Intimidation campaign targets opposition and liberal media
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called on the Saudi government to stop its extensive intimidation of the country’s media, which has included jamming the radio station Al-Islah, cutting off opposition television broadcasts and making death threats to liberal journalists. Al-Islah, a radio station run by the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia (MIRA), is the first […]
CPJ condemns government harassment of journalists
(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 14 October 2003 letter to Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abd al-Aziz al-Saud, CPJ condemned the government’s harassment of Wajeha al-Huwaider, a writer for the Arabic-language daily “Al-Watan” and the English-language daily “Arab News”. CPJ sources confirmed that the Information Ministry issued directives in late August effectively barring al-Huwaider from publishing her […]
Information Ministry bans columnist from writing
(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 30 July 2003 CPJ press release: SAUDI ARABIA: Information Ministry bans columnist from writing New York, July 30, 2003-The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns the Saudi Arabian Information Ministry’s decision to ban Saudi writer Hussein Shobokshi from writing his weekly newspaper column. According to a July 29 Reuters […]
Citing recent press crackdown, Human Rights Watch reiterates call for rights reforms
(HRW/IFEX) – The following is a Human Rights Watch press release: Without Rights Reforms, Saudi Media Blitz Will Fail (New York, June 18, 2003) — Without basic human rights reforms, Saudi Arabia’s new media campaign in the United States will not change public opinion about the kingdom, Human Rights Watch said today. “Continuing restrictions on […]
Removal of “Al-Watan” editor-in-chief condemned
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned the dismissal of the daily “Al-Watan”‘s editor-in-chief, Jamal Khashoggi, who learned from senior Saudi officials on 27 May 2003 that he was being fired. His removal comes after the newspaper ran several reports and editorials openly criticising the religious authorities, especially the mutawa (religious police). Khashoggi’s dismissal was “an arbitrary […]
Saudi reformers seek free expression guarantees
(HRW/IFEX) – The following is a Human Rights Watch press release: Saudi Arabia: Reforms Needed to Fight Terror (New York, May 21, 2003) ? Legal and political reforms long promised by the Saudi government should be speeded up in light of the latest anti-terror campaign, Human Rights Watch urged today. In January 2003, on its […]
Al-Jazeera barred from covering Hajj rites in Mecca
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to the Saudi Consultative Council (Majlis Al-Shoura), RSF has condemned the ban imposed on the Qatar-based satellite channel Al-Jazeera, barring the station from covering the Hajj rites. “As the guardian of holy Islamic sites, the Saudi authorities must demonstrate their open-mindedness and accredit, without discrimination, all stations that wish to […]
Journalist jailed for past three years
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to the Saudi Consultative Council (Majlis Al-Shoura), RSF has called for the immediate release of journalist Saleh Al-Harith, aged 34. Al-Harith was arrested in April 2000 in the city of Najran, and is presently detained at the prison in Dammam, in the country’s east. “This journalist has been unfairly jailed […]
MSNBC journalist’s materials confiscated
(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 23 April 2002 letter to Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abd al-Aziz al-Saud, CPJ protested an incident on 21 April in which Saudi authorities confiscated videotapes and a laptop computer from Bob Arnot, a reporter for the U.S. cable television channel MSNBC. On 21 April, security officials at the Riyadh airport escorted […]
Largest pan-Arab daily subject to advance censorship
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Information Minister Fouad Al-Farsi, RSF protested the decision to subject the pan-Arab daily “Al-Hayat” to advance censorship. “Over the past few months there seemed to be a small degree of press liberalisation in the country, but now the authorities are reversing this trend,” stated RSF secretary-general Robert Ménard. “This […]
Editor-in-chief fired after poem appears in newspaper
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF expressed its concern to Saudi Arabian authorities about the dismissal of Mohammed al-Mukhtar al-Fal, editor-in-chief of the private daily “Al-Madina”. “The decision demonstrates the extent to which criticism of the legal system is not allowed in the country. Moreover, for years international human rights organisations have denounced Saudi Arabia’s justice system,” said […]
Journalist Ahmed al-Seweifi refused entry
On 20 February 1995, Ahmed al-Seweifi, a journalist with the bi- weekly “Al-Chaab”, was refused entry to Saudi Arabia when he arrived at the airport in Jiddah. Ahmed al-Seweifi, who arrived from Cairo with his wife, had obtained the proper visa from the Saudi embassy in Cairo. The authorities in Jiddah, however, said that he […]