The Arab world continues to lag behind the rest of the globe in civil and political rights, including press freedom. Despotic regimes of varying political shades regularly limit news that they think will undermine their power. Hopes that a new generation of leaders would tolerate criticism in the press have proved illusory, with many reforms…
While the press is largely free within Israel proper, the country’s military assault on the Occupied Territories fueled a sharp deterioration in press freedom in the West Bank and Gaza during much of 2002. Despite vocal international protest, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) committed an assortment of press freedom abuses, ranging from banning press access…
New York, February 13, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is disturbed that the Saudi Arabian government refused to allow the Qatar-based Arabic language satellite station Al-Jazeera to cover the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, known as the hajj. According to a source at the station, the nine-member crew slated to cover the pilgrimage had…
Your Royal Highness: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to protest an incident over the weekend in which Saudi authorities confiscated videotapes and a laptop computer from Dr. Bob Arnot, a reporter for the U.S. cable television channel MSNBC. On April 21, security officials at the Riyadh airport escorted Dr. Arnot off a flight to Dubai, in the neighboring United Arab Emirates. The officials demanded video footage that Dr. Arnot had gathered during his reporting trip to Saudi Arabia, which the journalist undertook with Saudi government permission.
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to protest the arrest of Saudi poet and journalist Abdel Mohsen Mosallam. We are also deeply concerned by Your Excellency’s order to dismiss the editor of the daily newspaper Al-Madina, Muhammad Mukhtar al-Fal.
Saudi Arabia is one of the most closed societies in the world. The ruling al-Saud family tolerates no political dissent of any kind, especially in the press. Newspapers are deferential toward the ruling family and government policies. Although papers now report more openly on topics such as crime and unemployment, there is no open criticism…
ALTHOUGH RIGHTS TO FREE EXPRESSION AND PRESS FREEDOM are enshrined in national constitutions from Algeria to Yemen, governments found many practical ways to restrict these freedoms. State ownership of the media, censorship, legal harassment, intimidation, and imprisonment of journalists were again among the favored tools of repression and control. In Iraq, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Syria,…
PRESS FREEDOM IN THE MEMBER STATES of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)-Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)-remained constrained by conservative, monarchical regimes. Although private media in these countries enjoy generous budgets and state-of-the-art technology, they face varying constraints on their ability to report news and opinion. Censorship, self-censorship, and…