Serene Assir reports as regional journalists gather to discuss Middle East press freedom Journalists and press activists from across the Middle East gathered last week in Cairo at an Arab Press Freedom Watch (APFW) sponsored meeting at the Egyptian Press Syndicate, and discussed the multiple threats they face in pursuit of their profession. A much-debated topic, press freedom in the Arab world has been particularly high on global human rights agendas over recent weeks, particularly in Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon and Iraq in light of continued imprisonments of reporters in some cases, and deaths in others. Reports issued by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) make no bones about painting the picture of the situation of reporters as bleak, to say the least. In this respect the APFW meeting, which also featured discussions on the cartoons of Prophet Mohamed first published by Belgian tabloid Jyllands-Posten and questions of cultural sensitivity, focussed more on providing journalists with a forum to share rather than merely recount the obstacles they face, and to raise debate for possible solutions. "The problems faced by journalists in different Arab countries are different only in form," Ibrahim Nawwar, APFW chairman told Al-Ahram Weekly, adding that the conference's goal was to raise common, fundamental debates that touch on issues that all Middle Eastern reporters confront. "For the humiliation is present in all Arab countries," Ali Djerri, director of Algerian Al-Akhbar newspaper said. Consequently, rather than addressing issues country-by-country, broader questions were discussed with intervention by participants from across the region. One particularly heated debate focussed on the origin of the recurrence of problems journalists face, including government- ordered newspaper closures, reporter arrests and imprisonment and outright censorship. The liberalisation of often stringent press laws was, for some, a potential solution worth exploring and advocating. The governments of at least 10 Arab countries practice direct censorship, Djerri said, and laws generally forbid reporting critically on sensitive religious issues, the executive and defence, while in some countries "provocation, disclosure of secret documents and defamation" are punishable by law. In Algeria, three editors who reprinted the controversial cartoons -- allegedly with the sole aim of exposing their insensitivity, rather than in their support -- were punished with jail sentences ranging from three to five years in length. In Egypt, the recent imprisonment for libel of Amira Malash, journalist for independent newspaper Al-Fagr, sparked the question of how to bring into force promises by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to introduce a new, freer press law. For others, however, legal reforms would remain cosmetic unless political reform leading up to parliamentary rule were instigated. "An effective and genuinely active parliament is necessary to ensure that the press is free," Kuwaiti journalist Dahem Al-Qahtani said. Jalal Othman from Libya agreed, emphasising that "despite Islam's encouragement of freedom of expression against all odds, all Muslim and Arab states are guilty of practices that actively suppress discussion and, ultimately, the emergence of the truth on a given topic." And in spite of a surge of nominally independent newspapers and media outlets across much of the Arab region -- particularly Egypt, Morocco and Lebanon -- some have criticised the total lack of a genuinely unaligned media. APFW Vice-President Maha Al-Salhy from Bahrain said, "There is no independent press to speak of, because we are still guided by rules and conditions issued by the government, parliament or information ministry in question." As a result, even press outlets which attempt to stretch limits are in danger of having all semblance of objectivity curbed. "The problem lies with government-issued codes, which are eventually bound to be reflected and backfired," Magdi El-Gallad, editor-in-chief of Al-Masri Al-Youm told the Weekly. Nevertheless, the sheer lack of truly independent public voices raises genuine concern as to the kind of information that the public is given access to. "This problem extends beyond our borders," Al-Qahtani said. "Across the world, it is capital that dictates the kind of information that is licensed. The difference is that here, capital tends to be regulated by the state, and so too information." Particularly bleak were prospects for journalists in Iraq and in Palestine. Ever since the United States-led invasion of Iraq three years ago, 86 journalists have been killed, while two remain missing, according to RSF. In Palestine, where censorship is not institutionalised -- in contrast with the majority of other states -- the realities of the occupation dictate that information-gathering is, for one, extremely dangerous, if not at times deadly. In addition, Palestinian journalists are, for the most part, not allowed access to the Israeli Government Press Office-issued card -- the only credited press card that would allow reporters to cross checkpoints. Consequently, they are under no guarantee to be recognised by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) as members of the press, rendering them, in line with occupation policy, potentially legitimate targets.
