September 13, 1999
His Excellency Dato’ Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad
Prime Minister
Jabatan Perdana Menteri
Jalan Dato’ Onn
Kuala Lumpur 50502
Malaysia
VIA FACSIMILE: 60-3-238-3784
Your Excellency,
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is outraged by the Malaysian Court of Appeal’s decision to imprison Far Eastern Economic Review correspondent Murray Hiebert for contempt of court. Hiebert’s sentencing makes Malaysia the only Commonwealth country to have imprisoned a journalist on contempt charges in half a century, according to his lawyers.
On September 11, a three-judge panel led by Judge Lamin Yunus upheld an earlier high court conviction and ordered Hiebert to be jailed for six weeks. The judges permitted Hiebert to make a few telephone calls before police escorted him to Sungai Buloh prison, where he began serving the sentence while his lawyers prepare an appeal.
The Shah Alam High Court originally sentenced Hiebert to three months in prison on September 4, 1997. The contempt charge stems from a January 23, 1997, article that Hiebert wrote for the Far Eastern Economic Review— a prestigious English-language weekly based in Hong Kong and published by Dow Jones & Company. The article, entitled “See You in Court,” focused on the increasingly litigious nature of Malaysian society and made reference to one case involving the son of a prominent judge, Gopal Sri Ram.
Hiebert noted in his piece that many were “surprised at the speed with which the case,” brought by the judge’s wife, had “raced through Malaysia’s legal labyrinth.” The lower court determined that Hiebert’s article had “scandalized the court, was calculated to excite prejudice against the plaintiff, and was designed to exert pressure on the court.”
For the past two years Hiebert has been free on bail but forbidden to leave Malaysia. Hiebert’s passport has been held by the government ever since his first conviction. His wife and children are in Washington, D.C., awaiting his release.
As a nonpartisan organization of journalists dedicated to the defense of our colleagues around the world, CPJ is deeply dismayed by Hiebert’s imprisonment. We believe that no journalist should be jailed for what he or she writes. We believe that in cases where journalists knowingly distort the truth, there are sufficient remedies available for redress in civil law.
CPJ is particularly concerned that Hiebert’s harsh sentence might be seen as a warning to journalists covering the politically charged trial of former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, whose case has brought international scrutiny to Malaysia’s judicial system. Both Hiebert’s and Anwar’s cases are expected to come up for discussion during the 12th Commonwealth Law Conference, which began in Kuala Lumpur today and brings more than a thousand lawyers and judges from the Commonwealth countries to Malaysia.
CPJ believes that economic advancement and democratic reform are possible only through the open exchange of ideas by an uninhibited press, which must be free to report critically on all branches of government, including the judiciary, without fear of imprisonment.
We urge Your Excellency to use the power of your office to pardon Murray Hiebert, so that he may be immediately released from prison to rejoin his family. CPJ also respectfully asks that you order a thorough and impartial investigation into Hiebert’s prosecution, to determine whether there was any miscarriage of justice. And finally, we encourage Your Excellency to press for the elimination of provisions in Malaysia’s legal code that allow journalists to be imprisoned for their work.
We thank you for your attention to this urgent matter, and await your response.
Sincerely,
Ann K. Cooper
Executive Director
Click here to read CPJ’s September 11 press release denouncing Hiebert’s jail sentence
Join CPJ in Protesting Attacks on the Press in Malaysia
Send a letter to:
His Excellency Dato’ Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad
Prime Minister
Jabatan Perdana Menteri
Jalan Dato’ Onn
Kuala Lumpur 50502
Malaysia
VIA FACSIMILE: 60-3-238-3784