West Asia - North Africa

Saudi Arabia King Abdallah has issued a royal decree quashing the sentence of 60 lashes that a court in Jeddah passed last week on journalist Rozanna al-Yami. Responsibility for the Yami case has at the same time been transferred from the courts to the culture and information ministry, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported quoting culture and information ministry spokesman Abdul Rahman al...

A judge in the western Saudi Arabia city of Jeddah has passed a sentence of 60 lashes on journalist Rozanna al-Yami because she worked for the Lebanese Broadcast Corporation (LBC), a satellite TV station that shocked conservative Saudis last July by broadcasting an interview with a Saudi man talking openly about his sex life, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The judge dismissed...

Orhan Hijarn, an Iraqi cameraman working for privately-owned satellite TV station Al-Rashid, was killed by a roadside bomb Wednesday in Kirkuk, 240 km north of Baghdad, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Abdallah Zadeh, an Al-Baghdadiya TV reporter, suffered minor injuries. The two journalists had been out reporting and were caught in the explosion as they were returning to their homes...

An Al-Rasheed television cameraman was killed by an explosion in front of his home in Kirkuk Wednesday, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Orhan Hijran, an 18-year-old cameraman with the Baghdad-based independent al-Rasheed satellite channel, was killed when a bomb exploded in front of his house in Al-Khadhrah neighborhood, in southwestern Kirkuk, Bureau Chief...

With the release of Newsweek reporter Maziar Bahari on bail, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Iranian authorities to release the 25 journalists who still remain in prison. Bahari, Newsweek’s Tehran correspondent, was released on $300,000 bail on Saturday after spending almost four months in prison, the magazine reported. Newsweek announced his arrival in...

A Rabat court Thursday imprisoned the managing editor of Al-Michaal newspaper for one year, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. A Rabat misdemeanour court sentenced Driss Chahtan to a year in jail and Al-Michaal journalists Mostafa Hiran and Rashid Mahameed to three months in prison ‎and‎ a 5,000 dirham (US$655) fine each for “intentionally publishing false...

An enquiry into the October 4 assault on journalist Zohra al-Musawi was opened Wednesday by Iraq’s High Council of Judges in response to a request by a group of journalists to the council’s president, Judge Medhat al-Mahmoud, who has a reputation for conducting thorough and detailed investigations, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. “A judicial enquiry is the logical, essential and...

Iraqi journalist Zohra al-Musawi was assaulted by unidentified men in the centre of Baghdad on October 4 while police and other members of the security forces look on without intervening, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Although Musawi, a presenter for satellite TV station Al Iraqiya, was wearing an Islamic veil at the time, clothes were torn off her as she was being beaten by her...

Iranian authorities decided to revoke the licences of three reformist newspapers on Sunday and Monday, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. The Press Supervisory Board revoked the licences of the Tehran-based dailies Farhang-e Aashti and Arman on Sunday, according to local and international news reports. On Monday, the same state agency’s offices in Fars province...

A Moroccan independent daily has been closed down amid an escalating government campaign to silence critical journalists. On Tuesday, police prevented Taoufik Bouachrine, managing publisher and editor of the daily Akhbar al-Youm, and dozens of staff members from entering the offices of the Casablanca-based newspaper. The sudden move followed a statement from the Ministry of the Interior accusing...