Israel extends Al-Jazeera journalist’s detention
New York, August 17, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by Israel’s continued detention of Al-Jazeera journalist Samer Allawi, who has been held without charge for eight days.”Israeli authorities must publicly explain and provide evidence as to why they continue to hold Samer Allawi,” said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa…
Iran must work toward improving press freedom
Dear Dr. Shaheed: Ahead of your report on human rights in Iran to the U.N. General Assembly in September, I would like to take this opportunity to provide you with an assessment of the country’s state of press freedom as documented by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Authorities were detaining 34 journalists when CPJ conducted its annual worldwide census of imprisoned journalists on December 1, 2010, making Iran, along with China, the world’s worst jailer of the press. In reviewing these cases and their developments, we have identified three distinct and worrying developments to which we would like to draw your attention.
Omani newspaper under threat of being shut down
New York, August 12, 2011–The Sultanate of Oman is threatening to shut down the independent newspaper Al-Zaman for publishing an article alleging corruption in the Ministry of Justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The article’s author, prominent Omani journalist and filmmaker Youssef al-Haj, stands trial on Sunday and could face prison time if…
Iran continues to target critical journalists
New York, August 10, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about a rise in the number of imprisoned journalists in Iran and the continuing deterioration of their health. In recent days, Iranian authorities increased a prominent journalist’s prison term by two years and arrested a critical journalist who had just finished serving a prison…
Journalist detained in Libya must be granted all rights
New York, August 10, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Libyan government to immediately extend all recognized legal rights to imprisoned American journalist Matthew VanDyke, who was identified as missing in Libya and is now confirmed to be in state custody, according to a recent news report.
Request to NATO for clarification on Libya TV attack
On July 30, NATO warplanes attacked three transmission towers in Libya. The goal apparently was to knock Libyan state television off the air because, NATO alleged, “it was being used as an integral component of the regime apparatus designed to systematically oppress and threaten civilians and to incite attacks against them.”
Iran continues to target journalists
New York, August 3, 2011–The Committee to Protect Journalists is dismayed by news reports in Iran indicating that furloughed journalists are being summoned back to prison while new journalists continue to be convicted on manufactured charges. Reports of journalists’ deteriorating physical and mental health are equally disturbing. “That the legal rights of accused and imprisoned journalists…
Q&A: Two of Turkey’s leading journalists speak from jail
The arrest of Ahmet Şık and Nedim Şener in March this year has put press freedom in Turkey under the international spotlight. Authorities said the journalists had not been detained because of their reporting but as part of an ongoing investigation into an alleged ultranationalist plot to overthrow the government known as “Ergenekon.” On a recent…
Editor’s killing still haunts Turkey
There’s a policeman on duty these days in the lobby of the elegant apartment building that houses Agos and a receptionist behind security glass buzzes you in to the newspaper’s cluttered offices. That’s about the only indication that the outspoken Turkish-Armenian editor whom I interviewed here in Istanbul in 2006 was assassinated outside the front…