ALTHOUGH RIGHTS TO FREE EXPRESSION AND PRESS FREEDOM are enshrined in national constitutions from Algeria to Yemen, governments found many practical ways to restrict these freedoms. State ownership of the media, censorship, legal harassment, intimidation, and imprisonment of journalists were again among the favored tools of repression and control. In Iraq, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Syria,…
IRAN’S CONSERVATIVE-DOMINATED JUDICIARY WAGED AN EXTENSIVE CAMPAIGN against the local reformist press, closing newspapers and prosecuting outspoken journalists throughout 2000. At year’s end, the most influential reformist newspapers had been silenced, at least six journalists were in prison because of their work, and one publisher had narrowly escaped assassination. The conservative establishment’s unrelenting assault brought…
EIGHTY-ONE JOURNALISTS WERE IN PRISON AROUND THE WORLD at the end of 2000, jailed for practicing their profession. The number is down slightly from the previous year, when 87 were in jail, and represents a significant decline from 1998, when 118 journalists were imprisoned. While jailing journalists can be an effective means of stifling bad…
Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in IRAN New York, October 24, 2000 — Iran’s hard-line judiciary banned three reformist newspapers yesterday, bringing to at least 27 the total number of papers shut down since April, when the conservative Press Court launched a broad press crackdown.
Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in IRAN New York, August 14, 2000 — Iran’s conservative-controlled judiciary pushed ahead with its sweeping assault on the country’s reformist press, arresting two more journalists over the weekend, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).
New York, August 8, 2000 — Iran’s Press Court shut down yet another major reformist newspaper on Tuesday, two days after supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei quashed a parliamentary bill to amend the country’s restrictive press laws, according to wire service reports. “This latest move by Iran’s Press Court is extremely disheartening to those who…
Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in IRAN New York, July 25, 2000 — The reformist weekly Gunagoun was suspended by Branch 1410 of Tehran’s Public Court yesterday, bringing the total number of newspapers banned since January to 21. According to the state news agency IRNA, the closure came a day after…
New York — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) presented its International Press Freedom Awards for the year 2000 to four journalists–from Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malaysia, and Iran–for their courage and independence in reporting the news. These honorees endured jail, had their lives threatened and, in one case, survived a car-bomb attack,…