Qatar embassy in Swaziland briefly detains two journalists
Security staff detained two Times of Swaziland journalists for more than an hour at the Qatar Embassy in Swaziland’s capital, Mbabane, on October 5, 2018, according to a statement by the local chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA). The journalists were detained after a senior diplomat tried to make them sign a…
‘New’ Saudi Arabia ushers in even more repressive climate for journalists
Marwan al-Mureisi knew the rules: even in Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s “new” Saudi Arabia, issues touching on politics, religion, or the royal family were out of bounds. So in his reporting for the privately owned website Sabq and other outlets, al-Mureisi wrote about science, technology, and the need to embrace creativity and innovation–all hallmarks…
Undiscoverable: How Al-Jazeera’s Snapchat channel disappeared from three Gulf nations
Search for “Al-Jazeera” on Snapchat, and the first result that comes up is a ubiquitous publisher channel in the app’s famed vertical layout. That is, unless you are in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), or Bahrain. Users in these counties are instead offered a list of stores and restaurants that bear a similar…
Journalists in Yemen under attack from all sides as rival forces crack down on critics
In its report released late last month, the U.N. Human Rights Council found that all groups involved in the Yemen conflict–from the government-controlled south, with its militias propped up by the UAE-led coalition and loyal to the secessionist Southern Transitional Council, and areas held by the rebel Ansar Allah or Houthi movement–were responsible for widespread…
CPJ joins call for UN Human Rights Council to address crackdown in Tanzania
The Committee to Protect Journalists and 29 other civil society groups yesterday wrote to the member and observer states of the United Nations Human Rights Council urging them to address the deteriorating situation for human rights, including freedom of the press, in Tanzania during the upcoming 39th session of the council in September.
Google complicity in Chinese censorship could endanger press freedom elsewhere
In 2010, after four years of offering Chinese users a heavily censored version of its search engine, Google decided it would no longer block search results at the request of the Chinese state. “Our objection is to those forces of totalitarianism,” Sergey Brin, Google’s co-founder, told The New York Times at the time, adding that…
Hong Kong Journalists Association finds press freedom further restricted by ‘one country’ principle
In its annual report, released July 29, the Hong Kong Journalists Association found that press freedom has gone backward as the administrative region seeks to implement legislation to criminalize critical opinions toward China’s “one country” policy and Beijing.