Middle East & North Africa

Washington, D.C., November 25, 2019 — Iranian authorities should immediately release journalist Mohammad Mosaed and drop any charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Beirut, November 25, 2019 — Iraq’s media regulator should reverse its decision to order the closure of 12 broadcasters over a licensing dispute and should allow media outlets to freely cover protests in the country, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

November 24, 2019—The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemned today’s raid on the office of independent Egyptian news website Mada Masr by Egyptian authorities, which included the arrests of three staffers. CPJ called on the government of Egypt to end its campaign of intimidation against the outlet and to release all Mada staff.

Beirut, November 21, 2019 — Israeli authorities should allow Palestine TV and the Al-Arz Media Services Company to reopen their offices and resume their work, and cease conducting raids of media organizations, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Washington, D.C., November 20, 2019 — Iranian authorities should immediately restore internet access throughout the country and allow information to flow freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Beirut, November 20, 2019 — Iraqi authorities should conduct swift and transparent investigations into the temporary abduction of journalist Mohammad Qahtan al-Shamari and the attack on the Al-Arabi TV offices in Baghdad, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Beirut, November 18, 2019 — The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned Israeli security forces’ injuring of Palestinian photographer Moath Amarneh and called on Israeli authorities to immediately open an investigation into the incident and hold those responsible into account.

Following Turkey’s military incursion into northern Syria in October, dozens of local and international journalists have reported on developments from the region. The military action has increased risks for journalists, with at least three killed during Turkish airstrikes last month, according to CPJ research.

Kurdish Asayish security forces detained William Bnyameen Adam, an Assyrian journalist, for 13 days after the contributor to the California-based broadcaster Assyrian National Broadcasting (ANB) returned from a two-week assignment in northern Syria, the journalist told CPJ. The journalist said that security forces confiscated his equipment, beat him, and questioned him about his reporting.

In October 2019, the Tehran Appeals Court sentenced Pouria Alami, a political columnist and satirist with the reformist Shargh Daily, to one year in prison and Tahereh Riahi, the former social affairs editor of the government-funded Borna News Agency, to two and a half years in prison, according to news reports and a person close…