Middle East & North Africa Archives - Page 4 of 26 - Committee to Protect Journalists

2009

Middle East & North Africa documents by Year:

Iraqi court fines Guardian for defaming al-Maliki

November 11, 2009 2:48 PM EST

New York, November 11, 2009—The Committee to Protect Journalists denounces a Baghdad court’s ruling that the London-based Guardian newspaper defamed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, left, in an April 2009 article depicting increasing authoritarianism in his government. CPJ calls on an appeals court to overturn the decision.

CPJ: End campaign against independent media in Morocco

November 9, 2009 4:38 PM EST

New York, November 9, 2009—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Moroccan King Mohammed VI to order the release of a jailed editor and to put an end to the use of the judiciary to silence independent media.

CPJ rejects Iran espionage charges against American hikers

November 9, 2009 4:24 PM EST

New York, November 9, 2009—Three American hikers who inadvertently crossed the border into Iran on July 31 are facing chargers of espionage, according to a report from the state news agency IRNA.

Hikers in Iran detained nearly 100 days

November 6, 2009 11:55 AM EST

New York, November 6, 2009—No charges have been brought against three American hikers nearly 100 days since they were detained after accidentally crossing the border from Iraqi Kurdistan into Iran while on a hiking trip on July 31.

In Tunisia, government harassment of journalists on the rise

November 4, 2009 2:57 PM EST

New York, November 4, 2009—The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged that Tunisian police stripped and mistreated journalist Taoufik ben Brik, a well-known contributor to French newspapers and one of the top critics of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, during his arrest on October 29. CPJ urges Ben Ali to order Ben Brik’s immediate…

New Yemeni press court sentences, bans journalists

November 2, 2009 4:44 PM EST

New York, November 2, 2009—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to end the intensifying judicial and media campaign to silence critical journalists and eradicate press freedom.

Toronto’s Citizen Lab uses forensics to fight online censors

November 2, 2009 3:29 PM EST

A basement in the gray, Gothic heart of the University of Toronto is home to the CSI of cyberspace. “We are doing free expression forensics,” says Ronald Deibert, director of the Citizen Lab, based at the Munk Centre for International Studies. Deibert and his team of academics and students investigate in real time governments and…

CPJ to Clinton: Morocco censors, jails journalists

October 30, 2009 11:20 AM EDT

Dear Secretary Clinton: As you prepare for the Forum for the Future in Marrakesh next week, we’d like to bring to your attention a sharp spike in government repression in the host country, Morocco. The Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent, nonprofit organization that defends press freedom worldwide, has documented an aggressive crackdown on independent news outlets and journalists that has occurred over the last five months and has included judicial harassment, politicized prosecutions, obstruction, and censorship.

Tawakul Karman, chairwoman of Women Journalists Without Chains. (Oliver Holmes)

Just off Freedom Square in Yemen

October 27, 2009 4:10 PM EDT

Swathed in the traditional black face veil, or niqab, Yemeni women brandish banners with images of disappeared and imprisoned journalists. Every Tuesday, in Yemen’s capital city of Sana’a, Tawakul Karman, chairwoman of Women Journalists Without Chains (WJWC), leads these women into Freedom Square to demonstrate.

Video Report: Portraits of the Fallen

October 26, 2009 9:42 AM EDT

In “Portraits of the Fallen,” a video introduction to CPJ’s database of killed journalists, María Salazar-Ferro examines the circumstances in which reporters, photographers, editors, and other journalists have died on duty. Because hundreds of journalists have been murdered in reprisal for their work, CPJ is leading a Global Campaign Against Impunity. (4:11) Visit our database of…