Christophe Deloire
Reporters Without Borders secretary-general
47 rue Vivienne
75002 Paris
Paris, 9 July 2014
Interior Minister Arturo Corrales
Secretaría de Estado en el Despacho de Seguridad
Aldea el Ocotal, Antiguo local de la Academía Nacional de Policía
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Dear Minister,
I would like to draw your attention to the repeated acts of intimidation to which our Honduras correspondent, Dina Meza , has been subjected. Reporters Without Borders is an international organization that defends freedom of information. It has consultative status with the United Nations and UNESCO. Ms. Meza, a journalist and human rights defender, is our organization’s voice in your country.
Forced to leave Honduras temporarily in 2013, Ms. Meza has often asked the authorities to provide her and her family with protective measures in order to guarantee their security, as they have been directly threatened. Ms. Meza has told us that she has encountered considerable difficulties in getting in contact with the police.
She recently wrote to the Interior Ministry’s special prosecutor requesting assistance, but received no reply. In her letter, Ms. Meza also reiterated her request for information about the Interior Ministry’s investigation into herself.
Reporters Without Borders joins its correspondent in appealing to you to recognize the gravity of the threats against her. This is an urgent request, one that other international human rights organization such as Amnesty International and Front Line Defenders have also already made.
The threats of torture and death received by Ms. Meza have increased since the start of July. These threats are made by telephone, email and even directly to her on the street. She is often followed and photographed by unidentified individuals.
In the past, Ms. Meza has investigated land conflicts in the Bajo Aguán region and cases of corruption in private-sector companies. She recently carried out a regional investigation into attacks on journalists for the Salvadoran development NGO Comunicándonos. As she continues to do investigative reporting despite the attempts to intimidate her, Reporters Without Borders paid tribute to her courage by including her in its list of 100 “Information Heroes.”
We urge you to treat these threats with the utmost seriousness. They are also direct attacks on freedom of information, a right guaranteed by articles 72 and 75 of the 1982 constitution, where it is written: “Everyone is free to express their thoughts by any means of dissemination without risk of prior censorship.”
I thank you in advance for the attention you give to our request.
Sincerely,
Christophe Deloire
Reporters Without Borders secretary-general
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