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August 30, 2006
Sudan: Al-Bashir's Regime to Consider Paul Salopek's "Spying" Case
A Chicago Tribune reporter charged with espionage will have his case reviewed "out of humanitarian concern" by the Sudanese government, the Sudan Tribune reports.
Paul Salopek, a Pulitzer winner, was arrested earlier this month and charged with "espionage, passing information illegally, and writing false news." His arrest is part of a campaign by the Islamic regime of Omar al-Bashir to stop damaging news reports coming out of the Darfur region. The U.S. State Department has been trying to Mr. Salopek's release.
Charging unfriendly reporters with trumped-up crimes is a time-tested and quite effective technique of stopping unfriendly news reports. After the independent reporters have been intimidated away, stooges may be allowed to report what the authorities want to be reported. Robert Fisk may be awarded an exclusive report at this point. Sometimes the deception is so effective the stooge reporter "earns" a Pulitzer Prize.
The Darfur Jihad, which follows the far more deadly but largely ignored Jihad against the Christian and Animist populations of Sudan's South, has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, although accurate estimates may never be known. (Darfur Genocide estimates 400,000 people have died so far.)
Posted by Ruy Diaz at August 30, 2006 11:44 AM
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