WASHINGTON, Dec. 15, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On
Dec. 11 the National Press Club
started an online petition -- Change.org/FreeEmilio -- designed to
help obtain the release of Mexican Journalist Emilio Gutierrez and
his son Oscar who are currently being held in the El Paso Detention
Center as their legal team scrambles to block their deportation to
Mexico.
The petition was launched Monday afternoon and announced at a
news conference at the Press Club. The numbers climbed immediately
with more than 2,000 people signing on in the first 24 hours. By
Friday the petition had more than 12,000 signatures.
The Club is gathering the signatures to add to a filing in court
by Emilio's attorneys. His denial of asylum is based on a challenge
to his professional standing as a journalist and on his inability
to satisfy the judge that his life is at risk if he is deported to
Mexico.
Gutierrez fled Mexico nine
years ago, after his newspaper stories about the corruption in the
Mexican military raised threats of violence and intimidation
against him and others working on the same stories. According to a
recent report by the United Nations, Mexico has one of the worst records in the
world with respect to violence against journalists. If Gutierrez
were deported his life would be at risk.
In October, 2017, the National Press Club, which is the world's
leading professional organization for journalists, recognized
Gutierrez as the winner of its John
Aubuchon Award for Press Freedom. Dozens of other journalism
organizations have also spoken out for Mr. Gutierrez and urged that
he be set free. In a Dec. 12, 2017
editorial the Washington Post called for Mr. Gutierrez to be
granted asylum by the government of the
United States.
It is easy to sign the online petition by simply doing a web
search for Change.org and then searching for the site for
FreeEmilio. Once you see the petition, just follow the prompts to
sign.
Your signature will join the thousands of others in an
expression to a court filing that may lead to renewed freedom for
this award-winning journalist.
Founded in 1908, the National Press Club is the world's leading
professional organization for journalists and a tireless advocate
for press freedom worldwide. The press freedom activities of the
National Press Club are coordinated by the National Press Club
Journalism Institute, a 501-c3.
Contact: Bill McCarren,
202-662-7534 or wmccarren@press.org for the National Press Club
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SOURCE National Press Club