Middle East & North Africa

New York, February 14, 2011--As protests spread from Tunisia and Egypt to other countries in the region, journalists have been targeted by security forces, in Yemen, Iran, and Algeria, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 

Today, on its 18^th day, the Egyptian revolution has finally achieved its goal, deposing Hosni Mubarak and his regime. Egyptian journalists who have courageously found ways to work under the yoke of Mubarak's censorship and repression are releasing a sigh of relief that they've held in for three long decades. 

New York, February 10, 2011--As Iran marks the 32^nd anniversary of the country's revolution on February 11, the Committee to Protect Journalists and more than 1,000 press freedom supporters delivered a clear message to Iranian Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei today: Free your country's imprisoned journalists.

When Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reporter Robert Tait was taken into custody by Egyptian authorities at a police checkpoint near central Cairo on February 4, he didn't know he'd become witness to torture. But, cuffed and blindfolded for 28 hours, Tait heard and saw beatings and electrocutions. "My experience, while highly personal, wasn't really about me or the foreign media," Tait writes in the U.K. Guardian. " It was about gaining an insight--if that is possible behind a blindfold--into the inner workings of the Mubarak regime." It is exactly that kind of insight that can be gained when reporters are allowed to do their jobs, and it is why CPJ exists--to fiercely defend the rights of journalists to do their work. Take a read of our recent Egypt coverage here to get a sense of the massive scale in which journalists have been attacked and detained, and see Tait's whole piece in the Guardian here.

New York, February 9, 2011--Egyptian authorities are obstructing international news coverage of the country's political crisis by withholding press credentials and, in one instance, invading the home of a foreign journalist, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. A well-known Egyptian blogger also remains unaccounted for after being seized by suspected government agents earlier this week.

New York, February 9, 2011--A Jordanian news website was hacked on Sunday after it refused to comply with demands from security agents to remove a critical statement from Jordanian tribesmen, the outlet said. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Jordanian authorities to immediately investigate the attack on Ammon News, one of the most popular news websites in Jordan.

New York, February 8, 2011--Sudanese security forces on Wednesday detained 12 employees of the pro-opposition weekly Al-Midan, according to local journalists and news reports. Two were released the same day, but 10 continue to be held incommunicado nearly a week later. The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the welfare of the newspaper employees and calls on Sudanese authorities to release them immediately.