An exodus of journalists from Iran, East Africa in 2010

An exodus of journalists from Iran, East
Africa in 2010

17 June, 2010 | CPJ
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At least 85 journalists fled their home

countries in the past year in the face of

attacks, threats, and possible

imprisonment. High exile rates are seen in

Iran and in the East African nations of

Somalia and Ethiopia. A CPJ Special

Report by María Salazar-Ferro

At least 29 Iranian editors, reporters, and

photographers fled into exile over the past

12 months, the highest annual tally from a

single country in a decade, a new survey

by the Committee to Protect Journalists

has found. CPJ also found a significant

spike in the number of journalists fleeing violence and harassment in
East Africa.

“My photos were seen as political criticism of clerics in Iran,” said
photographer Mohammad Kheirkhan, who, like other Iranian
journalists, went into exile after being harassed and interrogated by
authorities for coverage of the unrest that followed the disputed 2009
presidential election. “The punishment for criticizing clerics is prison,
torture, and even execution.”

Worldwide, at least 85 journalists fled their home countries over the
past 12 months, CPJ found in its annual survey, which marks World
Refugee Day, June 20, and highlights the plight of journalists who are
forced to leave their homes in the face of attacks, threats, or the
possibility of imprisonment. This year’s total, which counts
journalists who went into exile from June 1, 2009 to May 31, 2010, is
double the number recorded in the prior 12-month period. The tally is
comparable to the decade’s previous high of 82, which CPJ recorded
in 2007-08.

Data on exiled journalists closely track other press freedom indicators
such as deadly violence and the threat of imprisonment. The countries
with the highest exile rates over the past 12 months—which include
Ethiopia and Somalia, along with Iran—have long records of press
repression.

“It wasn’t a single incident that pushed me to leave Ethiopia—it was
numerous incidents over the course of several months,” said Mesfin
Negash, who served as editor of the independent Ethiopian newspaper
Addis Neger. Government security forces, intent on silencing
criticism before the May 2010 elections, intimidated staff members
and threatened criminal charges. Finally, Negash and several other
staffers closed Addis Neger and fled the country. “We had hoped the
harassment and intimidation would stop, but it never did because [the
government] thought that if we stayed in Ethiopia we could influence
the outcome of the elections.”

Hundreds of journalists in exile over the past decade

Since 2001, when CPJ began compiling detailed records on journalists
in exile, more than 500 journalists have fled their homes. Illustrating
the extraordinary dangers facing these journalists at home, 454 remain
in exile today.

African journalists have been at particular risk throughout the past
decade, but the exile rate tripled over the past 12 months. At least 42
African journalists, most of them from Somalia and Ethiopia, fled their
homes in the past year. A majority sought refuge in Kenya and
Uganda, where they hoped to resettle to a third country through the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The process can be
lengthy as well as financially and emotionally grueling. “It is difficult
to even plan when you are in this situation of exile and relocation,”
said Negash, who has relocated elsewhere on the continent. “It is
tormenting because everything is out of your control.”

Journalists find themselves in a legal limbo, unable to work and often
the targets of ethnically motivated violence and police harassment.
They live in a constant state of anxiety about the family members who
are still back home. Negash’s exile has been devastating for his wife
and mother, who depended on him but were forced to stay in Ethiopia
when he fled. “It has been so difficult that sometimes I can’t even call
them because they are so emotionally disturbed,” said Negash, who
continues to help his family financially, sending whatever amounts he
can spare from the small aid he receives from international
organizations.

At least half of the Iranian journalists who fled this year are in a
similarly precarious situation in Turkey. Several of those journalists
told CPJ they have been approached by individuals they believe are
working for the Iranian regime who have warned them that colleagues
and relatives back home will suffer consequences if they discuss
Iranian politics publically.

Kheirkhan, 24, whose photographs of the Iranian political unrest for
United Press International were seen worldwide, had to travel through
Afghanistan and Italy before resettling in the United States. “I wasn’t
happy to be far away from my country, my family, and my friends,”
he said when asked about his decision to petition for asylum. “But
safety is the first thing that everybody must think about in his or her
life.” He said he hopes to continue working as a journalist in
California, where he now resides.

In exile, journalists face obstacles in continuing work

That will not be an easy path. CPJ research shows that less than a
third of exiled journalists are able to continue to work in their
profession. Throughout the world, exiled journalists face lengthy
bureaucratic procedures as they establish their new legal status, along
with significant language and cultural adjustments as they rebuild their
lives. Many accomplished journalists are forced to take whatever
employment opportunities are available.

Luis Horacio Nájera, a Mexican reporter with almost two decades of
experience covering criminal gangs and political corruption, has been
working as a janitor in Vancouver, Canada, since leaving his home
country in 2008 in the face of death threats.

“It has been really hard to work here because no one recognizes my
experience and I don’t speak English well,” he told CPJ in an
interview conducted in Spanish. “There aren’t many opportunities,
and you have to stand in a very long line of other refugees, so you
end up doing things that you never thought you would have to—
cleaning houses and washing bathrooms—because there is nothing
else that you can do.”

Nájera and his family filed for asylum in 2009, and are awaiting an
answer from Canadian authorities. If approved, Nájera said, he will
study English, enroll in school, and find other work, although he does
not think he will go back to journalism. Neither does he plan to return
to Mexico. “I am very hurt with my country,” he told CPJ. “I did all
that I could to help Mexico through my work as a journalist, and
Mexico has not responded—it has not even been able to keep me and
my family safe.”

Nearly 50 percent of journalists who have been forced into exile since
2001 have done so after being attacked or threatened with violence.
Another 30 percent fled because of the possibility of imprisonment,
while 20 percent left following prolonged harassment, CPJ research
found.

Violence was the primary reason for an exodus of Iraqi journalists
earlier in the past decade. As the death toll in Iraq has dropped to its
lowest point since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, so too have the
numbers of journalists seeking exile. CPJ documented just one Iraqi
exile case in the past 12 months. Until this past year, Iraq had seen the
largest single-year exodus of journalists.

CPJ’s survey counts only those journalists who fled due to work-
related persecution, who remained in exile for at least three months,
and whose current whereabouts and activities are known. It does not
include the many journalists and media workers who left their
countries for professional or financial opportunities, those who left
due to general violence, or those who were targeted for activities
other than journalism, such as political activism. Other groups using
different criteria cite higher numbers.

Courtesy