Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply alarmed by the death of Canadian-Iranian free-lance photographer Zahra Kazemi. Although you have ordered several government ministries to officially investigate her death, we demand that an immediate, independent inquiry be conducted—including an autopsy—and that the results be made public. According to the official Iranian news…
Canadian-Iranian photojournalist hospitalized
New York, July 10, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is gravely concerned about Canadian-Iranian free-lance photographer Zahra Kazemi who is currently in serious condition in a hospital in Iran’s capital, Tehran. Kazemi, who has contributed to Recto Verso, a Montreal-based magazine, and the London-based photo agency Camera Press, is in a coma in a…
Journalists who disappeared
CPJ research indicates that the following journalists have disappeared while doing their work. Although some of them are feared dead, no bodies have been found, and they are therefore not classified as “Killed.” If a journalist disappeared after being held in government custody, CPJ classifies him or her as “Imprisoned” as a way to hold…
Attacks on the Press 2002: Middle East and North Africa Analysis
The Arab world continues to lag behind the rest of the globe in civil and political rights, including press freedom. Despotic regimes of varying political shades regularly limit news that they think will undermine their power. Hopes that a new generation of leaders would tolerate criticism in the press have proved illusory, with many reforms…
Attacks on the Press 2002: Israel and the Occupied Territories (Including the Palestinian Authority Territories)
While the press is largely free within Israel proper, the country’s military assault on the Occupied Territories fueled a sharp deterioration in press freedom in the West Bank and Gaza during much of 2002. Despite vocal international protest, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) committed an assortment of press freedom abuses, ranging from banning press access…
Attacks on the Press 2002: North Korea
Shortly after U.S. president George W. Bush arrived in South Korea’s capital, Seoul, in February 2002 for a state visit, the North Korean state news agency, KCNA, reported a miracle: that a cloud in the shape of a Kimjongilia, the flower named after the country’s leader, Kim Jong Il, had appeared over North Korea. “Even…
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…
Jailed editor pardoned and released
New York, November 6, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) welcomes the release of prominent Iranian journalist and reform politician Abdullah Nouri. On Tuesday, November 5, Iranian authorities announced that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had commuted the remainder of Nouri’s five-year prison term. The pardon came while Nouri was furloughed from prison to attend…
Iran: Two more newspapers closed
New York, September 17, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the recent decision by Tehran’s Press Court to suspend two more newspapers. The latest ruling brings to 54 the total number of publications suspended since a crackdown began in April 2000. According to a CPJ source in Iran, on Sunday, September 15, the Press…