CPJ Archives - Page 3 of 4 - Index on Censorship

Abdel Aziz-Al-Jaridi faces prison time for defaming Al-Jazeera anchor

On 10 February, Abdel Aziz Al-Jaridi, director of two daily newspapers, Al-Hadath and Kul-Anas, will appeal a defamation conviction. Al-Jaridi was sentenced to four months in prison by the first instance court on 13 June 2011 for defaming Al-Jazeera news anchor Mohamed Krichen.

Krichen lodged a complaint against Al-Jaridi in April of last year. On 6 February, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), called on Tunisian authorities to drop the jail term given to Al-Jaridi.

“Tunisian appeals court should throw out the prison sentence against journalist Abdel Aziz al-Jaridi at a 10 February hearing and authorities should use his case as an opportunity to break from the repressive practices of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s era,” said the CPJ.

Journalists in Tunisia can face up to six months in prison for defamation.

Al-Jaridi, considered to be a supporter to the former regime, is known for his articles defaming opposition figures and dissident voices during the rule of Zeine El Abidin Ben Ali.

Guinea: censorship measures put pressure on RFI

Guinea’s state-controlled media regulatory agency this week imposed a “temporary” ban on media coverage of the 19 July attack on the private residence of President Alpha Condé, silencing private radio and television debate programmes in which questions were being raised over the event.

Radio France Internationale (RFI), a popular international radio station in French-speaking Africa that had originally planned to debate the attack during one of its daily news call-in programmes, has felt the pressure of the ban. Its deputy director told the Committee to Protect Journalists: “We are not submitting to a censorship measure; we regret it and we hope that it will be temporary.” In the past, RFI has had its broadcasts temporarily banned and reporters expelled in several sub-Saharan African countries, though it continues to assert its editorial independence.

Russia and the West

Are reporters who risk their lives in Russia, many of whom are killed, the modern-day equivalents of Soviet-era dissidents such as Andrei Sakharov? This question was central to a debate on press freedom, organised by Index on Censorship to mark publication of a report on the issue by Committee to Protect Journalists.
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