Backsliders: The 10 countries where press freedom has most deteriorated
New York, May 2, 2007–Three nations in sub-Saharan Africa are among the places worldwide where press freedom has deteriorated the most over the last five years, a new analysis by the Committee to Protect Journalists has found. Ethiopia, where the government launched a massive crackdown on the private press by shutting newspapers and jailing editors,…
Courts, press law undermine Moroccan press freedoms
Casablanca, Morocco, April 6, 2007—A delegation from the Committee to Protect Journalists voiced concern today about a troubling pattern of punitive judicial sanctions that have threatened Morocco’s independent press. Over the last two years, Moroccan courts have levied stiff criminal penalties and civil damages against independent news publications, effectively banishing two of the country’s most…
Attacks on the Press 2006: Middle East Analysis
As democracy falters, Arab press still pushes for freedom By Joel Campagna Across the Middle East, political reform gained momentum in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Egyptians and Lebanese clamored for democracy; elections in Iraq, Palestine, Yemen, and Saudi…
Attacks on the Press 2006: Analysis: As Democracy Falters, Arab Press Still Pushes for Freedom
Across the Middle East, political reform gained momentum in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Egyptiansand Lebanese clamored for democracy; elections in Iraq, Palestine, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia offered a more pluralistic future. In a number of Arab countries, the…
Attacks on the Press 2006: Morocco
Morocco’s robust independent press has few rivals in the Middle East, yet press freedom has eroded under what many journalists and human rights groups consider a government-inspired judicial assault against outspoken newspapers. During the year, several such publications were targets of criminal prosecutions that produced high damages and prison terms for journalists.
Prominent Moroccan publisher resigns in bid to save weekly
New York, January 18, 2007—The publisher of Morocco’s independent weekly Le Journal Hebdomadaire resigned today in a move designed to shield the magazine from the record damages he was ordered to pay last year in a controversial defamation suit. Aboubakr Jamaï, publisher of the groundbreaking weekly, announced at a press conference in Casablanca that he…