Press for release of Afghan journalist Ajmal Nakshbandi
Dear Colleagues, We are asking you–journalists and news organizations–to help pressure the Afghan government to work for the release of Ajmal Nakshbandi, the freelance Afghan journalist who was seized with La Repubblica reporter Daniele Mastrogiacomo and the group’s driver Sayed Agha. As you know, Agha was beheaded a few days after the men were taken on March 5. According to most sources, Ajmal is still being held by the Taliban group that abducted them and is still somewhere in Helmand province.
Attacks on the Press 2006: Table of Contents
PrefaceBy Anderson Cooper Introduction By Joel Simon AFRICA ANALYSIS African Union fails to defend press freedom By Julia Crawford AMERICAS ANALYSIS Leftists lean on the Latin American media By Carlos Lauría ASIA ANALYSIS Afghan-Pakistani border off-limits to most journalists By Bob Dietz EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA ANALYSIS: Getting away with murder in the former Soviet…
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…
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…
Moroccan court convicts Nichane journalists, shutters publication
New York, January 16, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a Moroccan court’s decision on Monday to sentence two independent journalists to suspended jail terms and close their magazine for two months. The Casablanca court handed down three-year suspended sentences to Driss Ksikes, director and editor of the independent weekly Nichane, and reporter Sanaa al-Aji…
Facing record damages, Moroccan weeklys survival in doubt
New York, December 28, 2006—The publisher of the independent Moroccan weekly Le Journal Hebdomadaire and a former reporter have been ordered to pay the record damages awarded earlier this year in a controversial defamation suit. Publisher Aboubakr Jamaï said the award could jeopardize the magazine’s survival. Jamaï told CPJ that two court officials visited Le…
Magazine banned over religious jokes
New York, December 22, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the banning in Morocco of an independent magazine and the charges brought against its director and a reporter for publishing an article analyzing popular jokes about religion, sex, and politics. Driss Ksikes, the publisher and director of the weekly magazine Nichane, and reporter…