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(New York)—Pakistan should immediately release veteran journalist Khawar Mehdi Rizvi, Human Rights Watch said today. The Pakistani government’s refusal to produce Rizvi despite repeated court orders has raised concerns that security forces may be mistreating him in detention.

Rizvi was arrested in Karachi on December 16 at the same time as his two French colleagues, Marc Epstein and Jean-Paul Guilloteau. The three journalists had been investigating claims of Taliban activity in the town of Quetta, a city near Pakistan’s western border with Afghanistan. The Pakistani government has issued contradictory statements regarding Rizvi’s status, sometimes admitting and sometimes denying his detention.

“This illegal detention without any charge marks a new low in the growing assault on press freedoms in Pakistan,” said Sam Zia-Zarifi, deputy director of the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch. “If there are charges to be brought against Rizvi, he should have his day in court. Otherwise, he should be released immediately.”

Pakistani authorities charged Epstein and Guilloteau with violating the terms of their visas by visiting Quetta when their visas were technically limited to Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi. They were released on January 12 after pleading guilty to the charge. The government has not charged Rizvi, who as a Pakistani was free to visit Quetta. Rizvi, a journalist with over 10 years of experience, worked extensively with French-language media, including Le Monde, Libération, TF1, France 2 and Arte. Pakistani officials—including Pakistan’s president, General Pervez Musharraf—have accused Epstein, Guilloteau and Rizvi of “faking” their footage about Taliban activity in the border region.

While Pakistani authorities have denied holding Rizvi, on several occasions state-controlled Pakistan Television has aired footage of the journalist in custody. Pakistan’s Federal Investigations Agency (FIA) denied holding the journalist in response to a motion of habeas corpus filed by Rizvi’s brother on December 30 at the Sindh High Court in Karachi.

On January 11, however, Interior Ministry spokesman Abdur Rauf Chaudry admitted that security agencies had detained Rizvi and were interrogating him. Chaudry said that Rizvi would appear in court “when it is essential” and refused to specify which security agencies were conducting the interrogation as it would be “premature.” The FIA on January 13 again denied that it held Rizvi. On January 20, the court ordered the government to produce Rizvi or provide information about his whereabouts within 48 hours. The government has failed to do so.

The arrests, and Rizvi’s continued detention without charge, underscore the government’s ongoing crackdown on journalists. Since Musharraf assumed power in a bloodless coup d’état in 1999, the Pakistani government has systematically sought to silence the press through threats, harassment and arbitrary arrests. Many journalists have been detained without charge, mistreated and tortured. The government has sought to remove independent journalists from prominent publications—and in several cases has succeeded. Meanwhile, the arrest of editors and reporters from local and regional newspapers on charges of sedition has become increasingly commonplace.

“Musharraf should demonstrate a commitment to genuine press freedom by releasing Khawar Mehdi Rizvi and by ordering an end to government coercion and intimidation of the media,” said Zia-Zarifi. “Rizvi’s continued detention highlights the appalling state of media freedom and the powerlessness of the judiciary in Pakistan.”

Human Rights Watch noted that journalists have the right to freedom of movement to seek information, and it urged the Pakistani government to act in accordance with the Johannesburg Principles on National Security, Freedom of Expression and Access to Information—standards drafted by international law and global rights experts in 1995 and endorsed by the United Nations special rapporteurs on freedom of expression and on the independence of judges and lawyers.

Johannesburg Principle 19 provides that, “governments may not prevent journalists from entering areas where there are reasonable grounds to believe that violations of human rights or humanitarian law are being, or have been, committed. Governments may not exclude journalists or representatives of such organizations from areas that are experiencing violence or armed conflict except where their presence would pose a clear risk to the safety of others.”

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