CATEGORY: Middle East and North Africa

Egyptian publisher detained by government

The publisher of the new book about Mohamed ElBaradei, the former UN nuclear watchdog, was arrested by the Egyptian authorities on Saturday.  Egyptian officials raided Ahmed Mahanna's house a week after he released a book lauding ElBaradei who has...

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35 journalists incarcerated in Iran, more expected

CPJ’s latest monthly census reveals that as of April 1, about 35 journalists were imprisoned as a result of the Iranian government’s post-election media crackdown. Although 18 more journalists were temporarily released for the Iranian New Year they...

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Author arrested in Sri Lanka

Expatriate Sri Lankan author, Sarah Malini Perera, has been arrested in whilst on holiday Sri Lanka for writing two books— From Darkness to Light and Questions and Answers—about her conversion from Buddhism to Islam. Perara, who has lived in...

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“There is no difference between journalism and intelligence”

Cyber Wars

Citizens, states and corporations are battling for online space. What happened to the dream of global communication? Ron Deibert and Rafal Rohozinski report

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EU calls for Iran to end jamming of foreign media

EU foreign ministers have described the current situation in Iran as “unacceptable”, in a joint statement they call for an end to the jamming of satellite broadcasts  from international news networks.  In the crackdown since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s...

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Jordanian court bans reporting of corruption trial

A media ban on a corruption trial involving several leading Jordanian figures and the former Minister of Finance has been issued by a military court in Amman. The case, involving the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company, first came to light after...

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Microsoft Bing filters gay and lesbian search terms

A recent report by the OpenNet Initiative has revealed that search terms in both Arabic and English relating to homosexuality are censored in some Middle Eastern countries. The study showed that the level of censorship on Microsoft’s Bing ranged...

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