Bush Deplores Unsolved Murders of Journalists in Belarus, Lebanon, Russia
U.S. President George Bush on Thursday denounced governments which muzzle the media and condemned the unsolved murders of journalists in Belarus, Lebanon and Russia.
"The United States condemns the harassment, physical intimidation, persecution, and other abuse that journalists, including bloggers and Internet reporters, have faced in China, Cuba, Egypt, Tunisia, Venezuela, and Vietnam," Bush said on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day, which falls on Saturday.
He also deplored "the unsolved murders of journalists in Belarus, Lebanon, and Russia."
Several journalists have been targeted in Lebanon since the Feb. 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri.
An Nahar daily columnist Samir Kassir was killed in June 2005, while LBCI anchorwoman May Chidiac suffered critical wounds in an assassination attempt in September the same year.
An Nahar”s General Manager and MP Gebran Tueni was also killed in December 2005.
"We call on all governments to guarantee the inalienable rights of their people, including, consistent with Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the right to freedom of speech and the press," the U.S. president said.
Bush cited Belarus, Myanmar, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe for repressive anti-free speech laws and for often imprisoning media workers.
"In 2007, for the ninth consecutive year, China remained the world”s top jailer of journalists, followed by Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, and Azerbaijan," he said.
"Just and open societies protect and rely on the freedom of the press," Bush said in the statement.
"Brutal regimes and others who seek to stifle liberty often do so by closing down private newspapers and radio and television stations. They kidnap, arbitrarily jail, and beat journalists," he said.