FOCUS ON THE MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA The IPI World Press Freedom Review is dedicated to the 110 journalists who lost their lives in 2009 Alaa Abdel-Wahab Natalia Estemirova Ernesto “Bart” Maravilla Wasi Ahmad Qureshi Mohamed Amin Adan Abdulle Marco Antonio Estrada Oria Yaasir Mario Fabián Ramírez López Suhaib Adnan Jolito Evardo Juan Daniel Martínez Gil Ando Ratovonirina Benjie Adolfo Basil Ibrahim Faraj Ray Merisco Fernando “Ranny” Razon José Everardo Aguilar Gabriel Fino Noriega Martín Javier Miranda Avilés Alejandro “Bong” Reblando Jawed Ahmad José Emilio Galindo Robles Norberto Miranda Madrid Harold Humberto Rivas Quevedo Said Tahlil Ahmed Santos Gatchalian Omidreza Mirsayafi Bernardo Rivera Malik Akhmedilov José Givonaldo Vieira Reynaldo “Bebot” Momay Diego de Jesús Rojas Velázquez Shafig Amrakhov María Eugenia Guerrero Ernesto Montañez Valdivia Ernie Rollin José Bladimir Antuna García Raja Assad Hameed Marife “Neneng” Montaño Hernando Salas Rojas Henry Araneta Janullah Hashimzada Rosell Morales Napoleon Salaysay Mark Gilbert “Mac-Mac” Arriola Hassan Mayow Hassan Sultan Munadi Orel Sambrano Saleem Tahir Awan Hassan Zubeyr Haji Hassan Rafael Munguía Ortiz Rolando Santiz Anastasja Baburowa Cihan Hayirsevener Dalvison Nogueira de Souza Puniyamoorthy Sathiyamoorthy Eliseo Barrón Hernández Ferney Henao Victor Nuñez Uma Singh Rubello Bataluna Orhan Hijran Francis Nyaruri Francisco “Ian” Subang Arturo Betia Muktar Mohamed Hirabe Martín Ocampo Páez Haidar Hashim Suhail Romeo Jimmy Cabillo Nur Muse Hussein Bayo Ohu Andres “Andy” Teodoro Marites Cablitas Jean Paul Ibarra Ramírez Carlos Ortega Samper Daniel Tiamson Hannibal Cachuela Muhammad Imran Bruno Jacquet Ossébi Jojo Trajano Jepon Cadagdagon Siddique Bacha Khan Joel Parcon Jorge Alberto Velázquez López John Caniban Musa Khankhel Ismael Pasigna Aamir Wakil Antonio Castillo Michelle Lang Gennady Pavlyuk Abdirisak Mohamed Warsame Bruno Koko Chirambiza Bienvenido Legarte Jr. Ronnie Perante Lasantha Wickremetunga Lea Dalmacio Osman López Crispin Perez Vyacheslav Yaroshenko Noel Decina Lindo Lupogan Jonathan Petalvero Mohamud Mohamed Yusuf Gina Dela Cruz Anil Majumdar Christian Poveda Jhoy Duhay Novruzali Mamedov Anak Agung Prabangsa Content Foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu ................6 Oman ..................................................52 Global Overview..................................8 Qatar ..................................................53 IPI Headquarters Spiegelgasse 2/29 Middle East & North Africa Saudi Arabia ......................................55 A-1010 Vienna, Austria Telephone +43 (1) 512 90 11 Overview ............................................12 Fax +43 (1) 512 90 14 Sudan..................................................56 [email protected] Death by Numbers ............................14 http://www.freemedia.at Registered in Zurich Syria ....................................................59 Algeria ................................................16 Tunisia................................................62 Bahrain ..............................................18 United Arab Emirates (UAE) ............64 Egypt ..................................................19 Notes from the Field: UAE ..............67 Notes from the Field: Egypt ............22 Yemen ................................................69 Iran......................................................24 Notes from the Field: Yemen ..........72 Iraq......................................................27 Africa Overview ................................75 Israel & The Palestinian Territories ..............30 Freedom of the Press, Governance & Economic Jordan ................................................35 Development ......................................80 Kuwait ................................................37 The Americas Overview ..................83 Janne Virkkunen David Dadge Anthony Mills Asia & Australasia Overview ..........87 IPI Chairman IPI Director and Publisher Managing Editor Interview: Kuwait ............................39 Europe Overview ..............................91 Editors Asia & Australasia The Caribbean Lebanon..............................................40 Barbara Trionfi Barbara Trionfi Barbara Trionfi Naomi Hunt Notes from the Field I: Lebanon......42 The Caribbean Overview..................95 Nayana Jayarajan Europe Original Logo Louise Hallman Colin Peters & Cover Design Elisabeth Birkhan Notes from the Field II: Lebanon ....44 IPI Death Watch Overview ..............99 Proof Readers Middle East Alison Bethel McKenzie & North Africa Layout Michael Kudlak Alison Bethel McKenzie Günther Bauer Libya ..................................................46 IPI Death Watch by Country ..........100 Anthony Mills Africa Barbara Trionfi Naomi