Press Freedom: New Report on 2009 Violations in Middle East & North Africa

The International Press Institute, an Austrian-based organization working to further freedom of expression around the world, released its World Press Freedom Review for 2009 earlier this month, focusing on the Middle East and North Africa. The report accounts for 110 journalists that were killed for their work in 2009, making it the most deadly year for journalists in the past decade, according to IPI.

This year’s report focuses on the Middle East and North Africa, including a section on the state of freedom of the press and expression for each country in the region; it also offers specific recommendations for each country in order to further its protection against free speech violations. Of the total 78 recommendations, 17 addressed governments’ need to protect independent reporting and seven more specifically addressed the need to protect bloggers and Internet freedoms.

The report calls on Tunisian authorities to “end persecution and harassment of journalists.” It states that “the systematic attacks meted out against the independent media in Tunisia over the past few months are an insult to press freedom.” It also claims journalists that offend authorities in Saudi Arabia are charged with fines, detention, interrogation, dismissal and harassment. “Criticism of the royal family or government policy is generally prohibited, and Saudi Arabia maintains tight control over media content.”

In January 2009, the Ministry of Information in Bahrain implemented a law that would give the ministry the ability to “block certain web sites without warning or referring the case to court,” said the report. It also describes the Egyptian government’s efforts to monitor Internet access through “real-world surveillance” and that “state security officers require owners of Internet cafes, which are used by a majority of users to access the Internet, to register the names and identity card numbers of users. Owners are also required to monitor which web sites are visited, and to report to the security forces on people who visit ‘political’ web sites.” The report also features an interview with Aboubakr Jamai, the editor of the Moroccan magazine Le Journal that was recently shut down.

A PDF of the full report can be accessed here.