Journalist remains in detention
New York, August 6, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply troubled that Sudanese free-lance journalist Youssef al-Bashir Moussa, a contributor to the private daily Al-Sahafa, has been jailed for more than a week. Editors at Al-Sahafa told CPJ that the paper ran a story by Moussa on July 28 reporting that several students…
Three journalists sentenced to prison
New York, August 5, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns yesterday’s decision by a Rabat court sentencing three journalists to prison for violating Morocco’s new anti-terrorism law. Editors Mohammed al-Herd and Abdel Majid Ben Taher, of the weekly newspaper Al-Sharq, and Mustapha Qashnini, editor of the weekly Al-Hayat al-Maghribiya, were found guilty of “extolling…
Government revokes private weekly’s license
New York, August 5, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the Syrian government’s closure of the privately owned satirical weekly Al-Domari. Anwar al-Bunni, a lawyer representing the paper, told CPJ that the government canceled the newspaper’s license on July 31. On Sunday, August 3, the state-owned daily Tishrin reported that the Ministry of Information…
New York, July 30, 2003—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the Saudi Arabian Information Ministry’s decision to ban Saudi writer Hussein Shobokshi from writing his weekly newspaper column. According to a July 29 Reuters report, Shobokshi received a call from his editors at Okaz, the Saudi daily that published his weekly columns. “I got…
Security agents detained in connection with journalist’s death
July 28, 2003, New York—Five Iranian security agents have been detained in connection with the death of Canadian-Iranian free-lance journalist Zahra Kazemi, who died in government custody on July 10 after being arrested for taking photographs outside a prison in the capital, Tehran, according to press reports and an Iranian source. Sources cited a state…
Newspaper’s license suspended
July 25, 2003, New York—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the July 12 decision by a Khartoum criminal court to cancel the license of the Khartoum Monitor, ceasing publication of the English-language daily. According to Nhial Bol, editor of the Khartoum Monitor, the court canceled the paper’s license because of an interview it published…
Minister’s group releases report on journalist’s death
New York, July 21, 2003—Zahra Kazemi, the Canadian-Iranian photojournalist who died in Iranian government custody two weeks ago, died as a result of a skull fracture, according to an Iranian government inquiry into her death. The official Iranian new agency IRNA reported yesterday that the inquiry, commissioned earlier this month by Iranian president Mohamed Khatami,…