Military

DATE=1/10/04

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=PAKISTAN /FRENCH JOURNALISTS (S-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-311692

BYLINE=MICHAEL KITCHEN

DATELINE=ISLAMABAD

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: A Pakistan court has sentenced two French journalists to six months in prison for traveling to the Afghan border without permission, but the sentence was suspended pending an appeal. V-O-A's Michael Kitchen reports from Islamabad.

TEXT: Police arrested Marc Epstein and Jean-Paul Guilloteau last month after they visited the sensitive border town of Quetta. A local journalist aiding the two men was also arrested and is still in custody awaiting charges.

The reporters visited the area to film a secret military camp reportedly used by Afghan militants hiding in Pakistan. Allegations later surfaced that the camp was a fake, set up to fool the journalists.

Vincent Broseel, Asia-Pacific director for the press advocacy group Reporters Without Borders, says the arrests are a form of Pakistani government censorship.

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If these three journalists stay in jail, it will be impossible to cover independently what is happening at the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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The six-month jail sentences have been suspended pending an appeal. The two paid a fine equivalent to one thousand 750 dollars. (SIGNED)

NEB/HK/MK/BK/RH