Jordan issues ban on media coverage of royal family dispute
New York, April 6, 2021 – Jordanian authorities should allow journalists and media outlets to report freely on all issues, and should rescind a ban on coverage of a dispute within the royal family, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. “Whenever there is a hint of a sensitive story, Jordanian authorities’ first instinct is…
Algerian journalist Abdelhakim Setouane sentenced to 6 months in prison
New York, March 30, 2021 – Algerian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Abdelhakim Setouane and let him work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Yesterday, the Sidi M’Hamed Court in Algiers convicted Setouane, director of the independent news website Essafir Broadcast, on charges of defamation, blackmail, and invasion of privacy, according…
Journalist Reem Abdellatif on the risks facing female reporters who cover the Gulf
The trolling started after Reem Abdellatif, a prominent Egyptian-American journalist now based in The Netherlands, published her first column in December for the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz. Titled “How I escaped Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom that terrorizes women,” it described the challenges she faced as a female journalist who had previously worked in Saudi Arabia and denounced Saudi…
Iranian authorities jail journalist Amir Dehbashi in defamation case
Washington, D.C., March 23, 2021 — Iranian authorities must release journalist Amir Dehbashi immediately and cease arresting members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On March 17, security forces in the southwestern province of Bushehr arrested Dehbashi, a freelance reporter, and took him to a regional prison in the provincial capital, also…
Lebanese news website The961 briefly blocked amid currency exchange crackdown
On March 10, 2021, the Lebanese state-run internet service provider Ogero blocked the entire English-language news website The961 for nine hours without warning during a government crackdown on black market money changers, according to the site’s director, who communicated with CPJ by email, and the regional press freedom organization SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural…
Morocco’s new tactic to punish journalists: charge them with sex crimes
Moroccan journalists Taoufik Bouachrine, Soulaiman Raissouni, and Omar Radi have a lot in common. All three have a nose for corruption, penning op-eds or investigations alleging government abuse. And all three have been charged with or sentenced to prison for sex crimes. Press freedom advocates and the journalists’ family members told CPJ that Moroccan authorities are using trumped up…
Iran convicts 5 newspaper and news agency employees on false news charges
Washington, D.C., March 17, 2021 – Iranian authorities should cease prosecuting journalists on false news charges, and allow the press to work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On March 14, Judge Mohammad Reza Mohammadi Kashkooli of Branch 9 of Tehran’s Media Court convicted the managing director of the state-run Fars News Agency…
Algerian communications minister threatens to withdraw accreditation of France 24 over protest coverage
New York, March 16, 2021 – Algerian authorities should refrain from threatening news outlets over their coverage, and should ensure that French public broadcaster France 24 can operate freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On March 13, Communications Minister Ammar Belhimer issued a statement describing France 24’s coverage of protests and marches the…
‘Spaghetti against the wall’: how flimsy evidence sent 2 Iraqi Kurdish journalists to jail for 6 years
The case against Iraqi Kurdish journalists Sherwan Amin Sherwani and Guhdar Zebari was built on flimsy and circumstantial evidence, five observers of the journalists’ Erbil trial last month told CPJ. Their six-year prison sentences on anti-state charges represent a new low for press freedom in Iraqi Kurdistan. According to rights groups representatives, journalists, and an Iraqi Kurdish…
At least 3 journalists detained overnight in Yemen, pressured not to cover protests
On February 18, 2021, police in Hadramout Governorate, Yemen, detained at least three journalists and forced at least two of them to sign statements promising not to cover political protests in the region, according to the a statement by the Yemeni Journalists Syndicate, a local press freedom group, and Mohammed al-Yezidi, a local reporter familiar…