In Egypt, journalists under fire as protests continue
New York, May 25, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by attacks on the Egyptian press related to coverage of alleged election fraud and protests over judicial independence. The Egyptian state security prosecutor brought criminal charges on Wednesday against three journalists who alleged fraud in last year’s parliamentary elections. Security and police officers…
Journalists assaulted, detained while covering protests
New York, May 11, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that Egyptian police and security officers assaulted several journalists covering protests today in support of two judges facing dismissal for criticizing last year’s parliamentary elections. Several journalists detained while covering similar protests last month are still being held. Plainclothes police and security…
Nobel laureate Mahfouz calls for release of jailed Arab journalists
New York, May 5, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists joins acclaimed Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz in calling on Arab governments to free jailed journalists including two Egyptian reporters detained last week while covering demonstrations in Cairo. Mahfouz, who won the 1988 Nobel Prize for literature, launched his appeal in an interview with the semi-official Egyptian…
Al-Jazeera bureau chief, three print journalists held
New York, April 27, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the arrest of Al-Jazeera TV’s Cairo bureau chief, and the separate detention of three print journalists, by Egypt’s state security prosecutor. Hussein Abdel Ghani, head of the Qatar-based satellite channel in Egypt, was arrested yesterday on charges of propagating false news while covering…
Egyptian court sentences journalist to a year in prison
New York, March 10, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the one-year prison sentence handed down to Egyptian journalist Amira Malash for defamation. On Tuesday, a court in Giza near Cairo convicted Malash, a reporter for the independent weekly Al-Fagr, of defaming Judge Attia Mohammad Awad in an article she wrote in July…
After two years, Mubarak pledge unfulfilled
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists urges you to fulfill the commitment you made two years ago today to initiate legislation to eliminate prison sentences for what journalists report and thus narrow the gap between Egyptian law and international press freedom standards.
Egyptian appeals court upholds one journalist conviction, overturns others
New York, February 23, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the decision of a Cairo criminal appeals court today to uphold the conviction and one-year prison sentence of journalist Abdel Nasser al-Zuheiry for defamation. Al-Zuheiry, a reporter for the independent daily Al Masry al-Youm (The Egyptian Today), had lodged the appeal along with…
Attacks on the Press 2005: Middle East Analysis
In the Crosshairs, Journalists Face New Threat By Joel Campagna The bomb that ripped through Samir Qassir’s white Alfa Romeo on June 2, 2005, silenced Lebanon’s most fearless journalist. For years, Qassir’s outspoken columns in the daily Al-Nahar took on the Syrian government and its Lebanese allies when few reporters dared do so. The assassination sent shockwaves…
Attacks on the Press 2005: Egypt
EGYPT Press freedom was dealt a triple blow in 2005—in Parliament, in court, and on the street. President Hosni Mubarak failed to honor promises made in 2004 to introduce legislation that would decriminalize press offenses. A criminal court handed jail terms to three journalists from one of the country’s few independent newspapers for defaming a…