Middle East & North Africa documents by Year:
Gulf countries order Qatar to close Al-Jazeera and other outlets
June 23, 2017 2:10 PM ET
New York, June 23, 2017--A group of Arab countries today issued Qatar a list of demands, including that the Gulf nation close media outlets that it funds, among them the broadcasters Al-Jazeera and Arabi 21, and the websites Al-Araby Al-Jadeed and Middle East Eye. The demands are a prerequisite...
Palestinian Authority censors at least 11 news websites
June 21, 2017 1:02 PM ET
New York, June 21, 2017--The Palestinian Authority should cease blocking access to news websites in the West Bank, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The Palestinian Authority's attorney general, Ahmad Barrak, on June 15 ordered internet service providers to block access to at least 11 news websites, according...
Sudan confiscates copies of daily newspaper Akhir Lahza
June 20, 2017 6:06 PM ET
On June 17, 2017, Sudan's National Intelligence and Security Services summoned Akhir Lahza's editor-in-chief Saleh Abdelazim to its offices in Khartoum and told him that copies of the daily Arabic-language newspaper would be confiscated indefinitely, according to the newspaper's managing editor Luay Abdelrahman and news reports....
Iraqi fixer and French journalist killed in Mosul
June 20, 2017 5:54 PM ET
Beirut, June 20, 2017--French cameraman Stephan Villeneuve and Iraqi fixer Bakhtiyar Haddad were killed in an explosion that also injured French journalists Veronique Robert and Samuel Forey as they covered Iraqi soldiers' efforts to retake control of the old city of Mosul yesterday, according to news reports and the...
Editor of Moroccan news website harassed
June 20, 2017 10:50 AM ET
New York, June 20, 2017--Moroccan authorities should cease harassing Hamid al-Mahdaoui, the editor of the news website Badil, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Moroccan Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit has filed a criminal defamation complaint against al-Mahdaoui, and the editor says he was questioned for six hours last...
Court begins hearing colonel's defamation suit against TV journalists
June 16, 2017 6:12 PM ET
Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF) Col. Nizar Bou Nasreddine on July 9, 2016, filed a lawsuit against Youmna Fawaz, a journalist for the Lebanese broadcaster Al-Jadeed, Tahseen Khayat, Al-Jadeed's owner, and Al-Jadeed editor Mariam Bassam over the station's broadcast in June and July 2016 of a report alleging corruption...
Moroccan website director held in solitary confinement pending trial
June 16, 2017 1:39 PM ET
Moroccan security forces on June 6, 2017, arrested Mohamed al-Asrihi, a video journalist and the director of the opposition news website Rif24, from the home of activist Mohsen Athari in the northern town of Trogout, where he was hiding, according to news reports and a statement from Rif24....
Saudi journalist imprisoned for 'slandering ruler,' communicating with TV stations
June 16, 2017 11:37 AM ET
The Specialized Court of Appeals in Riyadh in April 2017 upheld a Riyadh criminal court's conviction of Saudi journalist Nadhir al-Majid on charges of "slandering the ruler" and sending electronic messages to TV channels and human rights organizations, according to Agence France Presse and the Gulf Center for Human...
Hamas detains Palestinian journalist in Gaza
June 14, 2017 4:21 PM ET
New York, June 14, 2017---Palestinian authorities in the Gaza Strip should immediately release Fouad Jaradeh, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Jaradeh, a reporter for Palestine TV, the official Palestinian Authority broadcaster based in the West Bank, was detained June 8 in Gaza City by authorities from the...
Egyptian human rights group reports 64 websites blocked
June 13, 2017 1:08 PM ET
Egyptian authorities blocked access to at least 64 websites, including dozens of news websites, between May 24 and June 12, 2017, according to Egyptian human rights group the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression and news reports. The number was substantially higher than the 21 websites security officials...