CATEGORY: Middle East and North Africa

Bahrain bans advisor’s memoir

The diary of a British advisor to Bahraini government has been banned after new material was added to the latest edition. The 600 page book narrates historically significant events during Charles Belgrave's time in the country from 1926 to 1957....

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Mordechai Vanunu jailed again in Israel

Mordechai Vanunu, the former Israeli nuclear plant technician who spent 18 years in prison for exposing the country’s nuclear arsenal, was jailed again on 23 May. He was found guilty of “unauthorised meetings with foreigners” which include...

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Egypt: Minister accuses journalist of libel

Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit filed a lawsuit against opposition writer Hamdi Kandil for insult and libel on 19 May. Kandil wrote an opinion piece in Al-Shuruq newspaper, entitled Huan al Watan Wa Huan Almutan (Humiliation of homeland...

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Bahrain suspends al-Jazeera

Al-Jazeera was suspended from operating in Bahrain on 19 May. The government said the news channel was "flouting the laws regulating the press and publishing" in the country and did not comply with “professional norms.” The bureau's suspension...

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Film-maker’s arrest an “attack on art”

Film-maker Jafar Panahi has been imprisoned in Iran since 1 March after the government accused him of making a documentary about last year’s presidential election. He was to be on the Palme d’Or judging panel at the Cannes film festival this week...

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Kuwait: Hunger strike journalist hospitalised

A Kuwaiti journalist was hospitalised over the weekend after refusing medication and beginning a hunger strike in protest at his 11 May arrest.  Government critic, Mohammed Abdel Qader al-Jassem, claims he was arrested for political reasons. The...

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