Ibrahim Jassem
Ibrahim Jassam
Thursday 28 May 2009
Thanks to Brian Horton for writing about this case, where progress has indeed been unsatisfactory. Your readers can be assured we are working actively on this – in Iraq, in Washington and through the Committee to Protect Journalists (where I am a board member).
My position has been consistent throughout: if there is a charge against or suspicion about any of our journalists, let it be aired publicly. If there is a charge, let the journalist defend his name with the aid of counsel and in an open, fair tribunal. If there is a suspicion about his actions, let us know what it is: we will happily explain why our journalists rush to the scene of conflict instead of away and why they, and we, put such a premium on speed of response.
We have no interest in harbouring a proven evil-doer on our staff. But I will not tolerate or accept innuendo or vague, unspecified charges against a journalist who has never done anything to cause us to question his probity.
David Schlesinger
Editor-in-Chief
My position has been consistent throughout: if there is a charge against or suspicion about any of our journalists, let it be aired publicly. If there is a charge, let the journalist defend his name with the aid of counsel and in an open, fair tribunal. If there is a suspicion about his actions, let us know what it is: we will happily explain why our journalists rush to the scene of conflict instead of away and why they, and we, put such a premium on speed of response.
We have no interest in harbouring a proven evil-doer on our staff. But I will not tolerate or accept innuendo or vague, unspecified charges against a journalist who has never done anything to cause us to question his probity.
David Schlesinger
Editor-in-Chief
Ibrahim Jassam
Thursday 28 May 2009
I noted your recent posting on the Reuter cameraman Ibrahim Jassam. The situation seems most unsatisfactory. I am sure that Thomson Reuters have been active in his case, however, I wonder if anything more could be done. Jassam, like the Gitmo detainees, seems to be in a sort of limbo. In view of President Obama's recent remarks on Guantánamo Bay could we not draw his attention to the fate of other prisonerers in other extra-legal detention? Perhaps David Schlesinger could find a way of alerting the White House to this injustice.
Brian Horton
Brian Horton
