Iran

Since Israel began turning over parts of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) six years ago, its repression of the local press has noticeably declined. The censorship, intimidation, and arbitrary arrests of Palestinian journalists that marked full-fledged Israeli occupation are now practiced by Palestinian president Yasser Arafat and…

In April, President Bakili Muluzi declared that his party, the United Democratic Front (UDF), believed in “the tenets of constitutional democracy,” including press freedom. The political reality has failed to live up to this rhetoric. After the June 15 general elections gave Muluzi a second five-year term in office, the opposition contended that the elections…

At the heart of Malaysia’s authoritarian reputation is its Printing Presses and Publications Act of 1984, which requires all publications to obtain licenses that can be revoked at will by the Minister for Home Affairs. The minister’s decisions are final, and there is no judicial review. A holdover from British rule, when a communist insurgency…

While the Mexican press started covering local politics with greater confidence and independence, the drug trade was still an extremely dangerous assignment. As in past years, the government made little progress investigating attacks when they did occur. 1999 saw the first-ever primary election within the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which has dominated Mexican politics since…

Following national and presidential elections in February, decades of military rule ended with the installation of a new civilian government on May 29, headed by President Olusegun Obasanjo. Both in Nigeria and abroad, expectations ran high that the dark days of repression under former dictator Gen. Sani Abacha were finally over. However, the transition to…

President Alberto K. Fujimori continued his efforts to suppress critical reporting in a year that ended with the long-anticipated announcement that he would seek a third five-year term, a move widely considered unconstitutional. The Fujimori government’s systematic campaign to discredit Peru’s independent press earned him a place on CPJ’s list of the top 10 enemies…

Among all the countries of the former Soviet Union, Turkmenistan stands out as having the most repressive climate for journalists. President Saparmurat Niyazov, known as Turkmenbashi, “father of all Turkmen people,” has created a personality cult not seen since the days of Stalin. In the capital, Ashgabat, a huge statue of Niyazov dominates the city…

President Slobodan Milosevic first used the threat of war, then an actual war, and finally international hostility toward his regime to justify the use of government censorship and crippling fines to decimate Serbia’s various independent media. The press crackdown was particularly brutal in Kosovo, where a 1998 military offensive by the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army…

Algeria (2) Please send appeals to: His Excellency Abdel Aziz Bouteflika President of the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria c/o His Excellency Ambassador Driss Djazairi Embassy of the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria 2118 Kalorama Road N.W. Washington, DC 20008 Fax: 202-667-2174

New York, March 14, 2000 — A leading reformist newspaper publisher who was shot in the face on March 12 is battling for his life in a Tehran hospital. Saeed Hajjarian, 47, an advisor to President Mohammad Khatami who also publishes the newspaper Sobh-e Emrooz, which has consistently criticized Iran’s hard-line religious rulers, may have…