West Asia - North Africa

The decision to jail a blogger and an Internet café owner is an escalation in Morocco’s already intense campaign against journalists and bloggers, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Friday. CPJ called on Moroccan authorities to overturn both prison sentences on appeal. Blogger Bashir Hazzam, 26, was sentenced to four months in prison for “spreading false information...

There has been a tit-for-tat arrests of journalists by Palestinian political rivals Hamas and Fatah of late, each side carrying out an arrest in response to an arrest by the other faction, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The latest victim is Mohammed Eshtawi, the head of pro-Hamas satellite TV station Al-Aqsa’s operations in the West Bank, who was arrested by the Palestinian...

The West Bank-based Palestinian Authorities have detained since Monday even as the Hamas-led government in Gaza continued harassing journalists, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Mohamed Eshtewi, Al-Aqsa television bureau chief in the West Bank, was arrested on Monday near a supermarket in the city of Tulkarem following two days of intermittent police...

The NewYork-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed concern about the health and detention conditions of Tunisian journalist Taoufik Ben Brik and the flagrant and recurrent violations of his right to see his wife and lawyers. The health and detention conditions of Ben Brik, one of the most critical journalists of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who is currently serving a six...

Imad Abadi, the Al-Diyar TV host who suffered serious gunshot injuries to the head and neck in an attack on November 23 in Baghdad, was flown to the German city of Munich on December 3 for brain surgery, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. RSF said it was relieved to learn that the operation went ahead without any problem in Munich’s Grosshadern Clinic on December 7. Abadi’s brother...

Iranian authorities decided on Monday to shut the reformist daily Hayate No. The Press Supervisory Board revoked the licence of the Tehran-based daily Hayate No “for working outside the regulations,” the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported quoting local news reports. The agency provided no details of the alleged violations. Hayate No is considered supportive of...

Two prominent Iranian journalists, Hengameh Shahidi and Saeed Laylaz, have been sentenced to extended prison terms. Shahidi was sentenced on Monday to six years and three months in prison, while Laylaz was sentenced to a prison sentence of no fewer than nine years, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported quoting local and international news reports. Shahidi‎, who is...

After being held by police for 12 days at the headquarters of the criminal investigation department in Kuwait City, journalist Mohammed Al-Jassem appeared in court again Tuesday morning and was able to challenge the legality of his detention and the way the investigation has been conducted, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. At the end of a hearing of more than two hours, the court...

Harassment of critical journalists has been escalating in Tunisia since President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali threatened to prosecute anyone who casts doubt on his reelection for a fifth five-year term in office on October 25. Journalists Zuhair Makhlouf and Taoufik Ben Brik were both sentenced to jail terms in the past week, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Ben...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has expressed concern over Ma’an Aqil, a journalist who was arrested at his office in the Syrian government daily Al-Thawra in Damascus on November 22 by police from the national criminal investigations department, who took him to their headquarters for questioning. The police have not explained why he has been arrested. Two days after his arrest, the Union of Press...