Middle East & North Africa

  
A police officer is seen in Cairo amid clashes between security forces and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood. (AFP/Mohamed el-Shahed)

Reporters attacked covering first anniversary of Cairo protest killings

New York, August 15, 2014–Several journalists have been attacked and briefly detained in Egypt since Thursday while covering deadly clashes between supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and security forces, according to news reports.

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AP journalist and media worker killed in Gaza

New York, August 13, 2014–Simone Camilli, a video journalist for The Associated Press, and Ali Shehda Abu Afash, a freelance translator, were killed in the northern town of Beit Lahiya today when an unexploded missile blew up, the AP reported. The explosion also injured AP photographer Hatem Moussa. Camilli, an Italian, is the first international…

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The funeral of Deniz Firat, a journalist who was killed in Iraqi Kurdistan. (Facebook/Kamal Chomani)

Kurdish reporter killed in Iraqi Kurdistan

New York, August 11, 2014–A Kurdish journalist was killed in Makhmur district, south of the city of Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan, on Friday when shrapnel from mortar shelling hit her in the chest, according to news reports. Deniz Firat, a freelance reporter, was covering clashes between Kurdish forces and insurgents with the Islamic State, an…

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Two journalists and three media workers abducted in Libya

New York, August 8, 2014–At least two journalists and three media workers affiliated with the privately owned Albarqa TV station were abducted at a checkpoint in the eastern Libyan city of Tobruk on Monday, according to the station and news reports. The reports said the five were taken by a militant group affiliated with Islamists…

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Police officer convicted in death of imprisoned Iranian blogger

New York, August 7, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes today’s conviction of a police officer in the death of Iranian blogger Sattar Beheshti and calls on Iranian authorities to disclose details of the investigation and trial. The police officer was given three years in jail, two years in exile, and 74 lashes for assaulting…

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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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