HRH Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz
Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the U.S.A.
Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
601 New Hampshire Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20037
Fax: (202) 337-4134
Your Excellency:
We write to inquire about the reported arrest of Saudi journalist, Fares bin Hizam. If these reports are true, Your Excellency, why is he being held?
The information we have is that the Saudi Information Ministry told newspapers last month not to publish the work of Bin Hazim, who worked for the daily newspapers, Al-Watan and Asharq-al-Awsat . He had previously been dismissed by those papers at the request of the government. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Bin Hazim has now been arrested in Dammam.
Bin Hazim@quot;s case is an exceptionally serious example of what, from our perspective, is Saudi Arabia@quot;s long record of muzzling journalists who criticize the government or religious officials. Only last year, Al-Watan@quot;s editor, Mohammed Al-Jassem, a staunch defender of press freedom, was dismissed in the run-up to the legislative elections.
The Overseas Press Club of America (OPC) defends journalists who are persecuted for carrying out their legal functions, and has done so for more than 60 years. We must protest our colleague@quot;s detention and the denial of his livelihood. We urge you to signal your support for free expression and modern democracy by doing all in your power to secure Bin Hazim@quot;s release and the restoration of his livelihood.
Respectfully yours,
Jeremy Main
Kevin McDermott
Freedom of the Press Committee