Hunt Naomi Hunt Morocco ..............................................47 Acknowledgments ..........................108 Nayana Jayarajan The Americas Colin Peters Colin Peters Claude Salhani Interview: Morocco ..........................50 sides pursue lives of reckless terrorism been an important part of our struggle, or unashamed propaganda. We need since it had helped to tell our story de - guidance. spite government controls. I mentioned Enter the IPI. This is a body of proven how those who opposed the vicious sys- professionals, now close to the 60th tem of apartheid used to be vilified and anniversary of its founding, which seeks, pilloried, with very little opportunity to in a systematic and measured way, to give the true picture. Our honoured first offer the public some sense of true moral democratic President, Nelson Mandela, justice and proper knowledge about those was, when opening the same assembly, around them, and the world in which able to commend the international media they live. It knows independent, diverse who, he said, had lent their voices to media is the way forward. It is concerned those thousands of compatriots demand- about matters such as rigour of editing, ing freedom of expression. good communication, safety of journal- Those were our halcyon, rainbow, ists, the taming of censorship-hungry indeed perhaps salad days as a nation. governments, and suchlike. It is on the They gave us hope for the future, and side of the angels. (My very occasional ex - they still do. posure to those in that department might Since then, of course, there have been give me an edge to make the point!) sobering events, which one need not My association with the IPI goes back expand on in this Preface. But they do many years. I respect it. I recall so vividly cause some worry, including on the free travelling around in a coach in Vienna in expression front. Suffice it to say that not 1986 with IPI delegates at the time of only democratic nations but the whole President-elect Nelson Mandela (C) and archbishop Desmond Tutu (R) arrive in a football stadium to take part in an open-air service one of the world assemblies where I had world needs the IPI and its sharp, objec- Archbishop Tutu is regarded as an elder for the country's Christian community, in the township of Soweto, south west of Johannesburg, 8 May, 1994. (Reuters/Desmond Boylan) the immense pleasure and privilege to tive view more than ever today. Yes, we world statesman with a major role to play speak. It was the time of Chernobyl, a need your criticism. in reconciliation, and as a leading moral time of light and darkness – when we The focus of this Press Freedom voice. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, humans, despite our growing store of Review is North Africa and the Middle he has become an icon of hope far be- knowledge, were all acutely reminded of East, and we know enough about events yond the Church and Southern Africa. Freedom of Expression: the perils of our own creations on this in those theatres to be justifiably con- Tutu is chairman of the Elders, an in- most delicate and beautiful of planets. cerned about the fate of the fragile plant dependent group of influential people that is free expression there. Yet some cho sen for their outstanding integrity, journalists, there too, have been plodding cour age and proven ability to tackle some of the world’s toughest problems. The “This is a body of proven away at their craft, pushing wider the A Fragile Plant in Elders, because of their varied back - professionals, now close boundaries of freedom, even snapping grounds, use their collective skills to cat- events through cell-phones, challenging to the 60th anniversary of alyze peaceful resolutions to conflict are - authority and digging deep into the By Archbishop Desmond Tutu its founding, which seeks, as and address global issues that cause a Complex World recesses of government and society to tell immense human suffering. in a systematic and mea - the story as it is. Some pay the highest The world has never seen a greater flow of ideas and information sured way, to offer the price for this, and we salute them. public some sense of true The freedoms that we all enjoy are in - pers without government may be wildly than the times in which we live. Yet it has never seen such confusion divisible, and when there are invasions of heady to the Fourth Estate, but equally moral justice and proper those freedoms anywhere – and that in - unrealistic. We have to make room for among the public over what is actually happening. know ledge about those cludes the developed world where corpo- both newspapers and government, both around them, and the rations are sometimes at least as power- totally independent from one another ommunication, if free, is by def- also leadership