Journalists' unions in membership of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) across the Arab World and Iran launched a campaign on press freedom, following a regional conference held in Casablanca 19/21^st May.

The Breaking the Chains' press freedom campaign was officially launched and the report edited during the meeting. The campaign urges a general decriminalisation of press offences and condemns arrest, disproportionate fines, kidnappings and violence against media professionals. It demands eliminating imprisonment as a radical sanction used to intimidate journalists and to silence independent media.

The Breaking the Chains' report lists the main legal obstacles to freedom of speech in the Arab World and Iran and records cases of sentenced and jailed journalists. These cases give a flavour of the conditions in which journalists work and the atmosphere of intimidation and fear that currently accompanies the exercise of journalism throughout the region.

Cover

Table of Contents

International convent of civil and political rights

Introduction

Algeria

Bahrain

Egypt

Iran

Iraq

Jordan

Kuwait

Morocco

Palestine

Tunisia

United Arab Emirates

Yemen

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The IFJ represents over 600,000 journalists in 120 countries worldwide.