Several times it’s been pointed out that journalists in Muslim countries who offend the wrong person can find themselves in jail.

But why be so hard on them about that? They’re just taking a page from Poland’s book:

New York, January 17, 2006 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today called the jailing of a Polish journalist for criminal libel an affront to Polish democracy and called on the Polish president to pardon him.

“Poland is now part of democratic Europe and democracies do not jail journalists for criticizing officials,” CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said. “We condemn the jailing of Andrzej Marek and call on President Kaczynski to pardon him immediately. We also call on the Polish authorities to decriminalize libel and leave redress for defamation to the civil courts as in established democracies.”

Marek, editor-in-chief of the weekly _Wiesci Polickie_ in the northwestern town of Police, began a three-month jail term Monday in Szczecin for libeling a Police city official in 2001.

An aide to Kazcynski said the president, who is a lawyer, would examine Marek’s case, The Associated Press said.

Marek said on entering prison that he was innocent “because I told the truth,” and added that he would “wait for clemency until my last day in this prison,” AP and Agence France- Presse reported. (Source)

And it’s not just an isolated incident, if the current administration has its way. Recently, President Kaczynski’s administration stated that journalists who walked out on a multi-party press conference should be punished for showing disrespect.

The whole story makes it even more ridiculous. Recent elections in Poland have left no clear majority, and so there’s still not a coalition government formed. Recently, three of the right wing parties (League of Polish Families, Law and Justice, and Self-Defense — if I hadn’t told you they’re right wing, you’d know it from their names, wouldn’t you?) put their squabbling behind them and decided to work together to create a strong, fascist Poland. (One report in English)

They told no one of their talks, and when they signed their little pact, invited journalists only from one television station: TV Trwam. This is the television version of Radio Maria, an ultra-right-wing, nationalistic, anti-Semitic radio station owned by Jan Rydzyk, a millionaire priest (yes, there’s more than one of those in Poland, if you can believe it). They then invited other, secular journalists in to disclose the information to the public.

Angered that they were left out of the loop, all non-Trwam journalists walked out.

Kaczynski and the others were furious, and threatened to punish the journalists, though they were not clear how they wanted to do that.

Perhaps beheading?