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Alert

Journalist allowed to leave country for medical treatment

(WAN/IFEX) - The following is a WAN press release:




Paris, 16 July 2001
WAN Welcomes Syrian Journalist to Paris

The World Association of Newspapers on Monday welcomed Syrian journalist and democracy advocate Nizar Nayouf to Paris, culminating an intense effort to get him out of prison and into a hospital for adequate medical treatment.

"We are delighted and gratified that the Syrian government has ultimately been convinced to allow Nizar Nayouf to leave the country for medical treatment," said Mogens Schmidt, the Assistant Director General of the Paris-based WAN. "We believe this is evidence that governments that are hostile to freedom of expression can be influenced by international opinion and that journalists who are jailed and persecuted can be helped by such campaigns."

"We will encourage President Bashar al-Assad to follow this gesture with substantial initiatives to encourage a more open media policy in Syria," he said.

Mr Nayouf suffers from leukaemia and other forms of cancer and is partially paralysed from repeated beatings from prison authorities. He arrived in Paris Sunday with his younger brother Hayyan after Syrian authorities acceded to international demands and allowed him to leave the country. WAN, which awarded its annual Golden Pen of Freedom to Mr Nayouf last year, had led an international campaign for his release.

Mr Nayouf is to undergo extensive medical treatment at a Paris hospital. He says he will be in Europe for at least a month.

Mr Nayouf, 44, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1992 for disseminating "false" information. He was Editor in Chief of Sawt al-Democratiyya (Democracy's Vote) and Secretary-General of the Committee for the Defence of Democratic Freedom. He was freed from prison on May 6 but remained under house arrest.

WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 17,000 newspapers; its membership includes 67 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 93 countries, 17 news agencies and eight regional and world-wide press groups.