IRAN - Holding a U.S. Journalist

"Why is Iran holding a U.S. journalist?" PBS NewsHour 2/12/2015

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  With a court ruling that two Al Jazeera journalists who were imprisoned in Egypt for more than a year will be released on bail, Judy Woodruff looks at a new survey of press freedom and abuses around the world.  Chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Warner speaks with Ali Rezaian, brother of Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, who has been jailed in Iran on secret charges since July.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  An Egyptian court ruled today that two Al-Jazeera journalists who had been jailed for more than 400 days will be released on bail.

Baher Mohamed and Mohamed Fahmy still face a retrial.  Their colleague, Australian Peter Greste, was freed a few weeks ago.

Today’s ruling is a small victory for press freedom advocates.  But a new report released in Washington warns that journalists are increasingly coming under threat.

DELPHINE HALGAND, U.S. Director, Reporters Without Borders:  The indicators compiled by Reporters Without Borders are incontestable.  There was a drastic decline in freedom of information in 2014.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  The world’s largest press freedom group surveyed 180 countries, and fully two-thirds in its estimation saw greater restrictions last year.  The list placed Finland first as most free, with much of Europe near the top.  The United States was 49th, with the report citing lack of a federal shield law and arrests of reporters in Ferguson, Missouri, among other factors.

But, worldwide, the principal cause of deterioration was widespread conflict, especially in Syria, in Iraq and Ukraine.  Prime culprits were nonstate actors like the Islamic State group that have menaced and killed journalists.  Another major cause, restrictions in the name of national security, from the Middle East, through Asia, and even, the group contends, in the United States.

And while bail was announced for two Al-Jazeera journalists in Egypt today, Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian remains behind bars in Iran.  The dual U.S./Iranian citizen has been held since July on secret charges.