CPJ names the worst online oppressors. Booming online cultures in many Asian and Middle Eastern nations
have led to aggressive government repression.
Committee to Protect Journalists
Saudi Arabia
10 Worst Countries to be a Blogger
Burma leads the dishonor roll as CPJ names the worst online oppressors. CPJ's "10 Worst Countries to be a Blogger" spotlights nations from Cuba to Turkmenistan, left, where soldiers guard an Internet café. Our report marks World Press Freedom Day, May 3.
• Audio: CPJ's Robert Mahoney
• العربية • Français • Español
• Bloggers React: Posts on China, Burma, Tunisia, Cuba, Turkmenistan, Vietnam
• Audio: CPJ's Robert Mahoney
• العربية • Français • Español
• Bloggers React: Posts on China, Burma, Tunisia, Cuba, Turkmenistan, Vietnam
Reports
| Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Multimedia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Vietnam
In our special report, “10 Worst Countries to be a Blogger,” CPJ names the world’s leading online oppressors. Here, Deputy Director Robert Mahoney explains why CPJ undertook this report and how it arrived at its conclusions. Listen to the mp3 on the player above, or right click here to download. (5:34)
Read “10 Worst Places to be a Blogger.”
Uneasy about satellite television coverage of civil strife and economic hardship, Arab governments are trying to reassert control over the medium. Will a new regional agreement halt the satellite revolution?
By Joel Campagna
Saudi Prince Sultan bin Fahd bin Abdulaziz made an unexpected
phone call last week to a live talk show on a Saudi sports channel. The prince
made the angry call to Al-Riyadiyya from
The now infamous incident of
Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi throwing his shoes at President George Bush
became primetime news throughout the world. In the
New York, September 22, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about an edict issued Saturday by a top Saudi Muslim cleric, who said that writers who challenge or criticize religious sheikhs should be fired from their jobs, flogged, and jailed.
Sheikh Abdallah Ben Jabreen, a former member of the Saudi Arabia’s Establishment of Fatwas, told Al-Majd TV, a privately owned channel in Saudi Arabia, that journalists who criticize religious figures should be punished, according to multiple news reports.
New York, September 18, 2008--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the religious edict issued on September 9 by a top Saudi cleric calling for the death of owners of satellite TV stations that air "immoral" soap operas.
Sheikh Saleh al-Lihedan's fatwa came in response to a question asked on Radio Quran, a state-run station in Riyadh, about TV channels that air "bad" soap operas.
“Anyone who claims this has refuted Islam and should be tried in order to take it back. If not, he should be killed as an apostate from the religion of Islam,” Sheikh Barrak was quoted by Reuters as saying in his March 14 religious edict.
“We are extremely worried about the safety of our colleagues and ask the Saudi government to ensure their safety,” CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said. “It is ironic that writers advocating tolerance and reform are subject to incitement and death threats.”
Attacks on the Press
| Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen
Under the Radar, a New Kind
of Repression
By Joel
Campagna
On a Wednesday afternoon last June, Yemeni security agents stormed the home of outspoken editor Abdel Karim al-Khaiwani and dragged him before a State Security Court in the capital, Sana'a. A prosecutor questioned al-Khaiwani and later rang him up on charges of belonging to a secret terrorist cell--charges that carry a possible death sentence. The arrest shocked Yemeni journalists, and some wondered aloud whether their colleague, known for his incendiary columns attacking the Yemeni government and its battle with rebels in the northwestern city of Saada, might have been involved in something nefarious. CPJ issued guarded statements of concern, unsure whether the charge had substance.
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