Essays

Out of Prison - And Back to Face the Mountain

By Chris Anyanwu, Nigeria

Chris Anyanwu was released from prison in June 1998 after serving three years of a 15-year jail sentence for revealing an alleged coup plot in Nigeria. As editor of The Sunday Magazine, she had been arrested in 1995 along with three other journalists, on charges of 'publishing false information'.

$80,000: The Price of a (Dead) Journalist in Mexico

by J. Jesús Blancornelas, Mexico

J. Jesús Blancornelas, editor of Zeta, a weekly magazine in Tijuana, was severely wounded by gunmen in a November 1997 attack which left his bodyguard dead. Mr Blancornelas had been investigating drug trafficking by the mafia, who have been held responsible for the murder of the Zeta co-founder and columnist, Hector Félix Miranda. Mr Blancornelas continues his investigations.

Press Freedom: "The Enemy of Corruption"

By Doan Viet Hoat, Vietnam

Doan Viet Hoat, journalist, poet and academic, has spent 20 of the past 22 years in prison. His "crimes" include being "a lackey of American imperialism", setting up a reactionary organisation and publishing anti-Communist propaganda - all euphemisms for exercising his right to free expression. Following a concerted international campaign, Professor Hoat, 58, was released from prison on 29 August 1998 and deported. He now lives in the United States with his wife and children, continues to call for greater freedoms in Vietnam from exile and is actively seeking to return to his home country.

The Seeds of Freedom Are Sown in Iran

By Faraj Sarkohi, Iran

Faraj Sarkohi has been persecuted by the regimes of both the Shah and the Islamic Republic. He was detained for a total of eight years during the Shah's rule and, following the revolution in 1979, has persistently called for greater press freedom. In December 1996, Mr Sarkohi was arrested by the Islamic Republic authorities who accused him of spying, and was released from prison in January 1998. He now lives in exile in Germany, campaigning for greater freedom of expression in his home country. He has been awarded the 1999 WAN Golden Pen of Freedom. This article is based on extracts of an essay, the complete text of which can be viewed by clicking here.

The Berlin Wall Still Stands in Serbia

by Milos Vasic, Serbia

Milos Vasic has been President of the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia since 1997. He has worked as a broadcast and print journalist since 1969, and has been published widely in leading European and US newspapers. Mr Vasic has reported on the war in former Yugoslavia since it began, both in the field and as a defence and political analyst.

CAPE TOWN, JANUARY 1999: A radio journalist with the South African Broadcasting Corporation lies injured after being shot with birdshot by police during a demonstration in Cape town. (PHOTO: AFP)