Attacks on the Press - Committee to Protect Journalists

attacks on the press in 2009middle east and north africa: libyacording to the Arab media advocacy group SKeyes. One journalist reported thata soldier pushed him down, causing him to hit his head and fall unconscious.Also in October, according to MADA and other sources, Israeli security forcesdisguised themselves as journalists to infiltrate a group of Palestinian protesters inJerusalem. Awad Awad, chairman of the Palestinian Photojournalists’ Committee,said the security agents were dressed as photographers and carried cameras. Theagents arrested a number of young protesters at the demonstration.LIBYACol. muammar qaddafi marked in september the 40th anniversaryof the coup that brought him to power and led to the eradication of human rightsand the assassination and enforced disappearance of hundreds of critics, includingjournalists. The government has used softer tactics of repression in recentyears in keeping with its efforts to rehabilitate Qaddafi’s international image, butit has maintained a tight grip on the news media.“They’ve realized that routinely harassing journalists … achieves the samegoal without causing any public outcry,” said Omar al-Keddi, a Radio Netherlandsjournalist and a Libyan who was forced into exile 10 years ago. Al-Jazeeraand human rights defenders cited a spate of defamation cases filed in early yearby the office of the press prosecutor, an agency assigned specifically to investigatepurported news media offenses. Although no journalist was in prison in lateyear, harassment appeared to be the government’s strategy. CPJ sources said theprosecutor’s office has made a practice of summoning journalists for questioningmultiple times, often forcing them to travel many miles on short notice. In February,more than 60 academics and journalists joined in a petition denouncing the“judicial harassment,” news reports said.The regime continued to be aggressive in pursuing prosecutions of criticaljournalists based in other autocratic countries. In the spring, the Libyan Embassyin Rabat persuaded Moroccan prosecutors to file defamation charges againstthree newspapers in that country. The Moroccan papers had published criticalstories about Qaddafi’s rise to power, his Green Book political treatise, and the2008 arrests of family members in an assault case.In June, a Casablanca court ordered Al-Massae, Al-Jarida al-Oula, and Al-Ahdathal-Maghrebia each to pay fines of 100,000 dirhams (US$12,500) and damagesof 1 million dirhams (US$125,200) for “injuring the dignity” of the Libyanleader. Moroccan courts are noted for a lack of independence and a susceptibilityto political influence, CPJ research shows. Qaddafi’s support of Morocco’sclaim of sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara, Libyan investments int o p developments»»Regime pursues defamation cases inMorocco and other countries.»»Qaddafi nationalizes the country’s soleprivate television station.3key statisticMoroccan newspapers ordered to paydamages for “injuring the dignity” ofCol. Muammar Qaddafi.Morocco, and the presenceof hundreds of thousandsof Moroccan workersin Libya were amongthe factors that likely affectedthe court decision,CPJ sources said.The verdict promptedoutrage among press andhuman rights groups.“This was a freedom ofopinion case,” one defenselawyer, Hassan Semlali,told CPJ. “There is no defamation at all. Qaddafi used all of his weight to muzzlethree dailies at the same time.” Libya has a history of pushing defamation casesin countries where it can get a sympathetic ear. The regime pursued legal actionsagainst Egyptian journalists in 2004 and 2007, against an Algerian daily in 2006,and against a Moroccan editor in 2004.Qaddafi’s intolerance of any level of critical journalism was reflected by theregime’s sudden decision in April to nationalize the Al-Ghad media group, whichhad launched Al-Libiya, the country’s first private television station. Establishedin 2007 by Qaddafi’s son, Sayf al-Islam, the Al-Ghad group also encompassedthe newspapers Oea and Cyrene and two radio stations.State-run media gave no reason for the decision, but independent news outletssaid the satellite broadcaster Al-Libiya was about to air a report on the regime’suse of torture and its persecution of dissidents. Egyptian authorities hadalso complained about critical on-air remarks made by commentator HamdiKandil, journalists told CPJ. Al-Libiya and the two radio stations were broughtunder the state-run Jamahiriya Broadcasting Corporation and the two dailies underthe Public Press Foundation.Creation of the Al-Ghad media outlets was initially seen as a public relationsploy intended to improve the regime’s global image and promote Sayf al-Islam Qaddafi as a reformer. But the outlets hired professional and independentmindedjournalists and tackled important (and otherwise ignored) social issuesin critical ways. Libyan journalists said the Al-Ghad outlets appeared to have hadsupport among reform-minded people in the regime, but were ultimately toppledby the reactionary elements that have long urged iron-fisted press policies. Al-Ghad journalists were among those summoned for interrogation by governmentprosecutors, according to the Libyan League for Human Rights, a group of exiledacademics and writers.226227