Middle East - Reports
Media freedoms in the occupied Palestinian territories suffered a setback in June 2012, due to Israel's continued policy of targeting journalists.
Around 10 citizen journalists have been killed since late May, according to RSF.
Authorities are undertaking a fierce campaign to crackdown on rights defenders to prevent them from monitoring and reporting on ongoing violations, particularly relating to freedoms of expression and assembly and prisoners' rights, demands for reform, or the defense of fundamental rights and freedoms in the Kingdom.
The Israeli Forces have pursued a policy of silencing the Palestinian press in its efforts to show the bitter reality of living under the continuing violations committed by the occupation forces, says MADA.
The systematic patterns of ill-treatment and torture documented clearly point to a state policy of torture and ill-treatment since the beginning of the crackdown on anti-government protests.
The regime has gone to great lengths to silence the satirical commentary of Ali Ferzat, but the celebrated cartoonist has no intention of letting the censors keep him down.
Israeli occupation forces suppressed journalists covering events organised to show solidarity with Palestinian prisoners, among them five journalists, four of whom are under administrative detention.
The findings of the report indicate that on many levels the human rights situation has worsened since March, and human rights defenders, activists and journalists have been arrested.
UN member states expressed strong concerns over the country's human rights record during the second cycle of their Universal Periodic Review in Geneva.
In the report, MADA notes a significant decline in violations against journalists in April 2012.
MADA is concerned about the deterioration in freedom of expression in the territories, in particular the safety of journalists and bloggers in response to their reporting or their writing on social networking sites.
The authorities have hired Western PR firms to help project a favourable image of the regime in the Western media.
Some of the BICI’s most serious concerns, like accountability for crimes such as torture and relief for people wrongly imprisoned have not been adequately addressed, says Human Rights Watch.
The report honours the past and current sacrifices made by human rights defender Abdulhadi Alkhawaja and all those who paid a high price for demanding human rights.
A CPJ review of the journalist fatalities found substantial evidence that two local journalists, Ferzat Jarban and Basil al-Sayed, were directly targeted by government forces.
The egregious violations of fair trial rights in political cases do not just reflect the poor practices of individual prosecutors and judges, but serious, systemic problems with the country's criminal justice system, said the organisation.
MADA identified a total of 206 violations of media freedoms, with the murder of Italian journalist Vittorio Arrigoni in Gaza representing the most serious violation of the year.
Since the beginning of 2012, at least five journalists working in the Palestinian Territories have been subjected to arbitrary arrest and a further two have seen their detention periods extended.
(MADA/IFEX) - Ramallah, February 2012 - The New Year did not begin well for journalists in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) with widespread violations in January, particularly towards the end of the month. Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) launched an extensive campaign of violence and harassment against journalists, with incidences of journalists being targeted with rubber coated steel bullets, live rounds and tear gas projectiles, extension of arrests and issuing of one exclusion order.
The absence of independent media reporting in Syria severely hinders the world's understanding of what is taking place there, said IPI.
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