West Asia - North Africa

The Iraqi journalist arrested for throwing his shoes at US President George W Bush has written to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki apologising over the incident. Muntadar al-Zaidi, who relatives and colleagues said acted because he "detested" Bush and America, is being held for possible trial for aggression against a foreign head of state during an official visit. "In his letter, he asks the...

Fear might be holding Jordanians from exploiting the margin of freedoms they have. On several occasions, the Jordanian regime, in the words of King Abdullah, reiterated the need for a free press. Jordan promulgated the only law in the Arab countries that allows access to information. However, journalists are still repressed, laws and regulations have not changed and the executive authority has not

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has appealed to the United Nations to help bring Gebran Tueni’s murderers to justice. A parliamentarian and publisher of one of the Middle East’s leading Arabic-language dailies, Tueni was killed in a targeted car-bombing in the Beirut suburb of Mkalles three years ago, December 12, 2005. “We join the Tueni family and all of An-Nahar’s staff in voicing our deep...

Jordanian intelligence prevented Gamal Eid, executive director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), from entering Jordan on the night of December 15 and detained him for six hours at Amman's Alia airport before deporting him to Cairo. Gamal Eid was heading to Amman on his way back from Beirut after participating in the celebrations honouring Ibrahim Eissa, editor of the Al...

A plenary session of the Damascus appeal court has refused to grant journalist and human rights activist Michel Kilo early release, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The judges on December 15 overturned an earlier ruling by the court in favour of Kilo’s release from Adra prison, in a Damascus suburb. Overturning a Damascus criminal court’s decision, the appeal court had ruled on...

Press freedom groups have called for the release of Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi who has been arrested for throwing his shoes at George W Bush at a Baghdad press conference during a surprise visit by the US president on Sunday. “We obviously regret that the journalist used this method of protest against the politics of the American president," Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said...

Protests are being held across the Middle East demainding release of the Iraqi journalist who is being held for throwing his shoes at US President George W Bush on Sunday. Huge crowds have been demonstrating in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities to demand TV reporter Muntadar al-Zaidi's release and echo his message to Bush, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported. Ordinary Iraqis are...

The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush was hit on the head with a rifle butt and had an arm broken in chaotic scenes when he was leapt on by Iraqi security officers, his brother said Tuesday. According to Reuters, TV reporter Muntadar al-Zaidi, who called Bush a "dog" at a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki on Sunday, was in a hospital in the...

The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) has condemned the absence of press freedom in much of the Arab world and has called on governments in North Africa, the Middle East and the Persian Gulf to end their repressive policies and release all imprisoned journalists, bloggers and freedom of expression advocates. “The hostility toward independent and opposition media and critical voices at large...

Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets Monday to demand the release of a journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush, news agencies have reported. Journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi, who was abducted by Shiite militants last year, was being held by Iraqi security and interrogated about whether anybody paid him to throw his shoes at Bush during a press conference the previous day in...