West Asia - North Africa

Qatari authorities have hardened their stand towards the Doha Centre for Media Freedom. Hajar Smouni, head of research at the Centre and a former member of the Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) staff, was prevented from leaving Qatar Tuesday. “The Doha Centre has for months been struggling to keep its independence and is under pressure from the Qatari authorities,” RSF secretary-general...

The is deep concern in Bahrain over the aggressive attitude of the local authorities towards journalists, writers and columnists, as many of them are prosecuted for exercising their professional right to report on issues of public interest. Lamees Dhaif, a well known columnist, journalist and reporter, was recently summoned to the Public Prosecutor's Office on charges brought by the Supreme...

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) has expressed great concern over the trial of the Omani journalist and internet activist Ali al-Zwaidi who allegedly violated article 61 of the Omani communications law. The crime carries a sentence of up to a year in prison and a fine of one thousand Omani riyals (approx US$2,600). In August 2008, al-Zwaidi, a supervisor of the discussion...

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) has condemned the harsh ruling by Tetuan misdemeanours court against Moroccan journalist and blogger Hassan Barhoun for allegedly circulating false news. On March 6, in a hasty trial that took only one hearing session, the court sentenced him to six months in prison and a 5,000 Moroccan dirham fine (approx US$570). Some lawyers withdrew from...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) welcomes the release of Al-Waha editor Nedjar El-Hadj Daoud Tuesday evening in the southern city of Ghardaïa, where he had been jailed on the morning of March 2. The Algiers-based daily El Watan said he was released from the city’s prison on medical grounds. “A commission tasked with executing the court ruling decided to suspend the detention order,” Nedjar told Al...

Algerian newspaper editor Nedjar El-Hadj Daoud has been arrested after a local court in Ghardaïa (467 km south of Algiers) confirmed a six-month prison sentence for libel that was originally imposed in 2005, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. He edits Al-Waha, southern Algeria’s only regional newspaper. The six-month jail sentence was originally passed by a Ghardaïa court on November 14...

Freelance US journalist Roxana Saberi is being held at Tehran's Evin prison, where political prisoners are routinely detained, according to international news reports. Saberi is an American citizen as well as an Iranian national. Detained in late January, Saberi has not had access to an attorney, and has been incommunicado for over a month. Reuters quoted Alireza Jamshidi as saying that Saberi is...

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has released two journalists in the West Bank on Monday, but yet another remains in custody, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The PA's Preventive Security Service freed Samer Khuaira, the Nablus correspondent for the London-based al-Quds TV station. Khuaira was arrested on January 24 after being summoned to the service's Nablus offices. He...

The Egyptian judiciary has imposed a fine on five journalists for violating a ban on media coverage of a murder trial involving an influential businessman who is a member of President Hosni Mubarak's ruling party, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. In a hearing attended by CPJ Thursday, the Sayyida Zainab Misdemeanors Court sentenced Magdi al-Galad, Yusri al-Badri, and Faruq...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the "unjustified" detention of journalists by the Palestinian Authority's Preventive Security Services. The latest case of this media repression concerns Isam Al Remawi, a cameraman with the Palestine News and Information Agency (WAFA), who was arrested January 26 and finally released on February 10. "We condemn these arbitrary...