Middle East & North Africa

  
Muawiyah Alrawahi (Twitter)

Oman holding blogger Muawiyah Alrawahi at psychiatric hospital

New York, August 5, 2014–CPJ is concerned for the welfare of critical Omani blogger Muawiyah Alrawahi, who disappeared last month after being summoned by intelligence officials, according to human rights groups. A photo appeared on Twitter in recent days showing Alrawahi at the psychiatric department of Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, with his legs shackled, according…

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A fighter watches as smoke rises after rockets fired by one of Libya's militias struck a fuel tank in Tripoli on August 2. (Reuters/Hani Amara)

Libya’s Alassema TV suffers several attacks; journalists abducted

New York, August 5, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a recent series of attacks on privately owned Alassema TV in Libya, including the abduction on Friday of three journalists who are still missing.

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News from the Committee to Protect Journalists, July 2014

CPJ conducts fact-finding mission in Ukraine Muzaffar Suleymanov, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia Research Associate, traveled to Kiev on July 6 on a week-long fact-finding mission and spoke to more than a dozen local and international journalists about press freedom conditions in the country. Suleymanov also met with journalists who had covered or were covering…

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CPJ board member Clarence Page, right, speaks  at a panel Wednesday organized by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights in partnership with CPJ in Washington, D.C. (CPJ/Rachael Levy)

First US-Africa summit short on press freedom, other human rights

Top African and U.S. leaders are meeting next week in Washington in a first-of-its-kind summit focused on African development. But critics argue the summit is flawed in design, overlooking human rights such as freedom of expression and barring civil society actors from bilateral discussions.

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This screenshot from al-Manara's Facebook page shows photographer Rami Rayan working minutes before he was killed.

Another journalist killed in Gaza bombardment

New York, July 31, 2014–A second journalist was killed while covering the Israeli bombardment of the Shijaiyah neighborhood of Gaza, according to news reports and the two journalists’ media outlets. The death marks at least three journalists and one media worker killed on duty since the Gaza conflict began this month, CPJ research shows.

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CPJ

No press freedom without Internet freedom

Four years ago, when CPJ launched its Internet Advocacy program, we were met with lots of encouragement, but also some skepticism. “Why do you need a program to defend the Internet?” one supporter asked. “You don’t have a special program to defend television, or radio, or newspapers.” But the Internet is different. Increasingly, when it…

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Palestinian citizens react to an air strike dropped by the Israel Defense Forces on a market in the Shijaiyah neighborhood of Gaza. A journalist was killed in the attack. (Reuters/Ashraf Amrah)

Palestinian photojournalist killed in Israeli air strike

New York, July 30, 2014–Palestinian journalist Rami Rayan was killed today in an Israeli air strike on a market in the Shijaiyah neighborhood of Gaza, according to his employer and news reports. At least 16 other people were killed and 160 wounded in the strike, according to news reports.

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Jason Rezaian and Yeganeh Salehi (AFP)

Iran must explain journalist arrests

It has now been six days since the Washington Post’s Jason Rezaian, The National’s Yeganeh Salehi and two others were arrested in Iran, but we are no closer to understanding who detained them or why. Even the number of journalists arrested is in dispute. The Washington Post originally said its correspondent Rezaian, his wife Salehi,…

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Four journalists, including three U.S. citizens, detained in Iran

New York, July 24, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by a Washington Post report today that says Iran has detained four journalists–three of whom are U.S. citizens–and calls on authorities to release them immediately. Jason Rezaian, a U.S. citizen and a correspondent for the Post, and his wife, Yeganeh Salehi, an Iranian correspondent…

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The aftermath of a raid on the offices of the Sudanese paper Al-Tayar, seen here, in which the paper's editor-in-chief was attacked. (AFP/Ebrahim Hamid)

Armed men raid Sudanese newspaper, beat editor

New York, July 22, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns an attack on the offices of a privately owned newspaper in Sudan in which the publication’s editor and another journalist were beaten.

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