Reporters Without Borders is concerned to see that many journalists who are trying to cover the demonstrations taking place in Iraq, Algeria, Yemen, Bahrain and Libya are being targeted by the security forces or prevented from doing their work.

“The embattled governments in the Maghreb and Middle East are resorting to intimidation and violence against journalists to prevent coverage of the demonstration that have been inspired by the recent events in Egypt and Tunisia,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We urge the authorities to respect the media’s work. The public in these countries has right to receive impartial and independently reported information.”

IRAQ

A number of demonstrations were held on 10 February to demand better social services, stable food prices and investigations into cases of corruption. Al-Sharqiya TV correspondent Hassan Khazali was dragged into a building by unidentified individuals while covering a demonstration in Samawah, in the governorate of Al-Muthanna. The video he had filmed was deleted and some of his equipment was confiscated.
 

Reporters Without Borders is horrified by what appears to be an all-out witch-hunt against news media that are covering events in Egypt and is very concerned for all the journalists currently in Cairo, especially on the eve of a major demonstration planned by President Hosni Mubarak’s opponents for tomorrow, which they are describing as the deadline for his departure.

“Theft, violence, arbitrary arrests and extreme violence... the list of abuses against journalists by President Mubarak’s supporters is getting longer by the hour and they are clearly systematic and concerted,” Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Jean-François Julliard said.

“After shutting down the Internet and then reconnecting it at the start of this week, the regime has decided to target media personnel physically by unleashing its supporters in an unprecedented campaign of hatred and violence. This has gone beyond censorship. This is now about ridding Cairo of all journalists working for foreign news media.
 

Reporter Wrote About Protests Over Electricity Shortages - Saudi authorities should overturn a sentence of 50 lashes and two months in prison for a journalist who wrote about public anger over electricity cuts, Human Rights Watch said today.

On October 26, 2010, the General Court in Qubba in northern Saudi Arabia imposed the sentence on Fahd al-Jukhaidib, Qubba correspondent for Al-Jazira, a daily national newspaper. He was charged with "incitement to gather in front of the electricity company" for reporting that citizens had been gathering to protest. He has appealed the verdict and remains at liberty.

"King Abdullah has encouraged citizens to voice their legitimate concerns," said Christoph Wilcke, senior Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch. "But apparently those who do can expect a public lashing and a prison term."

Al-Jukhaidib's article describing the difficulties Qubba residents were experiencing as a result of frequent power cuts was published in Al-Jazira on September 7, 2008. The article, "Qubba Residents Gather to Demand Electricity," did not include a call for action but described the protest and the protesters' concerns:
 

Military court sentences blogger to six months in prison

Reporters Without Borders condemns the six-month jail sentence that a military court imposed on blogger Ahmed Hassan Basiouny on 29 November on charges of disseminating defence secrets online and “disclosing information relating to the Egyptian armed forces.”

Basiouny was arrested for creating a Facebook page in 2009 that provided advice and information for young people thinking of enlisting in the Egyptian army.

Parliamentary elections – foretaste of next year’s presidential election?

The authorities meanwhile deployed an entire arsenal of measures and practices designed to silence dissent and reinforce their control over the media before the first round of the parliamentary elections held on 28 November, despite the government’s declared intention to organize a free and transparent election.
 

The Secretary General Columnist Association of Pakistan Muhammad Akram Khan Faridi called on the authorities in Kuwait to intervene over a violent attack by some members of the ruling family in Kuwait who have been accused of attacking Scope TV, a private television station at the weekend following a controversial broadcast that some family members considered insulting.

"This was a disgraceful show of intolerance that led to mob violence against media," Muhammad Akram Khan Faridi ,CAP Secretary General, . "Provoking violent confrontation is no way to deal with arguments over media content. It is undemocratic and a denial of the value of dialogue and mutual understanding in dealing with media."

The CAP says that its ongoing efforts with its affiliate in the region to set up self- regulation and accountability structures for media should ensure that no one feels the need to take the law in their own hand.
 

In a “disgraceful” act of censorship, the Chinese authorities have deployed major technical and human resources to prevent the Chinese public from learning that the jailed dissident intellectual Liu Xiaobo has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Reporters Without Borders said.

TV and radio stations, newspapers and websites have completely ignored what is an historic news item for China. The Propaganda Department issued an order to all the Chinese media forbidding them to report the Nobel Committee’s decision.

This frenzied censorship and propaganda effort confirms the importance of Liu’s peaceful struggle for free expression in China. Overwhelmed by the hopes raised by Liu’s Nobel, the authorities have responded in time-honoured fashion with a news blackout. It is an insult to the universality of the Nobel Peace Prize.

No report about Liu is to be seen on the home pages of the leading Chinese news websites such as Sina or Sohu. Some results referring to Liu’s Nobel can be obtained on the Baidu search engine, but access to the actual web pages is usually blocked. The government television station CCTV said nothing about Liu and instead opened its evening news programme with a report about rain in Hainan Island.