Jordan

The Jordanian Media Commission blocked the news website 7iber.org on Monday, just one year after blocking the outlet’s original domain, 7iber.com. The original domain was blocked in June 2013 on the basis of the country’s Press and Publication Law (2012), which requires websites to obtain licences from the statutory Media Commission in order to publish. The law also states that editors-in...

The Committee to Protect Journalists has called on Jordanian authorities to drop the terrorism charges and release from custody staffers of the Al-Abasiya TV station in Amman who were arrested after a recent raid and shutdown of the outlet. "Charging journalists and media workers with terrorism offenses is a big step in the wrong direction for Jordan, which once was considered a leader in press...

A year after dozens of Jordan’s Internet news sites were blocked by the government for failing to obtain a licence, a report published Wednesday by the International Press Institute (IPI) called on the authorities to rescind the law and take steps to reform other legislation that threatens press freedom. Jordanian officials on June 1, 2013 blocked more than 200 websites for violating a law...

There has been a series of attacks, threats and demonstrations since mid-June targeting the Agence France-Presse bureau in Amman and its chief, Randa Habib, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). “The protests against AFP in Amman have taken a disturbing turn, with the demonstrators using threats and violence,” RSF said. “Intimidation attempts of this kind...

Al-Jazeera staffers in Jordan have received anonymous threatening phone calls warning that their office and correspondents would be attacked, Al-Jazeera's Amman bureau chief told New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Journalists in Jordan have been facing mounting dangers while covering pro-reform demonstrations, CPJ research has found. "Jordanian authorities...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) on Wednesday accused the Jordanian government of stifling calls for democratic change after the country's intelligence service disabled a news website and removed a letter to the King demanding political reforms. IFJ backed protests by journalists' leaders and others who joined a protest after the country's biggest news website http://www.ammonnews...

An independent Jordanian newspaper has refused to publish a Palestinian advertisement promoting an Arab peace initiative with Israel because it contains the Jewish state's flag, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported. The AFP report said: [ Link] "We refused to publish the paid advertisement because the source, the Palestine Liberation Organisation's (PLO) negotiations department, refused to...