Egyptian Photojournalists Protest Police Abuse

On Sunday, which happened to be Egyptian National Police Day, photojournalists protested violence against journalists. 

"Hossam Diab, head of the League of Photojournalists — which
organized the protest — called for an investigation into the assaults on
photographers which took place during demonstrations against the Israeli attack
on Gaza," wrote Sarah Carr of the Daily News (http://thedailynewsegypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=19331(
 


"In addition to demanding an end to all police violence
against photographers, Diab called for the cancellation of the system whereby
photographers are required by the interior ministry to obtain permits, which he
said is in violation of the Press Law."

Diab said that interior ministry officials referred to a hotline journalists can call when harassed, but Diab said that when he called the number, a junior police member said no one was there.

Photographers in Egypt are frequently harassed by security officials, particularly during protests, and have been injured in many instances. Egyptian and Arab photographers are usually under much more pressure than foreigners.

Egyptian Internet Activist in Saudi Prison

Egyptian Internet activist Yousef Al Ashmawi has been in a Saudi prison for five months, according to the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), where he has been subjected to torture. ANHRI accuses the Egyptian government of failing to defend the rights of Al Ashmawi, who has yet to be formally accused of a crime and has not been visited. 

Egypt bans journalists from entering Rafah

Egyptian authorities have not been letting journalists enter the village of Rafah on the border of the Gaza Strip, according to Sarah Carr of the Daily News Egypt.
Carr also reported that one broadcaster told her on a condition of anonymity that journalists were recently encouraged to "photograph certain things such as a van bearing the inscription 'this is a gift from [Egypt's ruling] National Democratic Party.'"
Another journalist, however, was critical of the press, saying that the area was a militarized zone and journalists were not supposed to be there.

Press Freedom in the Middle East

Round-up provided by Arabic Network for Human Rights Information

Reda Abdel Rahman to be Released
Egypt's supreme state security court issued a final judgment ending the detention of the Koranic blogger Reda Abdel Rahman. Rahman was arrested under emergency law last October on the basis of his religious beliefs. The Egyptian Initiative for personal Rights has demanded that the Interior Ministry complies with the court's decision and releases the blogger without delay.


Source: The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights


American forces shoot and wound female Iraqi TV journalist
Hadil Emad, an editor with the montage department of Biladi Iraqi television has been shot by American forces. A bullet exploded in her abdomen and passed through to the kidney requiring surgical removal. Doctors prevented relatives and media correspondents from visiting Emad while she was convalescing. The US forces claimed that she did not follow instructions and warnings and acted suspiciously while crossing the road.

Source: Press Freedom Watch


Media Worker Dies from Head Injuries
Bassil Ibrahim Farag, 22, an assistant cameraman with Algerian TV was killed in Gaza on 7 Jan 2009. Farag suffered fatal head injuries after his crew came under fire on the first day of military campaign on Gaza 27/12/2008.
Source: The Palestinian Centre for Development and Media Liberties


Also, from a press release by Human Rights Watch on January 5:
"Israel should immediately allow journalists and human rights monitors access to Gaza, Human Rights Watch said today. Their presence can discourage abuse by warring parties and help save lives."

"The presence of journalists and human rights monitors in conflict areas provides an essential check on human rights abuses and laws-of-war violations, Human Rights Watch said."

"On November 21, 22 executives from the world's major news organizations, including the Associated Press, BBC, CNN, and Reuters, sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, complaining about the 'prolonged and unprecedented denial of access to the Gaza Strip for the international media.'"

