West Asia - North Africa

A news presenter for the local affiliate of state-run television station Al-Iraqiya TV was gunned down by assailants in the Iraqi city of Mosul on Tuesday. Mohieddin Abdul Hameed al-Naqib, 49, was leaving his house outside Mosul on his way to work at around 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, when a car with two to three men inside drove by and opened fire at him, killing him instantly, Samir Sloka, the head of...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called on European Commissioner for external relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, to raise the problem of risks to journalists covering fighting in the Palestinian territories at the Israel-EU Association Council meeting in Luxemburg on June 16. "The death of Fadel Shanaa, of the British news agency Reuters, on April 16, has reawakened our concern about the lack...

A charge of publishing false information, that was brought against Al-Jazeera Rabat bureau chief Hassan Rachidi on June 13, quickly followed by the immediate withdrawal of his press accreditation without waiting for him to be tried, have been described as "excessive" by the Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). Rachidi is to be prosecuted for quoting a human rights group's claim that protesters were...

Iraqi journalist Mohiddin Abdulhamid al-Nakib, gunned down Tuesday outside his home in the northern city of Mosul, 370 km north of Baghdad, according to the Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). His death brings to 216 the number of media workers killed in Iraq since the start of the war in March 2003, 12 per cent of whom have died in Mosul, the country's second most dangerous city for...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has urged authorities to drop charges against Hassan Rachidi, the head of Al-Jazeera's bureau in Morocco, accused of broadcasting false information and conspiracy. IFJ said in a statement Monday that it believed the court case, stemming from Al-Jazeera reporting incorrectly on Saturday that there had been deaths during protests in the south-western...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called on European Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner to raise the problem of risks to journalists covering fighting in the Palestinian territories at the Israel-EU Association Council meeting in Luxemburg on June 16. "The death of Fadel Shana, of the British news agency Reuters, on April 16, has reawakened our concern about the lack of...

Journalists in the Gaza Strip held a symbolic work stoppage on Monday as part of a protest to demand Israel explain why its troops killed a Reuters cameraman in the Palestinian enclave two months ago, says a Reuters report. Responding to condemnation of the killing from the European Union, Israel's foreign minister said during a meeting with EU counterparts that her government would publish the...

The Iranian government is continuing its persecution of cyber-feminists — women who use online publications to defend their rights. Nine were arrested yesterday for organising a meeting in Tehran to commemorate a big demonstration they staged two years ago. They were all released this morning. “The authorities have tried yet again to intimidate women who are just demanding their rights,” Paris...

Israel’s ambassador to the United States expressed regret over the death of Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana, who was killed by Israeli fire in the Gaza Strip in April, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). “Israel’s Ambassador Sallai Meridor met yesterday with the Committee to Protect Journalists delegation at their request,” said a statement from the Israeli...

The Committee to Protect Journalists has called on Israeli authorities to release the findings of an army investigation into the killing of a Reuters cameraman by an Israeli tank shell in the Gaza Strip two months ago. In a meeting with Israel’s ambassador to the United States, the CPJ delegation also urged the government to commit to a thorough, impartial, and credible inquiry into the killing...