Middle East & North Africa

New York, April 8, 2013--A Yemeni news editor who reported frequently on alleged misuse of a public reconstruction fund was sentenced to a three-month jail sentence in relation to one of his articles, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on an appellate court to overturn the conviction.

The Baghdad offices of at least four independent daily newspapers were attacked on April 1, 2013, with the assailants destroying equipment and injuring several employees.

New York, April 4, 2013--A Kuwait-based Syrian businessman has announced a monetary reward for any individuals who capture and turn over to security forces journalists affiliated with the pan-Arab channels Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists called the announcement a deplorable effort to silence news coverage that is critical to the world's understanding of the conflict.

New York, April 2, 2013--The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by news reports that its Middle East consultant, Shaimaa Abulkhair, would be investigated by national security prosecutors in Egypt for comments she made about the widely criticized criminal case against satirist Bassem Youssef.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas pardoned Al-Quds TV journalist Mamdouh Hamamreh on March 28, 2013, the same day that a West Bank appeals court upheld his one-year sentence for insulting the presidency, according to news reports.

Jörg Armbruster, a correspondent for the German public broadcaster ARD, was seriously injured by gunfire during a military clash in Aleppo on March 29, 2013, according to news reports.  After emergency surgery inside Syria on the same day, Armbruster was transferred by ambulance to Turkey, where he was treated by an emergency medical team. After his condition stabilized, he was evacuated to Stuttgart on April 1, according to the ARD subsidiary SWR.

In the past month, officials in both the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have prevented journalists from reporting on important court proceedings. But it is not too late to allow the press to cover these crucial cases.

The government of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi continues to escalate its offensive against journalists. Details of the most recent case, in which an arrest warrant was issued for blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah for inciting "aggression" against members of the Muslim Brotherhood, show how low the government is willing to go in order to silence its critics.

New York, March 25, 2013--The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the violent siege on Sunday of the Media Production City, a complex housing numerous private news outlets in Cairo, an episode that followed a series of inflammatory anti-press comments by President Mohamed Morsi and members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

New York, March 19, 2013--During his trip to the region this week, U.S. President Barack Obama should call on Israeli authorities to return the equipment of an independent broadcaster that was seized more than a year ago, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.