Middle East & North Africa

  

Judicial authorities ban 14 newspapers, jail two journalists

Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in IRAN. [Click here to read CPJ’s protest letter] [Click here to read CPJ’s protest letter of April 14]

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Journalist Enters 19th Day of Hunger Strike

Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in TUNISIA. Click here to read CPJ and Human Rights Watch’s recent joint protest letter to President Ben Ali: New York, April 21, 2000—Tunisian journalist Taoufik Ben Brik today entered the 19th day of a hunger strike launched on April 3 to protest the Tunisian government’s…

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Supreme leader lashes out at reformist media; parliament stiffens press law

Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in IRAN. New York, April 21, 2000—On April 19, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei launched a biting verbal attack against Iran’s reformist press, which continues to face fierce pressure from hard-line political forces. (Click here for CPJ’s latest protest letter.)

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Five opposition journalists sentenced to jail terms

Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in EGYPT. New York, April 19, 2000—A Cairo criminal court sentenced five journalists working for the opposition weekly newspaper Al-Ahrar to six months in prison on April 16 for allegedly libeling Muhammad Fahim al-Rayyan, the chairman of Egypt Air.

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State cracks down on Western Sahara coverage

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to express its deep concern about the censorship of the French-language weekly newspaper Le Journal and its sister publication the Arabic weekly Al-Sahiffa, as well as the dismissal of three employees from television station 2M.

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Iran: Leading editor jailed

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to protest the jailing of Iranian journalist Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, editor of the daily Asr-e-Azadegan.

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New parliament to debate press-code reform

Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in IRAN New York, August 4, 2000 — Iranian parliamentarians will debate proposed amendments to the country’s press law when the new Majles (parliament) opens in Tehran on Sunday, according to international news reports. The current Majles is dominated by reformist delegates who broadly support President…

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Publication of new weekly blocked because of content

Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in Morocco. New York, March 31, 2000 — A hard-hitting new Moroccan political weekly has been prevented from printing its fourth edition by one of its shareholders, the Committee to Protect Journalists has learned. The French-language weekly Demain was launched three weeks ago, but was blocked…

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Malaysia: Government bans independent magazine

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by the effective banning of the independent bimonthly magazine Detik, whose publishing license has been cancelled by your government.

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Jailed journalist wins UNESCO Press Freedom award

New York, March 27, 2000 — Jailed Syrian journalist and human rights activist Nizar Nayyouf has been awarded the 2000 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize. Established in 1997, the award is given annually to individuals or institutions that have “made a notable contribution to the defense and/or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the…

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