Testimony Presented by Joel Campagna
Committee to Protect Journalists
House Committee on Foreign Affairs
House Middle East and
Chairman, The Honorable Gary L.
Ackerman
January 22, 2008
Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank the committee for
inviting me to participate this afternoon. My name is Joel Campagna, and I am
the Middle East and
I've been asked to talk about the state of press freedom in the Arab world. There
is little question that press conditions have improved in much of the Arab
world in the last 10 to 15 years. More governments have permitted private or
independent local news outlets to operate; news on satellite television
stations and the Internet is more difficult for censors to reach. International
pressure has prompted some countries to loosen restrictions that allow for
greater expression of dissenting views. Writers in several countries have
aggressively seized on political openings to publish daring news and commentary
about corruption and government misdeeds that would have been unprintable just
a few years ago.
Still, governments from across the region continue to heavily restrict the work of journalists through a variety of controls, and with crippling effect.
Media freedoms vary from the most repressive—countries like
By exploiting new technologies such as the Internet, Arab writers have circumvented rigid state media controls to express views otherwise prohibited. It is still too early to determine the broader impact of the Internet on free expression and democratic reform; however, online journalists have undoubtedly expanded debate and contributed to a new dynamism in Arab media. As a result, online journalists are increasingly censured by governments fearful of their rising profile and influence. Of the three Arab journalists in prison at the end of 2007 according to CPJ research each was an online writer jailed for his online writings, among them the prominent Saudi blogger Fouad al-Farhan, who remains in detention without charge as of today after he was detained by Saudi authorities in Jeddah on December 10.
Today, some of the most crucial press freedom struggles are
taking place in countries where governments have sought to roll back gains made
in recent years by independent journalists, or where they have sought to
eliminate the remaining vestiges of dissident journalism. Some of the most alarming
of these attacks on the independent press are taking place in countries considered
by the
Over the last six years,
The government actively harasses the few independent journalists like Boukhdir who attempt to write critically of the Tunisian government—mostly online or for foreign newspapers—through censorship, surveillance, harassment, and violent attacks. The government also heavily censors the Internet for political content, including local online papers and blogs that are critical of the government.
Recently, the government has even singled out international
rights groups for harassment. For the past six months, the Tunisian embassy in
In 2007, CPJ designated
In February, Egyptian authorities convicted and imprisoned a blogger for the first time when a court sentenced 22-year-old Abdel Karim Suleiman to four years in prison for allegedly insulting Islam and President Mubarak in critical online posts that accused Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, the preeminent institution of higher education in Sunni Islam, of promoting extremist ideas and for calling President Mubarak a dictator.
In late summer, authorities turned their attention to the country’s boisterous independent press, which has been a source of growing concern among top government officials because its vitality and rising popularity that have come at the expense of state-run papers. Authorities charged Ibrahim Eissa, editor of the independent weekly Al-Dustour, with publishing reports on President Mubarak’s health that were “likely to disturb public security and damage the public interest.” His trial is still pending this year and he faces possible prison time if convicted.
Eissa was also among four independent and opposition editors convicted in a separate lawsuit. Wael al-Abrashy of the weekly Sawt al-Umma, Adel Hammouda of the weekly Al-Fajr, and Abdel Halim Kandil, former editor of the opposition weekly Al-Karama, were also convicted. The four men had published articles denouncing President Mubarak’s comments about the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah and criticizing high-level officials that included the president’s son, Gamal.
Egyptian authorities continue to be silent about the
mysterious disappearance of Al-Ahram editor Reda Helal, who vanished in broad daylight in central
In January, a Moroccan court handed down a three-year
suspended prison sentence to Driss Ksikes, then director and editor of the magazine Nichane, and to reporter Sanaa
al-Aji for denigrating Islam, in connection with a magazine article that analyzed
popular jokes about religion, sex, and politics. Ksikes
later resigned from the magazine, citing, in part, concern that the suspended
sentence could be reactivated if he were swept up in another press case. Morocco
lost another leading independent journalist when
in February Aboubakr Jamaï,
of the weekly newsmagazine Le Journal Hebdomadaire, left the country as judicial authorities
prepared to seize his assets in the wake of a record-breaking defamation
judgment that was widely seen as political retribution for Jamaï’s
uncompromising political journalism.
