Middle East & North Africa

  
A Kurdish flag is waved during a rally in support of the Iraqi Kurdish leader in Erbil on October 30, 2017. Amid unrest in the region, Kurdish news outlets are attacked and harassed. (AFP/Safin Hamed)

Kurdish journalist killed, others attacked amid post referendum tensions

New York, October 30, 2017– CPJ today condemned attacks against the Kurdish media in Iraq and called on all parties to refrain from targeting the press as political and military tensions escalate over a Kurdish independence bid. In recent days, attackers stabbed to death a journalist, a mob attacked two TV crews, and Iraq’s media…

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Women browse graphic novels at a comic festival in Algiers in October 2017. The co-founder of an Algerian news outlet says access to his news website is blocked. (AFP/Ryad Kramdi)

Access blocked to Algerian news website

Access to the Algerian news website Tout Sur l’Algérie (TSA) (All about Algeria) has been inaccessible on the country’s state-owned internet service provider since October 5, 2017, according to news reports and a statement by the website’s directors.

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Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir addresses supporters during his visit to the war-torn Darfur region, in Bilal, Darfur, Sudan September 22, 2017. A Sudanese criminal court convicted an editor to six months in prison for publishing an article that accused Sudan's first family of corruption, according to news reports. (Reuters/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah)

Sudan jails al-Tayar journalist over article alleging corruption in president’s family

New York, October 23, 2017–Sudanese authorities should immediately release al-Tayar Editor-in-Chief Osman Mirgani from prison and drop all charges against him and al-Tayar columnist Mohamed Zine al-Abidine, the Committee to Protect journalists said today.

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Employees of TransMedia look at a military order attached to their office doors in Hebron on October 18, 2017. Israeli forces raided several media companies for alleged incitement. (AFP/Hazem Bader)

Israeli forces raid several Palestinian media production companies

Beirut, October 19, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Israeli authorities to stop harassing Palestinian media and to release two staff members of a media company arrested during a series of raids in the West Bank yesterday.

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A woman casts her vote in Mauritania's referendum in August 2017. Journalists reporting critically on the referendum and the government face harassment. (STR/AFP)

Mauritania cracks down on critical press after referendum

The Mauritanian Radio and Television Broadcast Authority today ordered Mauritania’s five privately owned news stations to shut down for “failing to fulfil their financial agreements” with the country’s broadcast regulator, local media reported.

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A fighter from Deir al-Zor military council which fights under the Syrian Democratic Forces holds the council's flag in the village of Abu Fas, Hasaka province, Syria September 9, 2017. Two reporters died in car bombing attacks on October 12 in Abu Fas. (Reuters/Rodi Said)

Two Kurdish reporters killed on duty by car bombings in eastern Syria

Beirut, October 16, 2017–Kurdish journalists Dilshan Ibash and Hawker Faisal Mohammed died from injuries sustained during October 12 suicide car bomb attacks that occurred in the eastern Syrian village of Abu Fas, where the two reporters were covering civilian displacement, according to their employer, Hawar News Agency, and the Syrian Journalists Association.

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A worker cleans a EU flag in Berlin on May 19, 2017. The EU parliament is due to vote on October 12 on a proposed review mechanism of surveillance tool exports. (AFP/John MacDougall)

Press at risk as EU-based companies export surveillance software to hostile regimes

In August, Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen told the daily newspaper Information that the government had authorized sales of online surveillance software to several Middle Eastern countries. While acknowledging the potential for human rights violations that could result from the use of these tools, the minister said that Denmark has an interest in the fight…

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CPJ urges Jordan to drop charges against regional press freedom group

The Committee to Protect Journalists writes to Jordan’s Attorney General Judge Mohamed Said al-Sharaideh to urge him to drop an investigation into the regional press freedom group, the Center for Defending Freedom of Journalists.

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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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