Middle East & North Africa

2003

  

New York, February 10, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists’ (CPJ) honorary co-chairman Terry Anderson sent a letter today to Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali calling for the release of Tunisian Internet journalist Zouhair Yahyaoui, jailed since June 2002, and renewing calls for the release of Hamadi Jebali, the editor of Al-Fajr, the weekly newspaper…

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Two television stations and one radio station closed in Hebron

New York, January 31, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by Israel’s closure of two local television stations and a radio station in the West Bank town of Hebron during an incursion into the West Bank. On January 30, about 25 Israeli troops entered the building housing the private Al-Nawras TV and Al-Marah…

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Leading reformist daily suspended for 10 days

New York, January 24, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the 10-day suspension of Iran’s top selling daily, Hamshahri, by Tehran’s Press Court on January 22. The judiciary suspended the reformist leaning Hamshahri after the paper failed to print a letter of reply submitted for publication by Ali Reza Mahjoub, head of Iran’s Trade…

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Soldiers assault photographers

New York, January 24, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by the assault earlier this week on two Palestinian photographers by Israeli border police in the West Bank city of Nablus. On Monday, January 21, The Associated Press’ Nasser Ishtayeh and Jaafar Ishtayeh, with Agence France-Presse (AFP), were preparing to photograph an Israeli…

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Three journalists remain in detention

New York, January 23, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the continued detention of three Jordanian journalists, who have been held without charge since January 16. Editor-in-chief Nasser Qamash, managing editor Roman Haddad, and writer Mohannad Mubaidin, all with the weekly magazine Al-Hilal, have been detained for the last week after an article written…

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Journalists petition for colleague’s release

Your Excellency: We the undersigned join the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) in protesting the detention of our colleague Ibrahim Hemaidi, the Damascus bureau chief for the London-based daily Al-Hayat. Syrian authorities arrested Hemaidi on December 23, 2002, because of an article he wrote for Al-Hayat about alleged preparations by the Syrian government for an…

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Al-Jazeera correspondent released

New York, January 6, 2003—The Gaza correspondent for the Qatar-based satellite channel Al-Jazeera, who was apprehended early this morning by Palestinian security forces, was released this evening. According to sources at Al-Jazeera, Saifeddin Shahin was detained this morning at his Gaza office several hours after Al-Jazeera’s Sunday night news bulletin from Doha, Qatar, aired. During…

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2003