State Persecution

Voice of the People, a radio station operated by the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), was closed down by Hamas in Gaza City on August 2. "The Islamist party Hamas must stop arbitrarily targeting news media just because they do not blindly relay its propaganda," Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said. "Press freedom is under serious threat in the Gaza Strip...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned recent attacks on Palestinian journalists by both governments of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority which are locked in a political power struggle. The recent reports of torturing journalists in the Gaza Strip and West Bank is the culmination of an intimidation campaign against journalists and media which started during the violent...

Ali Al-Mashhadani, an Iraqi cameraman employed by the Reuters news agency, was arrested on July 26 by US troops while he was visiting the Iraqi parliament press centre in Baghdad's Green Zone. "Mashhadani has been held without charge by the US military since 26 July and must be freed at once," Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said. "It is unacceptable that US troops arrest a journalist...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has condemned the July 28 decision by Niger's public prosecutor to appeal against an investigating judge's decision on July 23 to dismiss the charges on which Radio Saraounia manager Moussa Kaka has been held since September 2007. The authorities would have had to free Kaka if the prosecutor had not filed his appeal. "The government's determination to keep Kaka in...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressede concern over the July 26 arrest of a Palestinian cameraman in Gaza by Hamas security services. Hamas security agents arrested Sawah Abu Seif, a cameraman with German broadcaster ARD TV in his home in Tel al-Hawa in southwest Gaza following an explosion that Hamas blamed on Fatah, which killed six people in Gaza, according to local...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed concern over the July 26 arrest of a Palestinian cameraman in Gaza by Hamas security services. Hamas security agents arrested Sawah Abu Seif, a cameraman with German broadcaster ARD TV, in his home in Tel al-Hawa in southwest Gaza following an explosion that Hamas blamed on Fatah, which killed six people in Gaza, according to local...

Kurdish freelance journalist Saman Rasoulpour was arrested on July 27 at his home in Mahabad, in Iran's predominantly Kurdish northwest, two days after some 200 Kurds staged a peaceful demonstration in Mahabad to demand the overturning of the death sentences imposed on journalists Adnan Hassanpour and Abdolvahed "Hiva" Botimar, and Kurdish teacher Farzad Kamangar. "We call on the authorities to...

Moroccan reporter Mostapha Hurmatallah of the weekly Al Watan Al An has been freed on completing his prison sentence. He had been in Casablanca's Oukacha prison since February 19, when Morocco's highest court of appeal ordered him to go back to jail to serve the rest of a seven-month term. Hurmatullah was released on July 25. "We welcome Hurmatallah's release with joy, but we reiterate our firm...

There was a dramatic end to the Globecast Satellite trial on July 24 when Harare Magistrate Archie Wochiunga refused to place the South African company on further remand after the state applied for a postponement of the matter, according to the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA). Prosecutor Florence Ziyambi had applied to have the matter postponed arguing that her witness had failed to turn...

Iranian authorities have banned the evening edition of a large circulation newspaper for publishing news they said was harmful to the economy, according to news reports. "By a decision of the press supervisory board, Hamshahri evening edition has been banned. The reason for banning this publication was the propagation of untruthful news with the aim of creating disruption in the country's economic...