Middle East & North Africa

  
Tawakul Karman, chairwoman of Women Journalists Without Chains. (Oliver Holmes)

Just off Freedom Square in Yemen

Swathed in the traditional black face veil, or niqab, Yemeni women brandish banners with images of disappeared and imprisoned journalists. Every Tuesday, in Yemen’s capital city of Sana’a, Tawakul Karman, chairwoman of Women Journalists Without Chains (WJWC), leads these women into Freedom Square to demonstrate.

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Video Report: Portraits of the Fallen

In “Portraits of the Fallen,” a video introduction to CPJ’s database of killed journalists, María Salazar-Ferro examines the circumstances in which reporters, photographers, editors, and other journalists have died on duty. Because hundreds of journalists have been murdered in reprisal for their work, CPJ is leading a Global Campaign Against Impunity. (4:11) Visit our database of…

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An Iraqi journalist in America: Gathering my family

Nearly six months after my arrival in the U.S., most of my family has finally joined me in Arizona. Making the trip from Baghdad was my father, who turned 63 in October; my mother, who is 50; and my 16-year-old brother, Anas, who is very eager to discover this big country.

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Even with Ben Ali virtually assured of victory, his government is allowing no dissent. (AFP)

As Tunisian elections near, attacks on press mount

New York, October 22, 2009—Tunisian authorities must halt harassment of independent journalists, release a journalist jailed for taking photographs, and allow a prominent French reporter to enter the country, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ has documented a spike in government attacks on independent journalists as Tunisian presidential and legislative elections approach‎.

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Cameraman killed in explosion in Iraq

New York, October 21, 2009—The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the death of‎ an Al-Rasheed television cameraman killed by an explosion in front of his home in Kirkuk today.

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Newsweek reporter leaves Tehran; 25 journalists still in jail

New York, October 20, 2009—With the release of Newsweek reporter Maziar Bahari on bail, the Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Iranian authorities to release the 25 journalists who still remain in prison. 

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CPJ
Natalya Estemirova (AP)

A memorial to killed journalists, a call to action

We’ve launched a new section of our Web site, and we hope you take a few minutes to read some of its pages. There is one, for example, on Russian reporter Natalya Estemirova, who dared to examine human rights crimes in Chechnya. Another is devoted to Francisco Javier Ortiz Franco, a Tijuana newspaper editor who…

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Bahari (Newsweek)

Newsweek’s Bahari released on bail in Iran

Reacting to the release of Newsweek correspondent Maziar Bahari on bail in Iran today, we issued the following statement: “We are greatly relieved that Maziar Bahari is out on bail and at home with his family in Tehran,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “We hope the many journalists who remain jailed in Iran will…

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Driss Chahtan holds his daughter while being taken to prison. (Abdelwahid Mahir)

In Morocco, editor imprisoned, court shutters paper

New York, October 16, 2009—The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemns the decision of a Rabat court Thursday to imprison the managing editor of Al-Michaal newspaper for one year. 

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Bahari (Newsweek)

Jailed journalist’s wife hopes for release in time for birth

On Monday, two weeks before her October 26 due date, Paola Gourley, the wife of jailed Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari, at left, was rushed to the hospital after she suffered bleeding due to stress. From the London Metropolitan Hospital, her pleas for the release for her husband—who is nearing his 120th day in prison in…

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