Kuwait / Middle East & North Africa

Your Highness, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a non-governmental organization of journalists devoted to upholding press freedom worldwide, is writing to protest in the strongest terms the conviction and imprisonment of Dr. Ahmad Baghdadi, head of the political science department at Kuwait University and a regular contributor to the daily newspaper Al-Siyassa.

June 22,1999 His Excellency Youssef Muhammad al-Samait Minister of Information c/o His Excellency Ambassador Muhammad al-Sabah Embassy of the State of Kuwait 2940 Tilden Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20008 Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to strongly protest the closure of the Qatar-based television station, Al-Jazeera. CPJ has leaned that Your…

1999 April 28, 1999 Taoufik Ben Brik, La Croix HARASSED Ben Brik, a correspondent for the Paris-based daily La Croix, was prevented by Tunisian authorities from leaving the country for a planned trip to Switzerland after police at Tunis-Carthage Airport confiscated his passport, claiming that the document was missing a page and therefore Ben Brik could…

Washington, April 2, 1999 — A high-level delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) met today with Kuwait’s Ambassador Dr. Muhammad al-Sabah to urge the release of imprisoned journalists Fawwaz Muhammad al-Awadi Bessisso and Ibtisam Berto Sulaiman al-Dakhil, who have been held since 1991. They are the last remaining journalists in prison in Kuwait,…

The Washington Post — Turkey’s Press: Turkey’s Kurds The New York Times: Turkey, Jailer of Journalists The Philadelphia Inquirer: Free speech under fire Turkey leads the world in jailing journalists

The smell of oil, profits, and risk hang heavily over Baku. To the Western visitor, this port city looks like a boom town. Azerbaijan has discovered new oil reserves in the Caspian Sea which may be nearly as great as those of Kuwait. And outsiders are rushing to town to pump oil and get rich…

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Caucasian republics of Azerbaijan and Armenia have declared their desire to model themselves after Western European societies, with free – market economies and democratic government. But their passage from communism to a new social order has been rife with contradictions. In the current transition period, leaders of…

Six Jordanian journalists were among 405 prisoners released from Kuwaiti prisons on Feb. 25 as part of a pardon by Emir Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah marking the sixth anniversary of the country’s liberation from Iraqi occupation.

Internet Edition No. 53

Africa For the third consecutive year, Ethiopia held more journalists in jail–31 at year’s end–than any other country in Africa. Most were detained without charges.