Belarus revokes accreditation, deports foreign journalists covering protests

While Belarus continues to be rocked with protests for three weeks, President Alexander Lukashenko’s government cracked down hard on the news media on August 29. It not only deported some of the foreign journalists but also withdrew the accreditations of several others who were reporting on the anti-government protests prevailing in the nation. Several international media outlets reported about their journalists being deported from the country. 

Two Moscow-based journalists of international media agency, AP who were constantly covering the demonstrations in Belarus were sent back to Russia on Saturday. Moreover, the organisation’s Belarusian journalists were directed by the government that their press credentials were revoked. The Belarusian Association of Journalists said that the accreditation has been taken away from at least 17 Belarusians working for different outlets. 

From Germany’s ARD television to BBC and from US-funded radios to other outlets, many journalists were reported to have been either sent back or have their licence revoked. Lauren Easton, AP’s director of media relations said in a statement that the organisation decries the “blatant attack” on the freedom of the press in the European nation and called for the government to reinstate the credentials of independent journalists. In the same line, executives of other media outlets directly impacted by the latest development along with foreign governments have criticised the move. 

“The Associated Press decries in the strongest terms this blatant attack on press freedom in Belarus. AP calls on the Belarusian government to reinstate the credentials of independent journalists and allow them to continue reporting the facts of what is happening in Belarus to the world,” said Lauren Easton.

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UN on Belarus govt’s move

United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric reportedly said that the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has time and again called for the journalists to be able to do their job in an environment that is ‘free from harassment’. Germany’s Foreign Minister Heiko Mass reportedly summoned the Belarusian ambassador after the detention and expulsion of the foreign journalists in Minsk and said that “this attack on press freedom is another dangerous step toward more repression instead of dialogue with the population.”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “has consistently called for journalists to be able to do their work free from harassment, anywhere in the world,” Stephane Dujarric said.

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Inputs/ Image: AP