CATEGORY: Middle East and North Africa

An interview with one of Gaza’s banned journalists

An interview with one of Gaza’s banned journalists

by | 10 Apr 13

On 25 December 2012, Gaza’s Hamas government announced a ban on Palestinian journalists working with Israeli media.  This decision affected just three journalists in Gaza, one of whom is 25-year-old Abeer Ayyoub. Abeer went from working as a fixer for visiting foreign journalists to writing stories herself, and in the process landing a job with Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz. Starting at the beginning of the last attack on Gaza in November 2012, she quickly made a name for herself by breaking stories that most journalists operating in the Strip had never realised existed. I spoke to Abeer about what the ban means for her work, and for the state of press freedom in Gaza today Ruth Michaelson: When we spoke the […]

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Why is Egypt banning porn?

by | 09 Apr 13

Egypt is taking steps to enforce a ban on internet porn ordered by a Cairo court late last year. The ban was first ordered three years ago, but went unimplemented. This time it looks like it’s going to happen, and it won’t be cheap: the necessary filtering system will cost the country’s government 25 million Egyptian pounds (about £2.4 million). According to Sherif Hashem, deputy head of the National Telecom Regulatory Authority, Egypt has been installing the filters since January. Amr Gharbeia, civil liberties director for the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) told Index that, “there is very little information on Egypt’s censorship and deep packet inspection capabilities. So far, Egypt’s non-independent National Telecom Regulation Authority (NTRA) has claimed Egypt’s […]

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Tunisian woman under fire for bare-breasted protest

Tunisian woman under fire for bare-breasted protest

by | 25 Mar 13

A 19-year-old Tunisian women’s rights activist, known only as Amina, has come under fire for posting a topless photograph of herself online. Amina is a member of FEMEN, a Ukranian radical feminist group notorious for their topless protests. Weeks ago, Amina uploaded a picture of herself  to a website she started for the group in Tunisia, with ”My Body is My Own and Not the Source of Anyone’s Honor” written across her bare chest. Late last week, the Paris-based head of the group, Inna Shevchenko, claimed that Amina had been committed to a psychiatric ward by her family members. Shevchenko told the Atlantic that she last heard from Amina on 18 March. Her disappearance came after a 16 March appearance on Tunisian talkshow Labes to […]

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