Attacks on the Press 2009: Bahrain
Top Developments• Authorities block Web sites critical of the government, the king, and Islam.• Officials pursue politicized court complaints against critical reporters. Key Statistic 1,040: Web sites that the Ministry of Information ordered censored in September. Bahrain has made significant strides in improving its human rights record since political reforms enacted in 2001, particularly concerning universal suffrage…
Audio Report: Middle East Bloggers
In our special report “Middle East Bloggers: The Street Leads Online,” CPJ’s Mohamed Abdel Dayem says blogging has become a crucial front in the region’s struggle for freedom of expression. Here, Abdel Dayem describes how two regional trends–booming Internet audiences and repression of traditional media–have made blogging a vibrant news alternative. Listen to the mp3…
CPJ concerned about Bahrain Web crackdown
Your Majesty: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to protest the recent deterioration of press freedom in Bahrain and your government’s ongoing campaign against critical or opposition Web sites and blogs. The crackdown against those sites has resulted in dozens of them being blocked inside the kingdom, according to local and international human rights and press freedom watchdogs.
Attacks on the Press 2007: Middle East and North Africa Snapshots
AlgeriaBahrainJordanKuwaitLibyaMauritaniaSudan Syria ALGERIA • Authorities arrested Kamel Bousaad, editor of the pro-Islamist weekly Errissala, on February 8 and Berkane Bouderbala, managing editor of the weekly Essafir, on February 11, after their newspapers published controversial Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. The editors faced charges under Article 144 of the penal code for insulting the Prophet…
Attacks on the Press in 2004: Facts
When U.S.-led forces waged an offensive in Fallujah in November and a state of emergency was declared, the Iraqi interim government’s Higher Media Commission directed the media to “set aside space in your news coverage to make the position of the Iraqi government, which expresses the aspirations of most Iraqis, clear.” Those that didn’t comply…
Attacks on the Press 2004: Bahrain
BahrainThe government uses a number of tools to hinder independent reporting, chief among them a controversial press law imposed in October 2002. The law, criticized by Bahraini journalists and political activists, allows journalists to be fined and jailed and permits officials to close publications by court order. The law bans criticism of Islam and King…