State Persecution

Egyptian prosecutors on Wednesday questioned the editor of a prominent independent newspaper about his paper's recent reports on the health of the country's 79-year-old leader, President Hosni Mubarak. Ibrahim Eissa, editor of the independent daily Al-Dustour, was questioned for several hours by prosecutors Wednesday outside Cairo on accusations that he published reports “likely to disturb public...

Egyptian prosecutors on Wednesday questioned the editor of a prominent independent newspaper about his paper's recent reports on the health of the country's 79-year-old leader, President Hosni Mubarak. Ibrahim Eissa and one of his journalists, Sahar Zaki, were sentenced on June 29, 2006 to a year in prison and a fine of 10,000 Egyptian pounds (1,450 euros) on charges of libelling the president...

Hamas has decided to stop dealing with the Palestine Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS) and has gone to the extent saying that it would be dissolving the journalists union, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has reported. Journalists are increasingly under pressure in the region as the rivalry of Hamas and the Fatah faction in Palestinian politics has led to the growing separation of Gaza...

The editor of an independent Egyptian daily is to face prosecution over his paper's coverage of the state of President Hosni Mubarak's health. Recent speculation about the 79-year-old Mubarak has included his hospitalisation, travel abroad for medical treatment and even death, prompting him to make an unannounced visit to an industrial zone near his summer home on the Mediterranean coast in a bid...

An investigative journalist in Sri Lanka has been facing death threats after he made startling revelations about Sri Lanka’s purchase of Mig-27 fighter jets from Ukraine. Press freedom organisation have urged European and US embassies to do their utmost to protect Iqbal Athas of the Sunday Times, after receiving an email from the journalist in which he said he feared for his life and had gone into...

The Burmese junta is resorting to all methods possible to prevent journalists, including those working for the foreign media, from covering a wave of unrest in response to an increase in the price of fuel. “The military’s response to the wave of protests against price increases since 19 August has again been heavy-handed repression, intimidation and censorship of Burmese journalists,” Reporters...

(BIANET/IFEX) - The judiciary in Turkey has again blocked access to a website because of the content of one item on the site. Following the blocking of the alternative dictionary website "Eksisözlük" (literally, "sour dictionary"; http://sozluk.sourtimes.org/Default.asp? ) and the website Antoloji.com ( http://www.antoloji.com/ ), access to the website WordPress.com ( http://wordpress.com/ ) has...

Reporters Without Borders firmly condemns the constant harassment of Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas paramilitary Executive Force. The press freedom organisation is also concerned about the Islamist party’s intention to enforce a press law dating back to 1995 that will enable it to control the media even more closely. “The situation of journalists in the Gaza Strip has got...

Hamas is planning to enforce a 12-year-old Palestinian press law designed to silence dissident journalists amid a crackdown that has raised fierce protests from the local media. "We are all bound by this 1995 press law, and its articles carry the force of the law," said a statement from what was described as Hamas's "information ministry" in the Gaza Strip, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP)...

(JED/IFEX) - A weekend of media repression in Kinshasa has resulted in at least four journalists being questioned for several hours by the intelligence services, the closing of a private TV station, and the confiscation of a tape recording of an interview with a rebel leader. Stéphane Kitutu O'Leontwa, general manager of CCTV/RALIK (Canal Congo Télévision/Radio Liberté Kinshasa), Thierry Musenepo...