Middle East & North Africa documents by Year:
Basra police raids home, seeks arrest of Iraqi reporter Hassan Sabah
August 16, 2019 1:13 PM ET
New York, August 16, 2019—The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the issuing of an arrest warrant and a raid on the home of Hassan Sabah, a reporter for the Iraqi news broadcaster INEWS, in Basra, and called on Iraqi authorities to allow journalists to work freely and without...
Iran detains freelance photographer and culture reporter Nooshin Jafari
August 12, 2019 4:56 PM ET
Washington, D.C., August 12, 2019--Iranian authorities arrested Nooshin Jafari, a photojournalist and culture reporter, outside her home in Tehran on August 3 as she was on her way to work. Jafari, a cinema and theater photographer who reports on culture for several Iranian magazines, was taken to an unknown location,...
In Yemen, gunmen abduct former journalist Abdel Hafiz al-Samadi
August 9, 2019 11:56 AM ET
Gunmen in civilian clothing abducted Abdel Hafiz al-Samadi from his house in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on July 27, 2019, according to a statement from the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate and the Saudi network Al-Arabiya....
Israeli forces injure 3 journalists at West Bank and Gaza protests
August 6, 2019 3:21 PM ET
At least three journalists covering protests in the Gaza Strip and West Bank on August 2, 2019 were injured as Israeli soldiers fired live ammunition and rubber bullets, and, in one case, allegedly assaulted a photojournalist working for the Associated Press, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, news reports,...
Sudan detains Sadiq al-Rizaigi, Al-Sayha editor-in-chief and journalists’ union head, for 5 days
August 6, 2019 10:15 AM ET
Sudanese authorities detained Sadiq al-Rizaigi, the editor-in-chief of privately owned newspaper Al-Sayha and head of the Sudanese Journalists’ Union, on July 24, 2019, according to AFP and Sudanese broadcaster Radio Dabanga. He was held without charge until he was released on July 29, according to the Sudan Tribune and...
Militant group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham detains Syrian reporter Jumaa Haj Hamdou in Aleppo
August 1, 2019 12:53 PM ET
In the afternoon of July 24, 2019, at least 10 members of the Al-Qaeda offshoot Hayat Tahrir al-Sham detained Jumaa Haj Hamdou, a reporter for the Syrian pro-civil rights opposition news website Zaman al-Wasl, at his home in Abian, a village in western Aleppo governorate under control of the...
Mauritania finally frees blogger Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mohamed
July 30, 2019 11:22 AM ET
Washington D.C., July 30, 2019--The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed relief that Mauritanian blogger Mohamed Cheikh Ould Mohamed is free and safely out of the country. Mohamed was released yesterday and left Mauritania, according to news reports, citing his lawyer and official government news sources....
Iraqi reporter assaulted while covering protest in Basra
July 25, 2019 3:30 PM ET
On July 19, 2019, in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, a group of protesters assaulted Ayman al-Sheikh, a correspondent for the private Iraqi broadcaster Al-Sharqiyya, according to news reports and local press freedom group Press Freedom Advocacy Association in Iraq....