Middle East & North Africa

  

Nadire Mater charged with “insulting the Turkish military”

Click here to read Nadire Mater’s personal statement Last week, Nadire Mater, a reporter with Inter Press Service (IPS), learned that she had been formally charged with “insulting” the Turkish military-a crime under Article 159 of the Turkish Penal Code. If convicted, she faces between one and six years in prison. The charge stems from…

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Iran: Banned newspaper’s editor convicted of “insulting Islam”

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a nonpartisan organization of journalists dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide, is writing to protest the conviction handed down yesterday against Latin Safari, director of the banned daily newspaper Neshat.

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Iran: Banned newspaper’s editor convicted of “insulting Islam”

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a nonpartisan organization of journalists dedicated to defending press freedom worldwide, is writing to protest the conviction handed down yesterday against Latin Safari, director of the banned daily newspaper Neshat.

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Mehmed’s Book Author Faces Six Years

By Nadire Mater Istanbul, September 21, 1999—A local prosecutor in Beyoglu, Istanbul has finally indicted me under Article 159 of the penal code ( “insulting and belittling the military”) for having published the statements of former army soldiers who I interviewed for my book Mehmedin Kitabi(“Mehmed’s Book—Soldiers Who Have Fought in the Southeast Speak Out”). The…

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Yemen: Government continues to harass independent press

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to express its deep concern about continuing state restrictions on the press in Yemen. We are particularly dismayed by the authorities’ ongoing harassment of the thrice-weekly newspaper Al-Ayyamand the closure of the opposition weekly Al-Shoura.We call on Your Excellency to assume a leadership role to help reverse state restrictions on the press and to guarantee the right of journalists to practice their profession freely.

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Palestinian security officials arrest TV journalist for “dangerous security reasons”

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to express its deep concern about the arrest of Maher al-Dessouki, a television journalist with the independent Al-Quds Educational TV station. On the morning of September 15, Palestinian Preventive Security Services (PSS) agents arrested al-Dessouki in the West Bank city of Ramallah. According to the Jerusalem-based Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment (LAW), he was accused by Palestinian authorities of “possessing material inciting against the PNA.”

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CPJ welcomes new Turkish amnesty law but presses for meaningful reform of press statutes

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing in response to the Turkish parliament’s approval last month of an amnesty law (law 4454 for 1999) that will secure the release of a number of jailed journalists and writers imprisoned on the basis of their published work and which is expected to temporarily cancel dozens of other prosecutions pending in court.

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The Turkish Amnesty Law: A CPJ Update

Click here to read CPJ’s September 17 letter to Prime Minister Ecevit. September 17, 1999—On August 28, the Turkish parliament approved an amnesty bill that will secure the release of a number of journalists and writers who were jailed on the basis of their published work. The law was signed by President Suleiman Demirel on…

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Lebanese reporter abducted by Israeli security forces in occupied south Lebanon

Your Excellency, The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a nonpartisan organization of journalists dedicated to the defense of press freedom worldwide, is writing to express grave concern about the case of Cosette Elias Ibrahim, a Lebanese journalism student and freelance reporter who was abducted by Israeli forces in the town of Rumaish in Israeli-occupied south Lebanon.

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Syria: Ailing journalist Nizar Nayyouf still in solitary confinement

Your Excellency, I am writing to express concern about Nizar Nayyouf, a Syrian journalist, writer, and human rights activist who is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence in solitary confinement at Mezze military prison in Damascus. I would like to request a meeting with you later this month in New York to discuss his case.

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