The Cairo offices of Al-Jazeera Mubasher (Direct), an affiliate of the Qatari-based Al-Jazeera International news network, were ransacked by Egyptian security forces early this week. In a raid on the channel reminiscent of an earlier raid on...
CATEGORY: Middle East and North Africa
Algeria: Media law reforms
Algeria has announced plans for reforming stringent media laws in order to allow for private radio and television stations to operate for the first time since 1962. The cabinet of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika also pledged to stop jailing...
Egypt: New media restrictions announced
Egypt's SCAF announced on Saturday it will enforce the Emergency Law, which allows civilians, including journalists, to be tried in state security courts and detained indefinitely. The announcement came despite the military's commitment to annul...
‘A Separation’ and a new form of censorship in film
Tomorrow, the Cinema Office of Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance must decide on the country's submission for the Best Foreign Language Film for the 2012 Oscars. The obvious choice would be A Separation, director Asghar Frahadi's...
Egypt: Lebanese blogger denied entry to Egypt
Lebanese blogger Imad Bazzi was denied entry to Egypt on 5 September, 2011, and sent back to Lebanon. Bazzi, who is also director of CyberACT --- an NGO which advocates the usage of social media tools in order to create reforms in the Middle East...
Iraq: Well-known journalist shot dead at his home
Well known journalist Hadia Al-Mahdi was found dead at his home in Baghdad on 7 September. The body of Al-Mahdi was found in his home in the Al-Karada district at around 7pm. He had been shot twice in the head. It is believed that his murder was...
Iran: Filmmaker stopped from boarding flight to film festival
On Monday, Iran prevented filmmaker Mojtaba Mirtahmasb from boarding a flight to Paris in order to attend the Toronto film festival, where his documentary about the detained filmmaker Jafar Panahi will be shown. The film shows a day in the life of...
Egypt: Authorities freeze new satellite TV station licenses
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...
Yemen: Journalists in further attacks
Two Yemeni journalists were attacked by armed men on Monday. Abdul al-Hafeez al-Hatami from news website Al-Sahwa Net and Raafat al-Amiri, cameraman for Suhail TV, an opposition news station, were covering the rising prices of oil in the western...
Iran: Magazine closed down amid row over satirical image
Iranian magazine Shahrvand-e-Emrooz was closed this week for after publishing a satirical front-page image depicting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad being lectured by his Chief-of-Staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei. The image, published last month,...