Middle East & North Africa

New York, January 24, 2012–Iraq’s Journalist Protection Law falls short of international standards of freedom of expression and should immediately be repealed, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

The doses of freedom that the Tunisian revolution injected into national media have not been sufficient to revive it after decades of systematic destruction. It is not surprising that our evaluation of media one year after the tyrant fell reveals more negativity and pessimism.

New York, January 20, 2012–The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the most recent spate of press freedom violations in Iran and calls on authorities to immediately reverse its crackdown on the press. 

Politically-related Iranian prosecutions often take place in near secrecy, with unclear charges morphing and changing over time. It doesn’t get any easier to work out the motivations of prosecutors when the charges are connected to technology.

New York, January 18, 2012–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Sudan’s routine use of newspaper closures as a means to censor critical reporting. Over two weeks, the authorities have shut down and confiscated the assets of two daily newspapers. 

Dear Prime Minister Netanyahu: The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by ongoing attacks on and detention of journalists in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as well as by a recent series of developments that restrict freedom of the press in Israel. Physical attacks, arrests, and other restrictions are creating an environment that undermines the vitality of the media, a key component of Israel’s democracy.

New York, January 13, 2012– The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns recent attacks on the press in Tunisia. A journalist was assaulted while covering a protest at the interior ministry Wednesday, and two female journalists were assaulted last week.