Censored

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Al-Jazeera staff at the broadcaster's Doha headquarters in June 2017. Qatar's neighbors have demanded the country close the station as part of negotiations in the current political crisis. (AP/Malak Harb)

Gulf countries order Qatar to close Al-Jazeera and other outlets

New York, June 23, 2017–A group of Arab countries today issued Qatar a list of demands, including that the Gulf nation close media outlets that it funds, among them the broadcasters Al-Jazeera and Arabi 21, and the websites Al-Araby Al-Jadeed and Middle East Eye. The demands are a prerequisite for lifting diplomatic and economic sanctions…

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In this November 2010 file photo, a man uses a computer in an internet cafe in the West Bank town of Bethlehem (AP/Nasser Shiyoukhi)

Palestinian Authority censors at least 11 news websites

New York, June 21, 2017–The Palestinian Authority should cease blocking access to news websites in the West Bank, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The Palestinian Authority’s attorney general, Ahmad Barrak, on June 15 ordered internet service providers to block access to at least 11 news websites, according to news reports.

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Newspapers are sold on a Khartoum street in 2015. Sudanese authorities ordered copies of a newspaper to be confiscated this week over its critical reporting. (AFP/Ashraf Shazly)

Sudan confiscates copies of daily newspaper Akhir Lahza

On June 17, 2017, Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services summoned Akhir Lahza’s editor-in-chief Saleh Abdelazim to its offices in Khartoum and told him that copies of the daily Arabic-language newspaper would be confiscated indefinitely, according to the newspaper’s managing editor Luay Abdelrahman and news reports.

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In this file photo, Egyptians access the internet at a community center in Cairo, February 9, 2013. (AP/Amr Nabil)

Egyptian human rights group reports 64 websites blocked

Egyptian authorities blocked access to at least 64 websites, including dozens of news websites, between May 24 and June 12, 2017, according to Egyptian human rights group the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression and news reports. The number was substantially higher than the 21 websites security officials on May 24 told Egypt’s official…

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An Egyptian uses his phone to record the aftermath of a deadly explosion outside a police headquarters in December 2013. Journalists who use smartphones and messaging apps in their reporting say they are wary of surveillance and trolling under Egypt's press crackdown continues. (AP/Ahmed Ashraf)

How surveillance, trolls, and fear of arrest affect Egypt’s journalists

As Egypt’s crackdown on the press extends to social media and other communication platforms, many journalists say phishing attempts, trolling, software to monitor social media posts, and a draft law that would require registration for social media users are making them think twice before covering sensitive issues.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addresses graduating students at the Imam Hatip religious school in Istanbul, May 26, 2017. (Reuters/Murad Sezer)

Turkey Crackdown Chronicle: Week of June 11, 2017

Twelve witnesses against journalist say testimony extracted under torture Twelve out of 13 witnesses prosecutors called yesterday to testify that Nedim Türfent, a former reporter for the shuttered, pro-Kurdish Dicle News Agency (DİHA), was a member of a terrorist organization recanted their written testimony, saying police extracted it under torture, the daily Evrensel reported. Police…

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The Qatar Airways office in Doha. Gulf countries imposed a ban on Qatari flights and many have announced penalties for those reporting critically on recent tensions with the country. (AFP/STR)

Amid Gulf tensions, press is used as a political pawn

Today Bahrain became the latest Gulf nation to put pressure on news outlets amid political tension, when its Interior Ministry announced that anyone publishing support or sympathy for Qatar faces up to five years in prison. The announcement came the day after the United Arab Emirates used the threat of prison to demarcate how journalists…

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Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed Bin Zayed al-Nahyan, who is also deputy commander of the UAE armed forces, shakes hands with U.S. President Donald Trump at a meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 21, 2017. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)

UAE threatens 15 years in prison for expressions of ‘sympathy’ with Qatar

New York, June 7, 2017–Authorities in the United Arab Emirates should clearly and immediately repudiate Emirati Attorney General Hamad Saif al-Shamsi’s threats to imprison and fine anyone who criticizes the United Arab Emirates’ stance toward Qatar or who expresses any “sympathy” for Qatar, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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A Qatari employee of Al-Jazeera walks into its Doha headquarters in this 2006 file photo (AP/Kamran Jebreili)

Saudi Arabia orders Al-Jazeera bureau closed

New York, June 7, 2017–The Saudi Ministry of Media should immediately reverse its order to close the office of Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera and allow the satellite channel and all news media to operate freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The Saudi government on June 5 revoked the broadcaster’s license to operate in Saudi…

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Copies of Al-Wasat pictured at a Bahrain news kiosk in 2011. Officials issued a publishing ban on the independent outlet. (AP/Hasan Jamali)

Bahrain orders independent outlet Al-Wasat to cease publication

New York, June 5, 2017–Bahraini authorities should revoke an order barring the independent news outlet Al-Wasat from publishing and stop harassing the newspaper and its journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The Ministry of Information Affairs yesterday ordered Al-Wasat to cease publishing in print and online indefinitely, the outlet’s editor-in-chief Mansoor al-Jamri, told…

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