URGENT ACTION

ATTACKS ON JOURNALISTS MUST STOP

Media workers in Honduras have been under attack since Roberto Micheletti seized power on 28 June. Since 23 September, a radio station director says he has been threatened, and a newspaper photographer has been abducted and tortured. Micheletti issued a decree on 26 September allowing newspapers and broadcasters to be closed down if they "insult public officials." A radio station and a television channel have since been taken off the air.

Decree PCM-M-016-2009 allows newspapers or broadcasters which "insult…public officials" (ofendan …a los funcionarios públicos) or "threaten peace and public order" (atenten contra la paz y el orden público) to be closed.

Soldiers and police arrived at the Radio Globo offices in the capital, Tegucigalpa, on 28 September at 5.20am. They shouted at the staff inside to get out, and then shot the lock off the door. Some of the journalists jumped from the windows to get away, and one of them broke his arm. Once inside the building, the soldiers and police confiscated all of Radio Globo’s equipment, and destroyed other material. Radio Globo journalists outside the building said they were photographed and harassed by the security forces. Other media workers present were arrested and beaten. The security forces closed down TV station Canal 36 the same day.

On his way to cover events at Radio Globo and Canal 36, photographer Delmer Membreño, working for El Libertador, was forced into a red pickup truck by four men in balaclavas, who put a hood over his head and drove off. They stopped after around an hour and a half, dragged him out and put a gun to his head. One of the men shouted, "Take the hood off him because I want to see his eyes when you kill him." (Quitale la capucha porque yo quiero ver a sus ojos cuando lo maten). Another said, “No, don’t kill him, it’s better to leave him alive so he gives the message to the director [of El Libertador, Johnny Lagos] that we will treat him even worse." (No, no lo mates, mejor dejarlo para que de el mensaje al director [de El Libertador, Jhonny Lagos] que a el lo vamos a tratar aun peor) The men then beat him and burned his face and torso with cigarettes; eventually they left him outside Tegucigalpa. On 30 September, Delmer Membreño received a phone call at his house from a man who said only, "You dogs," (Perros).

PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in Spanish or your own language:

• Call on Mr Micheletti to immediately rescind Decree PCM-M-016-2009 in its entirety;

• Call on him to publicly instruct the police and army to act in accordance with international human rights standards and disregard the provisions contained in Decree PCM-M-016-2009;

• Demand that the de facto authorities allow media workers to carry out their work free from attacks, threats and intimidation.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 13 NOVEMBER 2009 TO: