US will continue to voice concerns if govts engage in censorship, harassment of journos: Peter Haas

The United States will continue to voice their concerns when governments use their resources and institutions to engage in censorship, restrict internet access, and harass journalists, the US Ambassador Peter Hass has told the Editor's Guild today.

In response to a letter sent by the Guild on Tuesday (3 October) asking Hass to expand on comments he made during an interview with Channel 24 – where he said media will also be included in the newly implemented US visa restrictions policy – Haas reiterated that the United States staunchly defended press freedom and the right of journalists and media outlets around the globe to exercise their right to freedom of expression. 

"This includes views critical of any government, including the United States," he wrote, the Guild said in a press statement on Wednesday (4 October). 

"As Secretary Blinken said when he announced the 3C visa restriction policy on May 24, 'the holding of free and fair elections is the responsibility of everyone - voters, political parties, the government, the security forces, civil society, and the media.' Equally as important, each of these institutions must be allowed to play their respective roles in the democratic election process," he wrote. 

He said the policy, as Blinken stated, applied to any Bangladeshi individual, believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining the democratic election process in Bangladesh. 

"This includes anyone who takes measures to prevent the media from disseminating their views if those measures undermine the democratic electoral process. We will continue to voice our concerns when governments use their resources and institutions to engage in censorship, restrict internet access, and harass journalists."

Haas said the US would speak out against, and apply the visa policy to, those who seek to undermine the democratic election process in Bangladesh.