Middle East & North Africa

2019

  
People walk past street vendors outside a mosque in Amman, Jordan, on June 6, 2018. A journalist was imprisoned over an article on a private hospital on January 2, 2019. (Reuters/Ammar Awad)

Jordanian journalist imprisoned over article on private hospital

Beirut, January 17, 2019–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the imprisonment of Nidal Salameh, a journalist for the website Gerasa News, who was convicted of violating Jordan’s Press and Publications Law and the Cybercrime Law.

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American-born news anchor Marzieh Hashemi seen at a television studio in Tehran, Iran. She was detained in the U.S. on January 13, 2018. (Press TV via Associated Press)

CPJ concerned about US detention of Iranian TV journalist

New York, January 17, 2019–The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed concern about the detention of Marzieh Hashemi, a TV anchor and documentary filmmaker for the English-language service of Iranian state broadcaster Press TV, and called on the U.S. Department of Justice to disclose the reason for her arrest.

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An anti-government rally in Khartoum on January 13. Several journalists are detained and Sudanese authorities are censoring newspapers to try to limit coverage of the unrest. (AP)

Sudan responds to anti-Bashir coverage with censorship and arrests

“We were all journalists, so we went to work. We wrote about what happened to us that day,” Ashraf Abdelaziz, editor-in-chief of the privately owned al-Jarida daily told me over the phone this week, while recounting how he and his colleagues reported on their own arrest while still in detention.

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Members of Libyan security forces loyal to Libyan National Army head Khalifa Haftar operate turrets mounted on pickup trucks in eastern Libya in October 2018. A photojournalist was detained on December 20, 2018, in the eastern city of Ajdabiya. (AFP/Abdullah Doma)

Local journalist detained in eastern Libya since December 20

New York, January 16, 2019–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on the Libyan National Army to release journalist Ismail Bouzreeba al-Zway, who was detained December 20 in the eastern Libyan city of Ajdabiya, according to news reports, local press organizations, and the United Nations Support Mission in Libya.

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A Palestinian man reads a newspaper outside his store in Gaza City. The executive director of the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate was recently detained and beaten by security forces in Gaza.

Hamas forces detain and allegedly assault director of Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate

Beirut, January 16, 2019 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the detention and alleged assault of Louay al-Ghoul, the executive director of the Gaza branch of the Fatah-affiliated Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, a journalists’ union.

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A picture taken on September 26, 2018, shows the front pages of Iranian newspapers at a newspaper stand in the capital Tehran. Iran jailed a journalist for six years over his critical writing on December 25, 2018. (AFP/Atta Kenare)

Iran jails journalist for six years over critical writing

Washington D.C., January 14, 2019–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the harsh sentence imposed on journalist Hamed Aynehvand and called on Iran to stop persecuting the media for doing their job.

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A street in the West Bank city of Nablus is seen on May 15, 2018. Two journalists were recently arrested in the West Bank; one has been released, but the other remains behind bars. (AFP/Jaafar Ashtiyeh)

Palestinian security forces arrested two journalists in West Bank in late December

Beirut, January 9, 2019 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed concern about the arrests last month of Palestinian journalists Zaid Abu Ara, a reporter for the London-based Quds Press News Agency, and Motasem Saqf al-Hit, a photographer for the Hamas-affiliated Quds News Network. Al-Hit has been released, but Abu Ara remains in detention.

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An employee checks the damage in a studio after a raid by assailants on the offices of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation in Gaza City on Friday, January 4, 2019. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Unknown assailants ransack broadcaster’s office in Gaza

Beirut, January 7, 2019 — The Palestinian authorities in Gaza should immediately investigate the January 4 attack on the headquarters of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA)-affiliated Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) in Gaza and swiftly bring those responsible to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Anti-government protesters clash with riot police in central Beirut, Lebanon, on December 23, 2018. Multiple reporters were harassed and assaulted while covering the protests. (AP/Bilal Hussein)

Journalists assaulted and news website raided in Lebanon in December

Lebanese soldiers assaulted at least four journalists covering a protest in Beirut on December 23, 2018, according to news reports, the journalists’ employers, videos and pictures shared on social media by journalists, and the regional press freedom group Skeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom.

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Sudanese protesters run away from tear gas during a demonstration in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, on December 31, 2018. Sudan has detained several opposition journalists amid the ongoing protests. (AFP)

Sudan detains several critical columnists amid protests

Washington D.C., January 4, 2019–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Sudanese authorities to release at least three journalists who have been detained in recent days after publishing columns in support of ongoing, widespread anti-government protests that have included calls for President Omar al-Bashir to resign.

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2019