Ten years after the Arab Spring, the region’s media faces grave threats. Here are the top press freedom trends
In early February 2011, Alaa Abdelfattah was in Egypt’s Tahrir Square, documenting and participating in the nascent pro-democracy uprising that would topple the government and transform the country and the region. Today, he is in prison on anti-state and false news charges, which his family believes are partly retaliatory for his work. Abdelfattah is one of…
Moroccan authorities arrest journalist Maati Monjib
New York, December 29, 2020 – Moroccan authorities must immediately release journalist and press freedom advocate Maati Monjib, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Security forces arrested Monjib, a contributor to the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi as well as other outlets, today at a restaurant in the capital Rabat, according to a Facebook post by independent journalist and Moroccan…
Soulaiman Raissouni
Moroccan authorities arrested Moroccan journalist Soulaiman Raissouni on May 22, 2020. He is serving a five-year prison sentence for sexual assault. Press freedom advocates in the country told CPJ they believe the charges are in retaliation for his reporting. Raissouni began working as an editorial consultant for Akhbar al-Youm in 2017 and in 2018 replaced…
Omar Radi
Moroccan police arrested investigative reporter Omar Radi on July 29, 2020. He is serving a six-year prison sentence for undermining state security and sexual assault. Press freedom advocates in the country told CPJ they believe the charges are in retaliation for his reporting. A journalist at Le Desk, Radi covers political, economic, and human rights issues,…
Bertha Foundation: Omar Radi’s arrest blocked Moroccan land rights exposé
The 10th time journalist Omar Radi was summoned by Moroccan police this summer, he was arrested on multiple charges including undermining state security and sexual assault, as CPJ documented in July. He was placed in solitary confinement in the Oukacha Prison in Casablanca to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19, and remained there as…
At least 2 journalists die after contracting COVID-19 in prison
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, of which CPJ is a co-founding member, has received more than 600 reports of aggressions against the press during the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests. Last week, CPJ called on all U.S. law enforcement to stop using aggressive tactics against journalists covering protests, including in Portland, where U.S. federal law…
CPJ appeals ruling to find out whether US government failed to warn Khashoggi
In a brief submitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, CPJ argued that the U.S. intelligence community should confirm or deny the existence of documents that may provide information on its awareness of threats to the life of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Watch yesterday’s Q&A with CPJ’s Washington Advocacy…
Amid COVID-19, the prognosis for press freedom is dim. Here are 10 symptoms to track
By Katherine Jacobsen The COVID-19 pandemic has sent public health officials scrambling, the global economy into shock, and governments everywhere into crisis. It has also reshaped the way journalists work, not least because many authorities in many countries have cited the contagion as a reason to crack down on the news media. Certain dangers will…
Bahi Mohamed Ould Deif
Bahi Mohamed, a Moroccan journalist, disappeared in 1986 while reporting from Tindouf, in western Algeria. After his disappearance, an Algerian newspaper reported that he had been arrested by the Polisario Front—a group fighting for an independent state in Western Sahara—for plotting the assassination of its general secretary, Mohamed Abdelaziz. Abdelaziz’s claim that Bahi Mohamed is…
Embarca Bint Taleb Ould Hussein
Ould Hussein, an announcer at Radio Sahara, was reportedly abducted from her home in September 1979. Although it is unclear who is holding her, Amnesty International reports that plainclothes police came to search her house shortly before she was taken. While 300 Sahrawis reportedly were released after a pardon from Morocco’s King Hassan II in…