Three Palestinian press photographers have been arrested and two others physically attacked by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank since the start of April, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). In the latest incident, an Israeli soldier fired a tear-gas grenade at Muammar Jamil Awad, a photographer with the Palestinian news agency Wafa, while he was covering the weekly protest in Beit Jala...
The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), the two parties that control Iraq’s northern Kurdish region, have reached a “tacit strategic accord” to restrict the freedom of journalists as much as possible, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). “Anything goes for the KDP and the PUK as far as muzzling the press is concerned,” RSF said. The security forces...
The Israeli military obstructed an Al-Jazeera crew trying to cover a rally in the village of Bil’in west of Ramallah on Friday, according to news reports and interviews. Israel Defence Forces arrested Al-Jazeera cameraman Majdi Bannoura and assistant Nader Abu Zer when they arrived in Bil’in to cover a weekly protest against the separation barrier being erected there by Israel, the Committee to...
Tunisian journalist Zuhair Makhlouf, contributor to Tunisian news website Assabil Online, was recently assaulted, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). In a telephone interview, Makhlouf told New York-based CPJ that eight plainclothes police officers arrived at his home at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday and informed him that he was under arrest. Makhlouf said he asked them to show him an...
Soldiers stormed the building of 14 October, a national media company based in Al-Ma’ala, in the southern Yemen province of Aden, on the evening of April 21 in order to seize the latest issue of Al-Tariq, a daily newspaper it publishes, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). The building remained surrounded until Thursday morning. “What happens in Yemen is hallucinating,” Paris-based RSF...
Saad al-Aossi, editor-in-chief of the critical Iraqi weekly Al-Shahid, has gone missing, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Armed men entered al-Aossi’s home in central Baghdad on the morning of April 14, seized his computer and took him to an unknown location, according to local and regional news reports. The identity of the armed men remains unclear; various news sources...
Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has expressed concern over the continuing wave of press freedom violations in Iraq, and reiterated its appeal to the Iraqi parliament to pass a law protecting journalists. “Many journalists and media have been the target of physical attacks or lawsuits since the March 7 parliamentary elections,” Paris-based RSF said. “The threats come from both the security forces...
The Bahraini culture and information ministry has imposed a ban on using a chat application available on Blackberry mobile phones to share local news, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). The ministry threatened to prosecute violators when it announced the ban on April 7. As a result of the prohibition, local journalist Muhannad Sulaiman has had to suspend his “Urgent News,” a daily...
Anti-riot police assaulted journalists covering two different protests in Sulaimaniya in Iraqi Kurdistan on Saturday and Tuesday, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Several journalists told the New York-based CPJ on Tuesday that police prevented them on Saturday from covering clashes between security forces and students who had taken to the streets to protest the Ministry of...
Yemeni authorities have pressed new charges against Muhammad al-Maqaleh, editor of the opposition Yemeni Socialist Party's news website Aleshteraki, in connection with a 2005 article, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). On Saturday, the Press and Publications Court summoned al-Maqaleh to appear before it on April 18 on charges of “insulting the president,” according to local...
