“For the preservation of your newspaper and the health of its managing directors, pay careful attention to the following…”
Replica front pages inspire a fake directive from the regime. Negar Esfandiary reports
CATEGORY: Middle East and North Africa
Egypt: Media crackdown continues
Egyptian authorities have continued their pre-election crackdown on the independent media. Most recently private production companies that provide live broadcast services to independent television stations have had their licences revoked. It is...
Iran: Opposition blogger arrested
Doctor and blogger Mehdi Khazali has been arrested in Tehran, charged with “acting against national security and disturbing public opinion”. His website is openly critical of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and he has controversially claimed that...
Middle East: A bad month for media freedom
It's not going well for maverick, boundary-pushing journalists this month. In Morocco edgy magazine Nichane closed its doors, with the publisher claiming it was the victim of an advertising boycott ordered by the royal palace. In Syria, a young...
Israel: West Bank protester sentenced to prison
Palestinian activist Abdullah Abu Rahma has been sentenced to a year in prison for incitement by an Israeli military court. He is a leading organiser of the weekly protests against the separation barrier that Israel has built in the West Bank...
Iran: Two journalists arrested, another expelled
Two men, a reporter and a photographer said to be from Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper, have been arrested by Iranian officials. They were detained whilst interviewing the son of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani in the city of Tabriz. Mrs Ashtiani’s...
Libya: threat to .ly domains
State-owned Libya Telecom and Technology has forced the shutdown of vb.ly, a “link shortening” website run from San Francisco. It claimed that the content of the site was“against Sharia law". Domain names with the suffix “.ly”, which are owned by...
Lebanon: Festival urged not to show Iranian protest film
State censors in Lebanon have asked Beirut International Film Festival not to show an Iranian opposition film during a visit from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Originally scheduled for screening on 13 October, the day of Ahmadinejad's arrival, the...
Editor’s prediction comes to pass
Ibrahim Eissa, the iconic editor-in-chief of Egypt’s al Dostour daily newspaper, practically telegraphed his own professional demise. In a column last week, discussing the recent shutdown of a satellite news programme, Eissa made ominous...
Syria: 19 year-old blogger accused of espionage
A teenage blogger who has been detained for nine months has been accused of spying for the American Embassy in Egypt. Tal al Mallohi, who is currently being held in Duma women's prison near Damascus, was arrested by Syrian Intelligence Services in...