International Press Institute (IPI)

Recent developments in Egypt, including the sentencing of two well-known journalists to prison and claims by supporters that a group of journalists condemned to life imprisonment were being held in inhumane conditions pending appeal, mark a further deterioration in media freedom.

This mass confiscation of newspapers calls to mind a similar occurrence that took place on 16 February 2015, when Sudan’s National Intelligence and Security Services seized the print runs of 14 daily newspapers without any explanation.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed that an editor would “pay a high price” for reporting on the country’s role in sending weapons to Syria, the latest in an alarming series of attacks on critical media ahead of a 7 June parliamentary election.

The development is particularly concerning given the fact that Darwish and his fellow imprisoned colleagues from the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression were not brought to court and their whereabouts remain unknown.

Rafael Marques de Morais was given a six-month prison sentence over his book outlining human rights abuses connected with the country’s diamond mining industry. The sentence came despite an out-of-court settlement reached last week that led Angolan generals to withdraw their complaints for defamation.

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is deeply concerned over recent attacks and threats against journalists in Croatia and the Republic of Macedonia/Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, as well as the case of a Serbian journalist denied entry to Russia.

The licensing scheme was put in place under amendments to Jordan’s Press and Publications Law that also required news websites be headed by a journalist who has been a member of the Jordan Press Association (JPA), the country’s only professional press syndicate, for at least four years.

A proposal by Turkish officials to prohibit critical media from using state satellite broadcasting infrastructure just as the country is nearing general elections would amount to censorship, the International Press Institute said.