Although Syrian officials continued to pay lip service to their support for more open media discourse in the country, in practice they failed to exhibit a willingness to tolerate independent news outlets in 2003. President Bashar al-Assad’s first months in office in 2000 witnessed important press freedom gains that included the launching of private and…
Since President Zine Al-Abdine Ben Ali seized power in 1987, Tunisian authorities have crafted a nearly perfect system to censor and suppress the media. The few courageous voices remaining in the country succeed in circumventing these controls mainly by publishing on the Internet, but Tunisian authorities do not hesitate to block their Web sites, harass…
In an effort to meet European Union criteria for membership, Turkey continued in 2003 to rewrite laws that restrict press freedom. That effort has improved the country’s spotty press freedom record, but many impediments remain. Journalists continued to face criminal prosecution for their work, although the number of jailed journalists has drastically declined in recent…
The U.S. media went to war in 2003, with both embedded and independent reporters pouring into Iraq to cover the U.S.-led invasion and its aftermath. U.S. officials called the invasion the best-covered conflict in history, but it was also one of the most deadly for journalists. All told, 19 reporters died while working in Iraq,…
The emergence of outspoken private and party newspapers following the unification of North and South Yemen in 1990 has set the country apart from many of its neighbors in the Persian Gulf, where the press remains tightly controlled. Yemeni papers are notably opinionated and not shy about confronting the government. But the government’s record on…
There were 138 journalists in prison around the world at the end of 2003 who were jailed for practicing their profession. The number is the same as last year. An analysis of the reasons behind this is contained in the introduction on page 10. At the beginning of 2004, CPJ sent letters of inquiry to…
New York, March 9, 2004—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is concerned by today’s shooting by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of Palestinian photographer Saif Dahla in the West Bank city of Jenin. Two witnesses—Dahla’s brother, Reuters photographer Said Dahla and Reuters cameraman Ali Samoudi—told CPJ that there were about half a dozen journalists standing together…
New York, March 2, 2004—Unidentified gunmen shot and killed journalist Khalil Al-Zabin today in the early morning hours while he exited his office in Gaza City. According to local sources, Al-Zabin was the editor of the small-circulation magazine Al-Nashra, which published on an irregular schedule. In addition to his responsibilities as editor, Al-Zabin was a…
New York, March 2, 2004—Unidentified gunmen shot and killed journalist Khalil Al-Zabin today in the early morning hours while he exited his office in Gaza City. According to local sources, Al-Zabin was the editor of the small-circulation magazine Al-Nashra, which published on an irregular schedule. In addition to his responsibilities as editor, Al-Zabin was a…
New York, February 24, 2004—Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak yesterday pledged to reform Egypt’s laws, eliminating prison sentences for published material. Galal Aref, head of the Egyptian Journalists’ Syndicate, told CPJ today that the Egyptian president called him yesterday and told him that journalists would no longer face the possibility of imprisonment for what they publish.…