wuguojiejizhezuzhi敦促沙特释放30名狱中记者

由Megan Specia提供

伦敦 - 主张新闻自由的记者无国界组织周三增加了对沙特阿拉伯的压力，要求释放目前被拘留在该国的数十名记者，并放松对新闻媒体和反对声音的严厉镇压。

该组织表示，wuguojiejizhezuzhi的一个代表团今年会见了包括外交部长和司法部长在内的沙特高级官员，此次访问受到了沙特持不同政见的作家贾马尔·卡尔佐吉（Jamal Khashoggi）被杀事件的普遍愤慨。

这次访问的主要目的是敦促沙特政府释放30名记者，但该组织年度新闻自由指数中的惨淡排名也成为谈话的焦点，据wuguojiejizhezuzhi秘书长Christophe Deloire说。是代表团的一部分。在该组织2019年的年度名单中，沙特阿拉伯在180个国家中排名第172位。

“他们花时间听取我们的意见，并解释为什么这个国家在新闻自由指数中为172，”德洛伊说。“这是他们第一次如此糟糕的排名，他们当然不满意。”

但自那以后几周几乎没有采取任何行动 - 斋月期间被拘留记者赦免的可能性已被讨论但未采取行动 - 因此有关此次访问的消息在本周公布，以进一步增加对沙特阿拉伯的压力说过。

wuguojiejizhezuzhi是众多国际组织之一，要求对杀害居住在美国并为“华盛顿邮报”撰写专栏的Khashoggi先生进行追究。Khashoggi先生于2018年10月在伊斯坦布尔的沙特领事馆消失，而他的未婚妻在外面等候。

后来，调查确定他曾被一支沙特特工队伏击在那里，并在残酷的杀戮中被肢解。沙特王储穆罕默德·本·萨勒曼被怀疑命令他去世。

沙特官员起初否认了任何关于 Khashoggi先生行踪的消息，说他已经离开了领事馆，之后才承认他在大楼里被杀。

上个月，联合国发布了一份报告，其中得出的结论是，沙特官员对卡什乔吉先生的杀戮进行了大量掩盖，未经该王国事实上的领导人穆罕默德亲王的同意，这种杀戮是不可能发生的。

沙特官员否认王储有任何参与。

该报告的作者AgnèsCallamard呼吁对Khashoggi先生的死亡进行国际调查，并批评联合国对此案的瘫痪。她还指出，穆罕默德亲王“至少”在该国宽恕任意拘留大量记者和人权维护者。

这个王国的人权记录黯淡无光。任意拘留记者和人权活动家是常态。去年被捕后，几名着名的妇女权利活动分子被关押并遭到酷刑。

Khashoggi先生被禁止在沙特阿拉伯写作，作为对该国持不同意见的更广泛镇压的一部分，他已经在美国自我流放。在那里，他在“华盛顿邮报”专栏中继续批评沙特王室。

wuguojiejizhezuzhi的Deloire先生说：“Jamal Khashoggi的谋杀事件对沙特阿拉伯的国际形象造成了严重破坏，这标志着一个拥有世界上最严重的新闻自由记录的国家的真正低点。”

他补充说，需要采取“严肃措施”，例如释放被监禁的记者，才能开始修复王国的声誉。

4月份的三天，来自wuguojiejizhezuzhi的四名代表会见了几名沙特官员，包括检察官和媒体部长，以及外交部长和司法部长。德莱尔先生说，直接与沙特政府接触是“必要的一步”。

明年将在沙特首都利雅得举行20国集团峰会，wuguojiejizhezuzhi表示，在举办全球活动之前，该国必须解决其权利记录。

“当你承担国际责任时，你不能处于监狱中有这么多记者的情况，以及去年发生的事情，”德洛雷先生说。

他补充说，沙特阿拉伯只需要采取行动，而不是参与广泛的公共关系活动来改善其形象。

“我们成功开辟了一个频道，并将继续强调释放30名被监禁记者的必要性，这是在卡尔佐吉被暗杀后唯一的前进方向，”德洛雷说。

原文：

Reporters Without Borders Urges Saudi Arabia to Free 30 Jailed Journalists

By Megan Specia

LONDON — Reporters Without Borders, which advocates for press freedom, increased pressure on Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to release dozens of journalists currently detained in the country and to relax its heavy suppression of the news media and of dissenting voices.

