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Need to amend Press law

Though officials as well as journalists agree that such a change should take place with immediate effect, no move is expected in the near future.

Khaleej Times spoke to officials as well as the spokesperson of journalists in the country where they all agreed that a more lenient law allowing a greater margin of freedom for the Press should be introduced.

“Journalism is a sacred profession which is respected by all in the country, be it policemen, judges or public prosecutors,” said Justice Minister Mohammed bin Nakhira Al Dhaheri.

But when asked why a new law that had been suggested by top officials years back had not been introduced so far, the minister said his ministry had not received any proposed draft amendments.

“We haven't received any suggested amendments to the federal publication law. Neither the (former) Information Ministry nor any other concerned authority had submitted proposed amendments to the ministry which is responsible for introducing any amendments to any law as long as they serve the society and go in harmony with the changes taking place,” Dhaheri told Khaleej Times.

Maj-Gen Saif Abdullah Al Shaafar, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, said the Interior Minister Lt-Gen Shaikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued earlier instructions concerning good treatment of journalists at police stations and the need to allow them to access information they need in their reporting.

“This, in fact, shows the ministry's respect to journalists,” he noted.

He said the ministry had supported the journalists in all the incidents involving them and policemen. “The minister is keen that Press freedom should not be tampered with,” Maj-Gen Shaafar noted.

Mohammed Yousef, a journalist, said that journalists have been struggling to persuade courts to consider cases filed against journalists as civil rather than criminal cases being governed by the UAE Press and Publication Law and not the UAE Criminal Law. He said that journalists could prove and change the general wrong judicial practice according to which cases against journalists were considered criminal cases.

“Our priority during the past two years was to prevent the issuance of a court order imprisoning journalists. We have won 18 cases and one is still pending in the court,” he said.

“We stood before the judicial authorities and stressed on them that the UAE Press and Publication Law should be implemented and not the Criminal law in cases related to Journalism,” he stressed.

Sami Abdul Ra'ouf, a journalist with Al Ittihad Arabic daily called for a responsible freedom of the Press. However, to ensure an atmosphere of a responsible freedom, journalists should be provided with a free access to information, he said. “A journalist should be considered a partner for accomplishing developments in the different life walkways. Journalistic reports should be considered by relevant authorities as a feedback and performance assessment reports and should be taken into consideration when planning for developing performance,” he noted adding: “To ensure authenticity of such reports, authorities should ensure transparency when dealing with reporters.”

Abdul Ra'ouf did not agree on giving the Press an absolutely free hand without imposing any liability on publications.

Meanwhile, promises for a better deal to journalists in the UAE were many in the recent months, but how far have they helped change the professional scenario for the better is a moot point, some journalists felt.

Calls from journalists and media organisations in the past, not to treat defamation cases — normal occurrence everywhere and treated as civil cases — as "civil and criminal" in the UAE, have not had the desired effect.

Journalists are also peeved that they are being summoned to police stations to take evidence and for questioning, in respect of their professional roles and publication of reports.

While top governmental functionaries are sympathetic to the journalists' cause, there apparently are snags or delays in the formulation of more media-friendly laws.

A draft Press law that seeks to amend the existing Press law and promising more freedom for the media, is at the “consideration” stage.

Meanwhile, the support extended by the Chief Justice of the Federal Supreme Court, Abdul Wahab Abdool, yesterday, to the calls to scrap jail and detention terms imposed on journalists for offences relating to their professional activities, has emboldened the media personnel here. His observations came on the eve of the Press Freedom Day.

He has also called for a system of judicial guarantees for all media persons. His call that journalists should only be questioned by an official holding no less a rank than a chief prosecutor, meant that there should be an end to the system of journalists being summoned before police officials for investigations into their professional conduct.

The Chief Justice's call to have room for reconciliation to settle disputes out of court even when it reaches the highest stage — the supreme court — is well appreciated by media personnel.

World Press Freedom Review for the year 2005, released recently, highlights the Dubai Court of Cassation ruling on Press freedom, in June last, in which it granted journalism the same right of protection enjoyed by other intellectual work.

"While delivering the ruling, the court cited Article 30 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to expression", it noted.

The Review cited the arrest of a city journalist at the Dubai International Airport in June, in connection with the publication of a report. In this connection, it quoted Interior Minister Shaikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan as asking police departments to "establish a new way to deal with the Press and cases against journalists".

“But things have not changed,” journalists noted.

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