(10 Jan 2004)
1. French journalists Marc Epstein and Jean-Paul Guilloteau walking between courtrooms handcuffed together
2. Police outside court
3. Epstein and Guilloteau leaving court
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Nafees Sadiqui, defence lawyer:
"The conviction is suspended for one week time, and that's why they are free. They have been convicted earlier for six months and one lakh rupees (100 000 rupees) fine and then afterwards, now, the suspension application was moved for suspending conviction and also the fine, because they are very prominent, worldly known journalists, they are foreign nationals, they have never been convicted and their imprisonment is less than one year time. Therefore they are entitled, according to law for the suspension of the sentence. That is why we have moved this application learned Judge Nuzhat Ara Alvi, she said that ,ok we are suspending it only for one week, so you can go for filing an appeal to the High Court, and meanwhile we have (paid a fine) of 100,000 rupees and the personal bond also."
5. Epstein and Guilloteau driving away, exterior of courthouse
STORYLINE:
A Pakistani court sentenced two French journalists to six months in prison Saturday for visa violations after they traveled to an area near the Afghan border without official permission.
The judge later suspended the jail sentence for one week, allowing reporter Marc Epstein and photographer Jean-Paul Guilloteau to walk free as they prepared to file an appeal against the verdict.
The journalists, who were working for the French magazine L'Express, were ordered to pay a fine of 100,000 rupees (US$1,750) each without delay, defense lawyer Nafees Sadiqui told reporters.
Judge Nuzhat Ara Alvi ruled that the men had violated Pakistan's immigration laws by traveling to the southwestern city of Quetta without permission. Both men had pleaded guilty to the offence.
Police say the Frenchmen's visas only allowed travel to Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.
Pakistani officials have also said the men were involved in making an allegedly fake documentary showing Taliban rebels sneaking into Pakistan from Afghanistan - a sensitive issue here - but they were not charged with any other offence.
The two journalists were arrested Dec. 16 in Karachi, a southern port city, along with a Pakistani journalist, Khawar Mehdi Rizvi, who was working with them and is still in custody. He has yet to be charged.
The Paris-based press watchdog Reporters Without Borders has previously demanded all three journalists be released.
After the sentencing on Saturday morning, the defense lawyer filed an application to the judge in the Karachi court requesting that she review her verdict and just impose a fine because the Frenchmen were journalists, and had not gone to Quetta with any bad motive.
In Pakistan, if a sentence of less than one year is imposed, a defense lawyer can submit a request before the same judge to reconsider the verdict and impose a fine instead. The judge decided on the one-week suspension of the sentence after considering the application.
The same court had granted bail to the Frenchmen on Dec. 24, after they had started a hunger strike to protest their arrest.
They have said they were only doing their job as journalists.
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