As September parliamentary elections approached, outspoken Moroccan journalists were targeted for government reprisals. On August 4, police seized copies of the beleaguered Nichane from newsstands and confiscated copies of its sister weekly, the French-language TelQuel, as it came off the press. The seizures came after Nichane published an editorial that questioned the point of legislative elections since King Mohammed VI controlled all facets of government. TelQuel Publisher Ahmed Benchemsi, who wrote the editorial, was charged on August 6 with failing to show “due respect to the king” under Article 41 of the Moroccan Press and Publication Law. He faced between three and five years in prison and a fine of up to 100,000 dirhams (US$13,000). One week later, Publisher Abderrahim Ariri and journalist Mustafa Hormatallah of the Moroccan weekly Al-Watan al-An were convicted under the Moroccan Penal Code after the paper reproduced a secret government document detailing the security service’s monitoring of jihadist Web sites. Hormatallah was sentenced to eight months in jail, while Ariri received a six-month suspended sentence.
Only a week before Ariri and Hormatallah were convicted, the
In June, in one of the year’s most troubling press freedom
incidents, Abdel Karim al-Khaiwani, editor of an opposition news Web site and former
editor of the online newspaper Al-Shoura, was brought before a
Al-Khaiwaini was previously jailed
in 2004 for incitement, insulting the president, publishing false news, and
causing tribal and sectarian discrimination for his published criticisms of the
government’s conduct in its fighting with rebels.
His case took a dangerous twist in July 2007 when, following his release pending trial, several gunmen abducted him as he attempted to hail a taxi. The assailants threatened him, beat him, and tried to break his fingers. The gunmen also threatened to kill the journalist and his family if he wrote another word against the president or the country’s national unity.
During the year, there were several other cases of violent attacks and criminal prosecutions of independent journalists.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation suspended
Al-Khaiwani’s ordeal and some of the other examples cited above are typical of the oblique tactics Arab governments increasingly use to stifle independent media while minimizing international censure. Instead of persecuting journalists explicitly for their journalism, authorities are turning to subtly coercive tactics that draw les scrutiny. Job dismissals, behind-the-scenes threats, third-party defamation suits, and trumped-up terrorism charges like those brought against al-Khaiwani have replaced the torture, enforced disappearances, and open-ended incarcerations that were the hallmarks of the previous era. Image-conscious governments have also become masters of spin, championing cosmetic media reforms designed mainly for public consumption.
This is why it is essential for those involved in promoting political reform and media freedom to redouble their efforts to unmask stealth attacks on the press and expose empty media reforms. Policymakers must also work to develop effective ways to promote real change and to speak out when journalists, who are often at the frontlines of the struggle for greater liberties, face repression for their work.
The struggle for an effective free press is destined to be long, arduous, and buffeted by wider political forces. In many nations, the continuing absence of independent political institutions, independent judiciaries, and the pervasive presence of state security services hinder the ability of the press to grow and to exert influence. There are encouraging signs, however. Attacks on the press in the Arab world are on the rise in many countries precisely because journalists are becoming more outspoken in their criticism. The wall of fear that once prevented citizens from freely expressing themselves has eroded, even in the most repressive countries. Most dramatically, the state’s monopoly on information has been broken in recent years by the growth of satellite television and the Internet. Press freedom activists, human rights groups, and concerned colleagues have multiplied in the last decade, providing a voice for besieged journalists.
Without a strong stand in support of these important gains,
however, they will be imperiled.
CPJ is grateful for this opportunity to address this important matter.