Iran

IN DECEMBER, STRONGMAN OMAR HASSAN AL-BASHIR WON overwhelmingly in presidential elections that were boycotted by Sudan’s two main opposition parties. Both parties had conditioned their participation on an end to the 17-year civil war and to human-rights abuses, including restrictions on the press. State harassment of journalists and newspapers has been a persistent feature of…

In December 1999, the European Union (EU) finally agreed to accept Turkey’s application for membership. Yet questions remained about the government’s committment to the human-rights reforms needed to actually join the EU. If press freedom is any indicator, Turkey has a long way to go. Government censorship, criminal prosecutions, physical attacks, and imprisonment were among…

EIGHTY-ONE JOURNALISTS WERE IN PRISON AROUND THE WORLD at the end of 2000, jailed for practicing their profession. The number is down slightly from the previous year, when 87 were in jail, and represents a significant decline from 1998, when 118 journalists were imprisoned. While jailing journalists can be an effective means of stifling bad…

The UN and the Indonesian government both think they know who killed two journalists in East Timor last year. So why aren’t the suspects on trial?

Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in IRAN New York, October 24, 2000 — Iran’s hard-line judiciary banned three reformist newspapers yesterday, bringing to at least 27 the total number of papers shut down since April, when the conservative Press Court launched a broad press crackdown.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is dismayed by the recent suspension of two Malaysian publications, the weekly news magazine Eksklusif and the monthly youth magazine Wasilah.

Iranian liberals counted on the new parliament to help free the reformist press.  Ayatollah Khamenei had other ideas.

Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in IRAN New York, August 14, 2000 — Iran’s conservative-controlled judiciary pushed ahead with its sweeping assault on the country’s reformist press, arresting two more journalists over the weekend, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

New York, August 8, 2000 — Iran’s Press Court shut down yet another major reformist newspaper on Tuesday, two days after supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei quashed a parliamentary bill to amend the country’s restrictive press laws, according to wire service reports. “This latest move by Iran’s Press Court is extremely disheartening to those who…

Click here to read more about press freedom conditions in IRAN New York, July 25, 2000 — The reformist weekly Gunagoun was suspended by Branch 1410 of Tehran’s Public Court yesterday, bringing the total number of newspapers banned since January to 21. According to the state news agency IRNA, the closure came a day after…