Euna Lee and Laura Ling

As you may have heard by now, two American journalists with CurrentTV, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were just sentenced to 12 years in a North Korean labor camp. They were found guilty of unspecified "grave crimes" and "hostile acts" -- which really just means they were muckraking journalists who dared to cross into North Korea.

Washington's former U.N. Ambassador Bill Richardson called the sentencing part of "a high-stakes poker game" being played by North Korea. He said on NBC's Today show that he thinks negotiations for their "humanitarian release" can begin now that the legal process has been completed. Other South Korean analysts also said they expect the two to be freed following negotiations.

But we should still keep the pressure on. Click here to sign the petition for their release. There are more action suggestions here. Join the Facebook group. And for regular updates, follow LiberateLaura on Twitter. AngryAsianMan also suggests "emailing the State Department at secretary@state.gov demanding they step up negotiations with North Korea."

Using journalists as political pawns and bargaining chips is unfortunately nothing new. Roxana Saberi's case made headlines recently. But this is not only a tactic used by Iran and North Korea. The United States -- yes, the very U.S. that claims to honor freedom of the press and human rights -- is holding an Iraqi journalist named Ibrahim Jassam. He hasn't been charged. An Iraqi court ordered he be released. And yet he remains in U.S. military custody. This is by NO means a suggestion that it's "fair" for North Korea to hold two American journalists. But it's hard for America to have credibility on this issue. Those of us who push for Ling and Lee's release need to expect the same standards of our own government. (See more at the Committee to Protect Journalists.)

Interestingly, Nerdette encountered a lot of push-back when she tried to get folks to sign the petition and take action for Ling and Lee. She writes,

I know that this petition will not directly sway the North Korean government. That doesn't mean its not a meaningful act. That's not why I'm trying to get people to sign it. The point is to keep the energy, the noise and the interest at as heightened a level as we can... so that maybe the media will pay attention to what's going with Laura and Euna... As we come together - online or even off (there was a vigil for Laura and Euna last week) - we are building capacity. Yes, none of us are diplomats, but that doesn't mean we don't have an opinion. Moreover, why would anyone want to silence that? Isn't that the problem with North Korea? That they censure their people? Even if you think the petition is dumb, futile or pointless, luckily the internet is so vast there is space for me and 13,000 other people to publicly declare that we want Euna and Laura to come home. The idea that someone would tell me "don't try, you look ridiculous" just makes me more committed to becoming even noisier.

Those are wise words for any action campaign. Even if it doesn't achieve the desired result, the very act of collectively standing up and saying that we are watching, that we will defend human rights, that we value the right to free speech and fair trials, that, in and of itself, is valuable and important. 

More on Euna Lee and Laura Ling from Matt Yglesias, Jezebel, and Latoya Peterson.

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• Human Rights

View Original Post at feministing.com