Attacks on the Press 2009: Middle East and North Africa Developments
ATTACKS ON THE PRESS: 2009 • Main Index MIDDLE EAST and NORTH AFRICA • Regional Analysis:Human rights coverage spreads despite government pushback Country Summaries • Bahrain • Egypt • Iran • Iraq • Israel, Occupied Palestinian Territories • Libya • Morocco • Sudan • Tunisia • Yemen • Other developments ALGERIA Police confiscated a manuscript…
Jordan may extend repressive law to electronic media
Jordan’s Court of Cassation, the country’s highest judicial authority, issued an opinion last week stating that Web sites can be classified as “publications” and recommending that the Press and Publications Law be extended to online news sites and other electronic media. This decision, while not yet the law of the land, sets a legal precedent…
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…
Attacks on the Press in 2008: Middle East/North Africa Developments
ALGERIA | JORDAN | KUWAIT | MAURITANIA | SAUDI ARABIA | SYRIA | TURKEY| UNITED ARAB EMIRATES ALGERIA • In September, the Supreme Court overturned the defamation convictions of Editor-in-Chief Omar Belhouchet and columnist Chawki Amari of the Algiers-based independent daily El Watan, the newspaper’s lawyer, Zoubeir Soudani, told CPJ. The high court ordered a…
Riot police assault Al-Jazeera crew in Jordan
While covering a demonstration in Amman, Jordan, on January 9, 2009, against Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip, riot police attacked an Al-Jazeera crew, the network reported. Bureau Chief Yassir Abu Hilala, and cameramen Malik al-Laham, Muhammad al-Huwaiti, and Safwan al-Awawida were all treated at a local hospital.