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The following originated with Article 19, and was picked up through IFEX.

I ATTACH AN ADDITIONAL NOTE AND UPDATE AT THE END, Sean.


BELGIUM: Police raid and shut down Kurdish television station

ORIGINATOR: ARTICLE 19 (A19), London

On 18 September 1996, Belgian police raided the offices and homes
of several Kurdish institutions and people in exile in Belgium.
Among the raids was that of the licensed Kurdish MED-TV
television station in Brussels. Police confiscated archival
material and closed down the station's office, forcing it to
discontinue broadcasting.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Send appeals to authorities:
-pointing out that the raid is a grave and blatant violation of
the right to freedom of expression and the right to "to seek,
receive and impart information" as guaranteed by Article 19 of
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Right and
Article 10 of the European Human Rights Convention which are both
signed and ratified by the Belgium government
-calling this action against the Kurds, a people who are denied
their fundamental rights to freedom of expression in Turkey and
elsewhere in the Middle East, as a betrayal by the Belgian
government of the human rights principles that the European Union
and its members stand for on behalf of oppressed minorities
-urgently requesting that they intervene immediately so that the
Kurdish institutions and people in Belgium are guaranteed their
right to express themselves freely without further censorship,
raids, or closures and that MED-TV in particular is immediately
allowed to resume broadcasting without any further harassment,
and that its documents and archives be returned without delay

APPEALS TO:

His Excellency Jean-Luc Dehaen
Prime Minister
Office of the Prime Minister
16 Rue de la Loi
1000 Brussels, Belgium

the Belgian diplomatic representative in your country

(in Canada)
Embassy of Belgium
80 Elgin Street,
4th Floor
Ottawa, Ontario
K1P 1B7
Tel: +1 613 236 7267
Fax: +1 613 236 7882

Please copy appeals to the originator if possible.



ADDITIONAL NOTE:

On the same day, September 18th, the London offices of MED-TV were also
raided, with a warrant under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), a weapon
of harrarment already familiar to the Irish, Blacks and other marginal
groups in Britain.  Equipment, archives  and files were confiscated,
although no arrests were made.  They have yet to be returned.  In the
meantime, the station has been forced to severely curtail broacasting, with
only some archive material to work with.  Programme making is at a halt.

The coordinatian between the Belgian and British authorities on this policy
of intimidation is particularly disturbing, suggesting a concernted effort
manipulated in the background by the Turkish government, that has lobbied so
hard in the past year to stop MED-TV. It has been reported extensively in
the Belgian press, although negatively, with intimations regarding the
alleged PKK connection (Kurdistan Workers Party, an outlawed opporition
group in Turkey involved in violant struggle) that MED-TV has consistenly
denied and for which no evidence has been produced.
The British papers also covered it, though not with much. Protests from
various quarters continue in Britain.  The very early and extensive
reporting in the Turksih press suggests, according to MED TV, that they had
advance warning.

Today, Tuesday 24th of September, members of MED TV in Brussels face either
a bail hearing or a trial.  Again, the importance of this example must be
stressed.  MED TV is one of only a handful of initatives that use not just
advanced technology but the liberalised

Sean
Sean O Siochru          tel: +353 1 4730599 office
NEXUS Research Coop.    fax: +353 1 2821003 home office
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