Babylon & Beyond on the Media

The LA Times' blog series about the Middle East, Babylon & Beyond, reported a few stories on Israel's control of the flow of information between the military and journalists...since reporters are banned from the conflict in Gaza.
Two reporters were arrested for violating censorship by reporting Israeli troop movements in real time to Arabic media outlets. One of these reporters is the head of the Israeli Arab National Party, and he responded that non-Arab Israelis were reporting the same information, but were not arrested.
And an Israeli anchorwoman, Yonit Levi, has a petition against her–signed by 25,000 people–because she acknowledged the deaths of Palestinian casualties.
Censors were also erasing content from a Hebrew-language site, Rotter.net, according to its forum administrator via the Times.
The Times also had another piece about a code of conduct the Iraqi government was trying to force journalists to sign that required a two-day media silence period prior to the upcoming provincial election day and giving equal time to candidates. The Times' Kim Yoshino quoted a judge who said the Iraqi election commission would not force journalists seek accreditation for the election, albeit after an uproar by local press.

Newspaper building destoryed in Gaza

According to the Arab Network for Human Rights, the building of the al-Resala weekly newspaper, affiliated with Hamas, was destroyed during the on-going war in Gaza.

A press release by the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) indicates that the newspaper was also attacked by Israeli missiles in 2004.

Apparently the newspaper has a history of bad luck. A paper published on the website middleeastfacts.org by PCHR states that the weekly was subject to censorship from 1999-2000 under the Palestinian National Authority, which ruled Gaza at the time.

Reporters Without Borders Issues Press Freedom Round-Up for 2008

Press Freedom Round-up 2008
Better figures despite a hostile climate and more Internet repression

In 2008 :
- 60 journalists were killed
- 1 media assistant was killed
- 673 journalists were arrested
- 929 were physically attacked or threatened
- 353 media outlets were censored
- 29 journalists were kidnapped

Internet :
- 1 blogger was killed
- 59 bloggers were arrested
- 45 were physically attacked
- 1,740 websites were blocked, shut down or suspended

For comparison, in 2007 :
- 87 journalists were killed
- 20 media assistants were killed
- 887 journalists were arrested
- 1,511 were physically attacked or threatened
- 528 media outlets were censored
- 67 journalists were kidnapped

Al-Ahram Prevents Printing of Weekly Paper Critical of Egyptian President

The Al-Ahram printing house prevented the Islamic weekly opposition paper, Sout al-Ummah, from publishing an article critical of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, according to the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information.

The paper was eventually printed once the editorial critical of the president's stance in the conflict in Gaza was removed.

Al-Ahram is run by the Egyptian government and prints many publications around the country, all of which are subject to censorship.

Press Association Says Israel Restricts Free Press

After a number of days of press reports (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/world/middleeast/07media.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink) that Israel was not allowing journalists to enter Gaza– even after the Israeli Supreme Court ruled against this restriction– it seems appropriate to publish the statements of the Israeli Foreign Press Association (FPA). 

On January 6: "The FPA strongly protests the Israeli government's decision to continue the ban on international journalists entering Gaza despite the Supreme Court ruling requiring it to allow access.
The unprecedented denial of access to Gaza for the world's media amounts to a severe violation of press freedom and puts the state of Israel in the company of a handful of regimes around the world which regularly keep journalists from doing their jobs.
We call on the Israeli authorities to lift this ban immediately in line with the decision of their own country's Supreme Court and the basic principles of democratic statehood." -http://www.fpa.org.il/?categoryId=406

According to the FPA, Gaza was also closed for most of November, but was reopened on December 4. 

Foreign press in Israel are expected to register with the government press office and face regular scrutiny and oversight.  

Algerian newspaper employees jailed

According to Alfred de Montesquiou of the AP Algerian newspaper workers were jailed three months in December for defamation. The Algiers criminal court sentenced the manager and reporter of an independent daily for an "article that accused a doctor of being a 'charlatan' and practicing exorcism."


"El Watan was one of the only Algerian independent newspapers to publicly oppose President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's reform of the Algerian constitution last month to abolish presidential term limits," de Montesquiou wrote.


El Watan's manager suggested the trials were politically motivated.

"Authorities are trying to intimidate or quiet down the free-speaking press ahead of key elections," he told the AP.

From: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28369128/