The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) joins journalists in Mongolia to condemn the confiscation by the country’s authorities of a newspaper’s main computer, which contained details of confidential sources.

Officers of Mongolia’s General Authority for Implementing Court Decisions (GAFICD) entered the premises of the daily Niigmiin Toli (Public’s Mirror) in Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar, on August 27 and confiscated the paper’s host computer.

The paper’s journalists protested the intimidation of the paper as a violation of media freedoms.

The confiscation, ordered by Chingeltei District Court in Ulaanbaatar, drew strong criticism from the Confederation of Mongolian Journalists, an IFJ affiliate, and Globe International, a local organisation which seeks to protect the rights of independent media and monitors violations of freedom of expression in the country.

“The seizure of a newspaper’s equipment and confidential data is a blatant act designed to stifle free speech in Mongolia,” IFJ Asia-Pacific Director Jacqueline Park said.

“The IFJ is concerned by Mongolian authorities’ misuse of the law in an attempt to intimidate journalists and censor the country’s media, and is alarmed at the long-term implications for protecting the confidentiality of sources.”

The confiscation is connected to the daily’s publication on September 1, 2009, of a letter from citizens of Bayan-Olgii, in Mongolia’s far western Kazakh province, in which they made allegations of corruption by local government officials.

Bayan-Olgii Governor S. Khaval and another seven public officials named in the letter brought a civil defamation case to the Chingeltei District Court and demanded MNT 13 million (about USD 10,000) in compensation.

The court found the newspaper guilty of slander and defamation on December 24, 2009, and ordered a retraction and apology be published and MNT 1.7 million be paid to the complainants.

The paper appealed, but the Capital City Court reaffirmed the district court decision in March 2010.

Bayan-Olgii citizens have conducted a hunger strike and more than 3000 people signed a petition to demand that Khaval be removed from his position. Niigmiin Toli’s head of administration, B. Yondonduichir, said on August 30 that the ongoing protests and petition by the citizens of Bayan-Olgii proved the paper’s publication of the letter was not groundless.

For further information contact IFJ Asia-Pacific on +612 9333 0919

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