Iran

New York, July 24, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) strongly condemns the decision announced today by a Tehran appeals court confirming the banning of Norooz, Iran’s main reformist daily, and the six-month jail sentence handed down to the paper’s editor, Mohsen Mirdamadi. According to press reports and CPJ sources in Tehran, an appeals court…

July 15, 2002 Monday 9:04 AM Eastern Time By KATHY GANNON; Associated Press Writer HYDERABAD, Pakistan The British-born Islamic militant accused of masterminding the kidnap-slaying of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was convicted Monday and sentenced to death by hanging. Three accomplices were sentenced to 25 years imprisonment. Pakistani authorities braced for a violent…

New York, July 11, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed that Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has censored media coverage of the resignation of prominent cleric Ayatollah Jalaleddin Taheri. According to a CPJ source in Tehran, the council, which is headed by the president and includes several top government officials, sent the written…

New York, May 10, 2002–In the latest wave of Iran’s ongoing crackdown on the press, the country’s conservative Press Court has sentenced two journalists to prison and banned three newspapers during the last two weeks. CPJ learned that on May 8, Iran’s Press Court convicted Mohsen Mirdamadi, a member of Parliament and director of the…

New York, May 2, 2002–CPJ condemns the recent sentencing of Iranian reformist journalist Ahmed Zaid-Abadi, a writer for the newspaper Hamshahri, to 23 months in prison. On April 29, The Associated Press quoted Zaid-Abadi’s wife as saying that he was originally charged in August 2000 with “insulting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei and publishing lies…

New York, April 18, 2002—Ali-Hamed Imam, editor of the local weekly Shams-e Tabriz, was sentenced to 74 lashes and seven months in prison on April 16 by a court in Tabriz, 350 miles (560 kilometers) northwest of the capital, Tehran. According to Iran’s state news agency, IRNA, the court also revoked Imam’s publishing license and…

Who: Terry Anderson, Honorary Co-Chair of the Committee to Protect Journalists, former AP Bureau Chief in Beirut; Chris Cramer, president of CNN International Networks, author of Hostage, a first-hand account of the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege, where he was held hostage; Robert Klamser, Executive Director, Crisis Consulting International, a non-profit organization providing security, crisis management,…

Turkish Republic State Security Court of the City of Istanbul Chief Prosecutor Charges Presidency of the State Security Court Accused: Abdullah Keskin, son of Ramazan and Selime, born 1969, in Nusaybin District, Mardin Province, registered in Yenituran district and residing in Istanbul, Beyoglu district, Mesrutiyet Street, number 1230/10

There were 118 journalists in prison around the world at the end of 2001 who were jailed for practicing their profession. The number is up significantly from the previous year, when 81 journalists were in jail, and represents a return to the level of 1998, when 118 were also imprisoned.

PREFACE by Ann Garrels INTRODUCTION by Ann Cooper REGIONAL ANALYSES: AFRICA | AMERICAS | ASIA | EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA | MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA AFRICA: Country summaries Angola | Benin | Botswana | Burkina Faso | Burundi | Cameroon | Central African Republic | Chad | Comoros | Democratic Republic of Congo |…