of May, as Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest was being extended, the Internet was completely cut off in Burma. All that was accessible was local sites of Myanmar Wide Web, a national Intranet made up of websites approved by the regime. The Myanmar Posts and Telecom (MPT), one of the departments of the Ministry of Communications, Post and Telegraphs, said the cut was due to technical problems linked to optical cables under the seabed off the coast of Singapore. But, according to a journalist on the Democratic Voice of Burma, the cut was in reality "a ruse" allowing the authorities to upgrade their Internet-filtering programmes.

Officially, Burma says it wants to modernise and prioritise new technology but in fact the military junta does its utmost to control information circulating on the Net.

Every computer in the country has to be registered with the MPT, with those failing to do so liable to a sentence of up to 15 years in prison. It is the state which licences Internet cafés. They are forced to ask clients to produce proof of identity and to install software which takes screen captures every five minutes. All the data has to be kept on CDs and regularly sent to the authorities.

The Burmese authorities have ordered filtering of independent online newspapers, websites defending human rights or promoting democracy and publications supporting the claims of the Karen people (an anti-government ethnic group in the east of the country). Internet users can access these sites and webmail by using proxy servers or tunnelling techniques (See Reporters Without Borders' Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-dissidents: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=15013). The OpenNet Initiative has shown that the junta has, since May 2004, been using Internet filtering software sold by the US firm Fortinet.

Finally, the creation of a website has to be approved by the authorities, and under a 2000 law, anyone discussing political issues online or posting articles "likely to damage the interests of the Myanmar Union" or "directly or indirectly harmful to state security policy" is liable to a six-month prison sentence.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders and the US-based Burma Media Association called on the junta to free Win Tin, 76, a prize-winning writer and key opposition figure in the military state.

"The courage of Win Tin in refusing to give way to the blackmail of the military authorities, has never faltered in his 17 years in prison. His stance in support of freedom of expression and democracy cannot allow us to forget the criminal attitude of the military junta, who is keeping in prison a sick and elderly man of 76," the two organizations said in a joint statement.

While Win Tin receives a twice-monthly medical check-up, the media groups said his health had worsened and the elderly journalist had suffered two heart attacks while in prison.

Win Tin, a member of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), was arrested in July 1989 during a crackdown on the pro-democracy movement. He was jailed for 20 years.

In late May, the military government extended the house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi for another year, defying an international outcry demanding the release of the 61-year-old Nobel peace laureate.

Thousands of protest faxes to be sent to Burmese embassies worldwide

On the eve of the 17th anniversary of the arrest of prominent journalist dissident U Win Tin, Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association are calling on Burmese Prime Minister, General Soe Win, to immediately release him.

In protest at his continued detention - Win Tin is serving 20 years on a charge of "anti-government propaganda" - the two press freedom organisations are mounting a fax offensive on 4 July 2006, targeting major Burmese embassies throughout the world.

An appeal for his release and scores of pages of petitions signed by more than 5,000 people will be faxed throughout the day. The two organisations are also calling on others to mark the day with peaceful demonstrations by faxing or phoning and calling for the journalist's release.

"The courage of U Win Tin in refusing to give way to the blackmail of the military authorities, has never faltered in his 17 years in prison. His stance in support of freedom of expression and democracy cannot allow us to forget the criminal attitude of the military junta, who is keeping in prison a sick and elderly man of 76," the two organisations said.

Since his arrest in Rangoon, on 4 July 1989, U Win Tin has been deprived of his fundamental rights, in particular those of receiving appropriate medical treatment and being allowed to write. According to the latest information, U Win Tin has to have treatment for heart and blood pressure problems and for an inflamed prostate.

Although a doctor comes to his cell to given him a twice-monthly medical check-up, U Win Tin has to rely on help from his family who regularly bring him medicine and food. After 17 years in prison, his health has considerably weakened. He has suffered two heart attacks.

Moreover it is now a year since the Burmese authorities announced, on 6 July 2005, that he was being released, but then failed to act on it. Under Burmese law, the journalist has been eligible for release for good behaviour since July 2005.

Until almost a year ago and for the past six years he had been receiving visits from  representatives of the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC). But the Geneva-based organisation suspended such visits after members of the pro-government UDSA party insisted on being present at the meetings.

Win Tin is allowed to receive a 20-25 minute visit from a family member twice a month. This visitor is allowed to bring medicine, food and magazines but a censorship bureau set up within the prison checks all written matter brought in to him.

Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association urge sympathisers to go to www.rsf.org to continue to sign the international petition for Win Tin's release.

Over 16 years ago, Reporters without Borders created its "Sponsorship Programme" and called upon the international media to select and support an imprisoned journalist. More than two hundreds news staffs around the globe are thus sponsoring colleagues by regularly petitioning authorities for their release and by publicising their situations so that their cases will not be forgotten.