Moroccan journalist sentenced to two years in prison

08 Apr 10 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost, Uncategorized

Moroccan journalist Mohammed Attaoui was convicted of extortion and sentenced to two years in prison on March 22. He claims he was set up by a former source and a forestry ministry official. Attaoui said he gave him the money — about 1,000 dirhams (90 euros) — to travel to Rabat or Meknes to take a test for a promotion, but he was arrested two hours later by national guard officers. He has staged a hunger strike demanding a fair trial. Attaoui, an environmental correspondent for the daily newspaper Al-Monataf wrote an expose about the illegal cedar wood trade in Morocco, and was arrested just 20 days after it was published.

Kuwait: Journalist gets six-month jail term for slander

07 Apr 10 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost, Uncategorized

Kuwaiti journalist Mohammed Abdel Qader Al-Jassem was convicted of  slander and sentenced to six months in prison on April 1 for publicly declaring that Prime Minister Skeikh Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah was unsuitable to run Kuwait and calling for his resignation. Al-Jassem is currently out on bail awaiting the outcome of his appeal against the conviction, he has at least five other government lawsuits outstanding and was fined 7,000 euros in March for an earlier article that criticised the Prime Minister.

35 journalists incarcerated in Iran, more expected

06 Apr 10 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost, Uncategorized

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 are expected to be returned to prison soon. Iran currently has the most incarcerated journalists in the world. To sign a petition to help release the journalists in Iran, click here.

Venezuela: journalist sentence to two years in prison

31 Mar 10 | Index Index, minipost

On 25 March, journalist Gustavo Azocar, host of “Café con Azócar,” a news and political commentary of Televisora del Táchira, was sentenced to two years and six months imprisonment for illegal profiting in acts of public administration. Judge José Hernán Oliveros found the journalist guilty of fraud in the signing of a 2000 advertising contract between the state lottery and Radio Noticias 106, where he was working at the time. Azocar, an outspoken critic of Chavez’s government, was released from prison, where he had been held since July 2009, and he will be able to serve his sentence on probation.