Attacks on the Press 2009: Morocco
Top Developments• Authorities censor, jail journalists to silence coverage of the royal family. • Politicized courts issue heavy defamation awards. Key Statistic 100,000: Copies of two weeklies destroyed by authorities because they carried a poll about the king. As King Mohammed VI marked his first decade on the Alawite throne, his government moved aggressively to censor coverage…
Attacks on the Press 2009: Sudan
Top Developments• Government continues to impose vast censorship.• New press law falls short of international standards. Key Statistic 9: Men executed in editor’s murder. Observers call it a miscarriage of justice. Sudanese journalists worked amid political uncertainty and severe restrictions. Pervasive official censorship restricted journalists from closely reporting on the tumultuous events of 2009: The International Criminal…
Attacks on the Press 2009: Tunisia
Top Developments• Government engineers ouster of independent journalist union leaders.• Two journalists are jailed in retaliation for critical reporting. Key Statistic 97: Percentage of newspaper campaign coverage that was devoted to President Ben Ali. President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali was re-elected to a fifth term with 90 percent of the vote amid severe restrictions on…
Attacks on the Press 2009: Yemen
Top Developments • Government censors newspapers, establishes new press court. • Two journalists jailed without charge; one missing after being abducted. Key Statistic 8: Newspapers banned for periods beginning in May due to their coverage of unrest in the south. Continuing a steady years-long decline, Yemen became one of the most repressive countries in the…
Attacks on the Press 2009: Middle East and North Africa Developments
ATTACKS ON THE PRESS: 2009 • Main Index MIDDLE EAST and NORTH AFRICA • Regional Analysis:Human rights coverage spreads despite government pushback Country Summaries • Bahrain • Egypt • Iran • Iraq • Israel, Occupied Palestinian Territories • Libya • Morocco • Sudan • Tunisia • Yemen • Other developments ALGERIA Police confiscated a manuscript…
On revolution’s anniversary, Iran stifles Internet
New York, February 11, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Iranian government’s attempt to slow down the Internet and block text messaging ahead of expected demonstrations during today’s 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.
Groups join forces, urge Iran to free journalists
‘Our Society Will Be a Free Society’ campaign launched February 11, 2010, New York—A coalition of leading international journalists’, writers’, and publishers’ organizations today launched a campaign to press the government of Iran to release their colleagues imprisoned in the wake of last year’s disputed presidential election CPJ, PEN, Reporters Sans Frontières, Index on Censorship,…
CPJ, coalition appeal to Ayatollah Khamenei
From the Committee to Protect Journalists, PEN, Index on Censorship, Reporters Sans Frontières, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, and the International Publishers Association: Our organizations, dedicated to freedom of expression, are writing on the 31st anniversary of the Iranian Revolution to urge you to free all writers, journalists, and editors currently in prison for carrying out their professions in Iran.
U.S military releases detained Reuters photographer in Iraq
New York, February 10, 2010—The Committee to Protect Journalists is relieved that the U.S military has released Iraqi photographer and cameraman Ibrahim Jassam today after holding him without charge for 17 months in Iraq, but calls on the U.S. government to ensure that this release marks the end of its policy of open-ended detentions of journalists. Jassam,…