West Asia - North Africa

Policemen fired at the Baghdad home of the head of the Iraqi Press Agency, Haydar Hassoun Al-Fizaa, on August 27, injuring his wife and other relatives, before searching the premises and damaging furniture, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The attack on Al-Fazaa's home in the east Baghdad neighbourhood of Al-Shaab was carried by police officers...

The editor of the daily Al-Watan, Mahnad Abu Zeiytoun, was attacked and stabbed by two masked men as he left the newspaper’s offices near the capital, Manama, at around 3 a.m. Wednesday. After asking him if he worked for Al-Watan, they tried to stab him in the face and heart but missed their targets. They set fire to his car with Molotov cocktails before fleeing. Zeiytoun was rushed to hospital...

The body of Kamal Qassim Mohamed, the deputy editor of the magazine Al-Mustaqila, was found in Baghdad Tuesday, six days after his abduction by gunmen. He had been shot. His killers have not been identified. “The authorities have a duty to shed light on Kamal Qassim Mohamed’s murder,” Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said. “A proper investigation must be carried out...

An imprisoned Iranian journalist is suing Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) over allegations that the telecommunications company provided the Islamic regime with a monitoring system it used to spy on the opposition Green movement, according to the Guardian. Isa Saharkhiz, a prominent journalist and political figure, was arrested after last summer's disputed presidential election. Saharkhiz, who is...

Yemeni authorities have illegally detained journalists Abdul Ilah Haydar Shae and Kamal Sharaf for the past week. They were arrested in Sanaa on August 16 and 17 at a time when government forces are stepping up a military offensive in the south of the country against militants linked with Al-Qaeda. “The fight against terrorism does not justify the force disappearance of journalists,” Reporters...

Iranian authorities have imposed a six-year prison sentence against journalist Badressadat Mofidi, according to New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Mofidi was formerly the secretary-general of the Association of Iranian Journalists in Tehran, an organisation that was established by prominent journalists in 1997 and shut down by the authorities in 2009. On...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Yemeni authorities to release Abdulelah Hider Shaea, a Yemeni journalist who covers Islamist groups including Al-Qaeda. Armed security forces arrested Shaea on Monday after raiding his family home, according to news reports. Shaea is a reporter for the official Saba News Agency and a frequent commentator and contributor to Al-Jazeera. He is...

The Iranian state committee that monitors the press has banned the well-known economic newspaper Asia, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports. The Deputy Head of Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Mohammad Ali Ramin, said the reasons for closing down "Asia" include "publishing pictures against public chastity,” “promoting wastefulness and extravagance," and "persistence in carrying out the...

The Lebanese army intelligence department detained journalist Hassan Alleik, a reporter for the Al-Akhbar newspaper, and questioned him for six hours on August 11 about an article published in the newspaper the previous day, according to press freedom group Maharat Foundatin. The article was about the escape of an agent named Ghassan El Jed, who was previously accused by Hezbollah secretary...

Security forces, police officers and members of the Asayesh intelligence service harassed a group of journalists on August 11 in Chamchamal, a town located between Sulaymaniyah and Kirkuk, in Iraqi Kurdistan, and even fired at one of them, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). The journalists were covering a protest against a water shortage in the town. The...