African leaders urged to defend press freedom
Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists urges you as chairman of the African Union to discuss with your fellow heads of state and government at your summit in the Gambian capital, Banjul, from July 1, the need to defend press freedom on the continent.
Editor, reporter for weekly are sentenced to jail
New York, June 26, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores today’s decision by an Egyptian court to sentence two journalists to a year in prison for publishing a report critical of President Hosni Mubarak, his family, and other top officials. The court in Al-Warrak, north of Giza, sentenced Ibrahim Eissa, editor of the independent weekly…
In Egypt, journalists under fire as protests continue
New York, May 25, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by attacks on the Egyptian press related to coverage of alleged election fraud and protests over judicial independence. The Egyptian state security prosecutor brought criminal charges on Wednesday against three journalists who alleged fraud in last year’s parliamentary elections. Security and police officers…
Journalists assaulted, detained while covering protests
New York, May 11, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that Egyptian police and security officers assaulted several journalists covering protests today in support of two judges facing dismissal for criticizing last year’s parliamentary elections. Several journalists detained while covering similar protests last month are still being held. Plainclothes police and security…
Nobel laureate Mahfouz calls for release of jailed Arab journalists
New York, May 5, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists joins acclaimed Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz in calling on Arab governments to free jailed journalists including two Egyptian reporters detained last week while covering demonstrations in Cairo. Mahfouz, who won the 1988 Nobel Prize for literature, launched his appeal in an interview with the semi-official Egyptian…
Al-Jazeera bureau chief, three print journalists held
New York, April 27, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the arrest of Al-Jazeera TV’s Cairo bureau chief, and the separate detention of three print journalists, by Egypt’s state security prosecutor. Hussein Abdel Ghani, head of the Qatar-based satellite channel in Egypt, was arrested yesterday on charges of propagating false news while covering…
Egyptian court sentences journalist to a year in prison
New York, March 10, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the one-year prison sentence handed down to Egyptian journalist Amira Malash for defamation. On Tuesday, a court in Giza near Cairo convicted Malash, a reporter for the independent weekly Al-Fagr, of defaming Judge Attia Mohammad Awad in an article she wrote in July…
After two years, Mubarak pledge unfulfilled
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists urges you to fulfill the commitment you made two years ago today to initiate legislation to eliminate prison sentences for what journalists report and thus narrow the gap between Egyptian law and international press freedom standards.
Egyptian appeals court upholds one journalist conviction, overturns others
New York, February 23, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the decision of a Cairo criminal appeals court today to uphold the conviction and one-year prison sentence of journalist Abdel Nasser al-Zuheiry for defamation. Al-Zuheiry, a reporter for the independent daily Al Masry al-Youm (The Egyptian Today), had lodged the appeal along with…