Posts Tagged ‘Al Jazeera’
March 29th, 2012
A
Tunisian journalist was
physically attacked after being ejected from a political meeting last week. Al Jazeera journalist Lotfi Hajji was officially invited to a meeting on 24 March which brought together several political parties, but was ejected after some participants complained that he had a different political approach. The microphone which was being used to record the meeting was
reportedly stolen and destroyed. After he was forced to leave the meeting, Hajji was severely assaulted.
October 18th, 2011
A cameraman for Al-Yemen TV, Abd Al-Ghani Al-Bureihi,
was killed when
Yemeni security forces opened fire at a demonstration in Sanaa calling for the president to step down on 16 October. Two other cameramen were also allegedly injured at the same demonstration, including Salah Al-Hatar of Al-Jazeera.
September 30th, 2011
Egyptian police
raided the offices of
Al Jazeera yesterday, for the second time in a month. Around 25 plain clothed police officers stormed the affiliate office, detaining journalist Mohamed Suleiman and roughing up other members of staff. The officers broke down the front door of the office, claiming they had a warrant, which they later failed to present. They also seized staff identification cards and confiscated office equipment. Suleiman was released a few hours after the raid. Police also raided the channel’s former office on
11 September, when they detained an engineer and shut down live broadcasts on the channel.
September 9th, 2011
Military rulers in
Egypt have frozen licenses for
new private satellite TV stations, claiming they are inciting violence in an “increasingly chaotic media scene.” Activists are claiming that these restrictions on freedom of expression are similar to those put in place under President Hosni Mubarak. Mubarak’s previous governments had imprisoned journalists for their coverage of his health and other sensitive issues.
During the protests that led to Mubarak’s downfall, authorities banned Al-Jazeera TV and revoked the press credentials of its journalists. Communication Minister Osama Heikal said the freeze was temporary.
August 17th, 2011
Al Jazeera’s Kabul bureau chief has been
brought before an Israeli military court a week after he was arrested and
detained by
Israeli officials. Al Jazeera reported that Samer Allawi was yesterday charged with being a member of Hamas. He was arrested on 10 August, while crossing the border between Jordan and the West Bank. He was attempting to return to the Afghan capital Kabul after a three-week holiday in his hometown of Nablus.
April 28th, 2011
Al-Jazeera
suspended its Arabic services in
Syria yesterday (27 April) in response to attacks on its staff and government restrictions. The authorities have pressured Syrian nationals into resigning from the organisation and have prevented journalists from entering and reporting in Daraa, the city where the Syrian uprising began on March 15. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, unknown
assailants have attacked the Al-Jazeera offices with eggs and stones for the past three days. The events
mirror those in Egypt, where Al-Jazeera journalists were also subject to abuse and intimidation.
April 4th, 2011
Al Jazeera reporter Lotfi Al Masoudi has been
released after being detained by Libyan forces. He was one of four journalists who were
arrested on 19 March. They were released on the 31 March, then
rearrested later the same day. The Libyan officials offered no explanation as to why they were detained and would not reveal where they were held. Al Masoudi has now returned to his native Tunisia, and has said that they were not mistreated.
March 21st, 2011
Four New York Times journalists who had gone
missing in Libya will be
released soon, it was reported on Friday. The journalists had entered Libya through Egypt and were reporting from the rebel held city of Ajdabiya, which was then overrun by the pro-Gadaffi army and they were arrested. Libyan officials have indicated that the journalists will be released very soon. Four Al Jazeera journalists are also said to be in
custody in Tripoli, while two Agence France-Presse journalists and a Getty Images photographer have been missing in Libya since Saturday.
