Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao
Dili, Timor-Leste

3 March 2008

Dear Prime Minister,

We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 102 countries, to express our serious concern at the arrest and beating of a journalist by police.

According to reports, Agostinho da Costa, a Timor Post lay-out artist, was arrested and beaten by police in the early hours of 23 February as he took a computer file of the paper’s weekend edition to the printers in Kaikoli, near Dili. He suffered cuts and bruises to his face and was detained for 11 hours.

Mr da Costa was arrested for breaking the 8pm-to-6am curfew despite showing police his press credentials. The curfew was imposed under a state or emergency declared after the attempted murders of you and President José Ramos-Horta on 11 February.

The country’s Secretariat of State Security issued a formal apology on behalf of the government for the use of “unjustified force” and said that the security forces would ensure that incidents of this kind are not repeated.

While welcoming the apology, we respectfully remind you that it is the duty of the state to provide an environment in which journalists are able to carry out their professional duties without fear of intimidation. Such incidents foster a climate of fear that inhibits journalistic investigation and can promote self-censorship.

We are concerned that comments you made on 18 January, in which you threatened to arrest journalists who publish "erroneous" information, can only serve to increase the dangers faced by journalists carrying out the important duty of providing information to the people of your country in this troubled time.

We respectfully call on you to ensure that those responsible for assaulting Mr da Costa are severely disciplined. We urge you to take all necessary steps to ensure that international standards of freedom of expression are fully respected in your country.

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Gavin O’Reilly
President
World Association of Newspapers

George Brock
President
World Editors Forum

cc Acting President Fernando de Araujo
Mr Atul Khare, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Timor-Leste, United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste

WAN is the global organization for the newspaper industry, with formal representative status at the United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe. The organization groups 18,000 newspapers in 102 countries, 12 news agencies and 11 regional and world-wide press groups. WAN is non-governmental and non-profit.