Attacks on the Press in 2010 - Committee to Protect Journalists

Middle East and North Africa: Country SummariesCourt’s ruling and that authorities would take measures “to prevent reoccurrenceof such violations,” The Associated Press reported. They havemuch work to do to prevent ongoing threats: Özgüt Topsakal, a reporterfor the daily Evrensel, reported receiving an e-mailed photo of Dink’s bodyin August after writing an article criticizing Turkish leaders.Throughout the year, Turkish authorities pursued a tax investigationagainst a leading news corporation, the Doğan Media Group. The probe,launched after Doğan outlets ran pieces that were unfavorable to the rulingJustice and Development Party, was seen by many as politically motivated.Doğan Media Group owns newspapers such as Hürriyet, Milliyet, andRadikal, along with more than 30 television stations. The government hasclaimed unpaid taxes equivalent to US$3.8 billion.Speaking at a business forum in October, President Abdullah Gülacknowledged the high number of court cases brought against journalists,although he stopped short of urging specific reforms. “I am sure thatall of these cases will be sorted out once they are tried at court,” the pressfreedom group Bia quoted him as saying. Turkey continued to raise its regionalprofile in the meantime. In April, the government offered to mediatebetween Iran and the international community in the dispute over Tehran’snuclear program. In July, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad affirmedTurkey’s role as the key mediator between Syria and Israel, telling Turkishreporters that “other countries can play only a supportive role.” And inNovember, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Beirut to mediatean impasse between Lebanese political factions.YemenThe government pursued a widening array of repressive tactics,prompting many journalists to say that press freedom conditions hadreached their lowest point since the unification of the country’s northand south in 1990. Authorities continued to use long-standing practicesof extrajudicial abduction, intimidation, threats, and crude censorship tocontrol the news media. But as CPJ documented in a September specialreport, President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s government was also erecting anelaborate legal structure to further restrict coverage and provide a veneerof legitimacy for its actions.The cabinet pushed an aggressive legislative agenda in parliamentthat, if passed, would set prohibitive financial barriers for broadcastand online news outlets, expand the definition of criminal defamation267