February 28, 2006 Original Alert: February 16, 2006 Elham Afroutan and six other journalists, Tammadon-e Hormozgan IMPRISONED Elham Afroutan, one of seven journalists jailed after publishing a satirical article that criticized the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, has been transferred from prison in Bandar Abbas to Tehran’s Evin Prison after she attempted suicide in custody, according to…
New York, February 27, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Sunday’s release of Tunisian journalist Hamadi Jebali but calls again for Tunisian authorities to release writer and human rights lawyer Mohamed Abbou, who has been jailed solely for expressing his views. Jebali, the longest-serving imprisoned journalist in the Arab world, was among 1,600 of prisoners…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists urges you to fulfill the commitment you made two years ago today to initiate legislation to eliminate prison sentences for what journalists report and thus narrow the gap between Egyptian law and international press freedom standards.
New York, February 23, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the decision of a Cairo criminal appeals court today to uphold the conviction and one-year prison sentence of journalist Abdel Nasser al-Zuheiry for defamation. Al-Zuheiry, a reporter for the independent daily Al Masry al-Youm (The Egyptian Today), had lodged the appeal along with…
New York, February 23, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns in the strongest terms the murder of three journalists on assignment in Samarra for the Dubai-based satellite news channel Al-Arabiya. The bodies of correspondent Atwar Bahjat, cameraman Khaled Mahmoud al-Falahi, and engineer Adnan Khairallah were found today near Samarra, a day after the station lost…
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists wishes to express its grave concern about the criminal prosecution of Jihad Momani, former editor-in-chief of the weekly Shihan, and Hashem al-Khalidi, editor-in-chief of the weekly Al-Mehwar. The two editors face lengthy prison terms if convicted under Jordan’s penal code for publishing controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists wishes to express its grave concern about the criminal prosecution of four Yemeni journalists facing lengthy prison terms if convicted under Yemen’s press law for publishing controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. Their newspapers have all been ordered closed.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists wishes to express its grave concern about the arrest of two Algerian editors and the closure of their weeklies for publishing controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad on February 2. Kamel Bousaad, editor of pro-Islamist weekly Errissala, was arrested on February 8 and Berkane Bouderbala, managing editor of the weekly Essafir, was arrested on February 11, according to news reports.
New York, February 17, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by the record damages awarded by a Moroccan court against the independent weekly Le Journal Hebdomadaire in a defamation suit brought by a Belgian think tank. The magazine, which has been harassed by the government since its founding in the late 1990s, said…