Foreign media banned from covering prisoner release
New York, July 3, 2003—Algerian authorities banned foreign media from covering yesterday’s release of two convicted leaders of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), a group that was outlawed in 1992 when its party was poised to win parliamentary elections. At least two French news crews were expelled today for ignoring the ban. According to CPJ…
Bahrain: Journalists on trial face prison time
New York, July 1, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by the prosecution of Mansour al-Jamri and Hussein Khalaf, editor and reporter, respectively, of the independent Bahraini daily Al-Wasat. Today was the second hearing in a trial that began on June 21, and is to resume in September. The case against Al-Jamri and…
Journalists who disappeared
CPJ research indicates that the following journalists have disappeared while doing their work. Although some of them are feared dead, no bodies have been found, and they are therefore not classified as “Killed.” If a journalist disappeared after being held in government custody, CPJ classifies him or her as “Imprisoned” as a way to hold…
Journalist ends hunger strike
New York, June 25, 2003—Jailed Moroccan journalist Ali Lmrabet has ended the hunger strike he began on May 6 to protest his harassment and subsequent imprisonment by Moroccan authorities. According to press reports, Lmrabet ended the hunger strike after a visit by Moulay Hichem al-Aloui, a cousin of King Muhammad VI, who convinced him to…
Morocco: Three more journalists detained
New York, June 20, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is extremely alarmed about the detention of three Moroccan journalists, bringing the total number of journalists currently in custody there to five. Journalists Mohamed Al Herd and Abdel Majid Taher, editors at the local weekly newspaper Al-Sharq, and Mustapha Qashnini, editor of the local weekly…
Morocco: Conviction of imprisoned journalist upheld
New York, June 17, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by the decision of an appeals court in Morocco’s capital, Rabat, to uphold journalist Ali Lmrabet’s May 21 criminal conviction, which resulted in his imprisonment and the banning of his magazines. According to Lmrabet’s lawyer, the court decided to reduce the prison sentence…
Calls for immediate release of jailed editors
New York, June 12, 2003—A delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) met with Moroccan ambassador to the United States, Aziz Mekouar, in Washington, D.C., today to express its deep concern about the recent imprisonment of two Moroccan editors and to call for their immediate release. Ali Lmrabet, owner and editor of two weeklies,…