Middle East & North Africa documents by Year:
Mauritania cracks down on critical press after referendum
October 17, 2017 7:00 PM ET
The Mauritanian Radio and Television Broadcast Authority today ordered Mauritania's five privately owned news stations to shut down for "failing to fulfil their financial agreements" with the country's broadcast regulator, local media reported....
Two Kurdish reporters killed on duty by car bombings in eastern Syria
October 16, 2017 5:37 PM ET
Beirut, October 16, 2017--Kurdish journalists Dilshan Ibash and Hawker Faisal Mohammed died from injuries sustained during October 12 suicide car bomb attacks that occurred in the eastern Syrian village of Abu Fas, where the two reporters were covering civilian displacement, according to their employer, Hawar News Agency, and the...
Press at risk as EU-based companies export surveillance software to hostile regimes
October 10, 2017 6:02 PM ET
In August, Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen told the daily newspaper Information that the government had authorized sales of online surveillance software to several Middle Eastern countries. While acknowledging the potential for human rights violations that could result from the use of these tools, the minister said that Denmark...
CPJ urges Jordan to drop charges against regional press freedom group
October 3, 2017 11:44 AM ET
The Committee to Protect Journalists writes to Jordan's Attorney General Judge Mohamed Said al-Sharaideh to urge him to drop an investigation into the regional press freedom group, the Center for Defending Freedom of Journalists.
Kurdish military forces expel Al-Ahad TV reporter from Kirkuk province
October 2, 2017 6:21 PM ET
Beirut, October 2, 2017--Kurdish regional authorities in northern Iraq should immediately allow Al-Ahad TV correspondent Saif Rida to safely return to Kirkuk province and resume his work as a journalist, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today....
Kurdish security forces detain local reporter, whereabouts unknown
September 29, 2017 4:58 PM ET
New York, September 29, 2017-Kurdish security forces in northern Syria should immediately release Ibrahim Ali al-Suleiman, a local reporter for the independent Euphrates Post, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Members of Asayish, the security force for the defacto authorities of the Rojava region in northern Syria, on...
Moroccan authorities detain, expel British journalist
September 29, 2017 10:01 AM ET
New York, September 29, 2017--Moroccan authorities should lift any restriction on journalist Saeed Kamali Dehghan's ability to travel to the country, and allow all journalists to report freely on matters of public interest, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Plainclothes policemen on September 27 detained Dehghan while he...
Press freedom group harassed in Jordan
September 27, 2017 4:57 PM ET
The head of a Jordanian trade regulatory body on September 10, 2017, publically accused a regional press freedom group, the Center for Defending Freedom of Journalists (CDFJ), of failing to properly register as a non-profit organization, and referred the case to Jordan's attorney general who can then begin legal...
Israeli security forces arrest Palestinian journalist in West Bank
September 27, 2017 9:58 AM ET
Beirut, September 27, 2017-Israeli security forces should immediately release Palestinian journalist Abdul Rahman Awad, a correspondent in Ramallah for the Hamas-affiliated Palestinian news agency Safa, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today....
Tunisian police beat reporter, seize his equipment at protest
September 26, 2017 10:38 AM ET
Tunisian police beat Hamdi al-Souissi, a reporter for the local radio station Diwan FM, seized Souissi's recording equipment, detained him, and questioned him for two hours at a precinct in in the country's eastern city of Sfax, on September 18, 2017, local media reported....