Gda: Cease and desist, Mitchell!

NEW YORK - The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has written a strongly-worded letter to Grenada Prime Minister, Dr Keith Mitchell, calling on him to "desist from any efforts to curtail the work of the press."

The letter was dated June 9, 2004 and copied to a number of international media organisations, the OAS Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression and Lorne W. Craner, United States Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour.

The letter says the CPJ is "alarmed by the Grenadian government's recent attempts to intimidate the local media, including legal actions against the press for reporting alleged wrongdoing by you."

The organisation referred to a criminal libel lawsuit in Grenada brought by the Prime Minister against Miami-based financial newsletter Offshore Alert and its publisher, David Marchant, a British national. It also mentions the suspension on May 11, of Odette Campbell, news director for the Grenada Broadcasting Network, which is 40 percent owned by the Grenada government as she walked out of a press conference held by the Minister of Tourism to protest the government's attitude toward the local media.