A delegation from Reporters Without Borders met with top Saudi officials this year, including the foreign minister and justice minister, the organization said, in a visit that was spurred by widespread outrage about the killing of the Saudi dissident writer Jamal Khashoggi.

The main objective of the trip was to urge the Saudi government to free the 30 journalists, but the kingdom’s dismal ranking in the organization’s annual press freedom index also became a focus of conversation, according to Christophe Deloire, secretary general of Reporters Without Borders, who was part of the delegation. Saudi Arabia was ranked 172nd out of 180 countries on the group’s annual list for 2019.

“They took time to hear what we had to say, and to explain why the country is 172 in the press freedom index,” Mr. Deloire said. “It’s the first time they were so badly ranked, and they were of course not satisfied with that.”

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But little action has been taken in the weeks since — the possibility of pardons for the detained journalists during the Ramadan period had been discussed but not acted on — so information about the visit was released this week to add further pressure on Saudi Arabia, the group said.

Reporters Without Borders was among many international organizations to demand accountability for the killing of Mr. Khashoggi, who lived in the United States and who wrote a column for The Washington Post. Mr. Khashoggi vanished in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 while his fiancée waited outside.

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Later, investigations determined that he had been ambushed there by a team of Saudi operatives and dismembered in a brutal slaying. The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has been suspected of ordering his death.

Saudi officials at first denied any knowledge of Mr. Khashoggi’s whereabouts, saying he had left the consulate alive, before later admitting that he had been killed in the building.

Last month, the United Nations released a report that concluded that Saudi officials had carried out an extensive cover-up of Mr. Khashoggi’s killing that could not have taken place without the consent of Prince Mohammed, the kingdom’s de facto leader.

Saudi officials have denied that the crown prince had any involvement.

The author of the report, Agnès Callamard, called for an international investigation into Mr. Khashoggi’s death and criticized the United Nations for its paralysis over the case. She also noted that Prince Mohammed “at a bare minimum” condoned the arbitrary detention of a large number of journalists and human rights defenders in the country.

The kingdom has a bleak human rights record. Arbitrary detention of journalists and human rights activists is the norm. Several prominent women’s rights activists have been held and reportedly tortured after being arrested last year.

Mr. Khashoggi had been barred from writing in Saudi Arabia as part of a broader crackdown on dissent in the country, and he had gone into self-imposed exile in the United States. There, he continued his criticism of the Saudi royal family in his columns for The Washington Post.

Mr. Deloire of Reporters Without Borders said, “The murder of Jamal Khashoggi caused extensive damage to Saudi Arabia’s international image, marking a real low point for a country that has one of the world’s worst press freedom records.”

He added that “serious measures,” such as releasing jailed journalists, would be needed to begin to repair the kingdom’s reputation.

For three days in April, four representatives from Reporters Without Borders met with several Saudi officials, including the public prosecutor and media minister, as well as the foreign minister and justice minister. Mr. Deloire said that engaging directly with the Saudi government was a “necessary step.”

A Group of 20 summit will take place in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, next year, and Reporters Without Borders said it was important that the country addressed its rights record before hosting the global event.

“When you take international responsibilities, you cannot be in a situation where you have so many journalists in jail, and what happened last year,” Mr. Deloire said.

He added that rather than engaging in extensive public relations campaigns to improve its image, Saudi Arabia simply needed to take action.

“We succeeded in opening a channel and will continue to press the need for the release of the 30 jailed journalists as the only way forward after Khashoggi’s assassination,” Mr. Deloire said.