Middle East & North Africa

  
Passengers file through Erbil international airport Friday, September 29, 2017 ahead of a flight ban threatened by the central Iraqi government in retaliation for a Kurdish independence referendum. A journalist who reported critically on the referendum was ordered to leave Kirkuk province. (AP/Susannah George)

Kurdish military forces expel Al-Ahad TV reporter from Kirkuk province

Beirut, October 2, 2017–Kurdish regional authorities in northern Iraq should immediately allow Al-Ahad TV correspondent Saif Rida to safely return to Kirkuk province and resume his work as a journalist, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Members of the Kurdish Security Forces, Asayish, distribute food for prisoners inside Derick central prison, in the east of Syrian Kurdish city of Qamishli on September 10, 2015. Asyish is holding Zagros TV reporter Barzan Liani at Navkour Jail in the village of Qamishli. (Reuters/Rodi Said)

Kurdish security forces detain local reporter, whereabouts unknown

New York, September 29, 2017-Kurdish security forces in northern Syria should immediately release Ibrahim Ali al-Suleiman, a local reporter for the independent Euphrates Post, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Members of Asayish, the security force for the defacto authorities of the Rojava region in northern Syria, on September 15 detained al-Suleiman at his…

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Passengers store their electronic items in their suitcases and bags when arriving at the Casablanca Mohammed V International Airport on Thursday, March 29, 2017. Moroccan authorities detained British reporter Saeed Kamali Dehghan on September 27, and then expelled him from Morocco. (AP/ Abdeljalil Bounhar)

Moroccan authorities detain, expel British journalist

New York, September 29, 2017–Moroccan authorities should lift any restriction on journalist Saeed Kamali Dehghan’s ability to travel to the country, and allow all journalists to report freely on matters of public interest, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Plainclothes policemen on September 27 detained Dehghan while he was reporting on the anti-corruption Al-Hirak…

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A Jordanian Bedouin honor guard stands guard after the ceremony of reopening the Martyrs' Memorial and Museum in Amman, Jordan on December 12, 2016. The head of a Jordanian trade regulatory body on publicly accused a regional press freedom group, the Center for Defending Freedom of Journalists (CDFJ), of failing to properly register as a non-profit organization. (Reuters/Muhammad Hamed)

Press freedom group harassed in Jordan

The head of a Jordanian trade regulatory body on September 10, 2017, publically accused a regional press freedom group, the Center for Defending Freedom of Journalists (CDFJ), of failing to properly register as a non-profit organization, and referred the case to Jordan’s attorney general who can then begin legal processes against the group that could…

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Israeli security forces arrest Palestinian journalist in West Bank

Beirut, September 27, 2017-Israeli security forces should immediately release Palestinian journalist Abdul Rahman Awad, a correspondent in Ramallah for the Hamas-affiliated Palestinian news agency Safa, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Tunisian police beat reporter, seize his equipment at protest

Tunisian police beat Hamdi al-Souissi, a reporter for the local radio station Diwan FM, seized Souissi’s recording equipment, detained him, and questioned him for two hours at a precinct in in the country’s eastern city of Sfax, on September 18, 2017, local media reported.

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Moroccan video blogger sentenced to 10 months in prison

A Moroccan court on August 18, 2017 sentenced video blogger Mohamed Taghra to 10 months in prison for criminal defamation after he published a report on local police corruption in the country’s central Souss-Massa region, the Arab Network for Human Rights Information and the Arab Bloggers Union reported.

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Israel and the Palestinian Authority seek to silence the same media outlet

Beirut, September 5, 2017–Israel should allow the al-Hurriya media network and its affiliates to resume work without fear of harassment, and the Palestinian Authority should release Ayman al-Qawasme, the chairman of the same media network, from its custody, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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NRT office in Iraqi Kurdistan attacked

New York, August 31, 2017–The Kurdistan Regional Government should immediately investigate today’s attack on independent broadcaster NRT in Dohuk, northern Iraq, and swiftly bring those responsible to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.

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Iranians walk past street art in the southwestern district of Tehran in January 2016. Security agents arrested two journalists in the city in August (AFP/Atta Kenare)

CPJ calls on Iran to release two detained journalists

New York, August 30, 2017–Iranian authorities should immediately release Sasan Aghaei and Yaghma Fashkhami, two journalists detained in Tehran, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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