Media watchdog records 172 ‘violations’ against journalists

AMMAN — A report from the Centre for Defending Freedom of Journalists (CDFJ) said it recorded seven violations against four journalists in November, a statement from the centre said on Monday.

The violations included arrest of Ya-Media’s correspondent Majid Dbeiss as he was preparing a report on agriculture in the Jordan Valley.

Dbeiss said he was arrested on November 2 in a police raid, and was accused of working for “unlicensed” Yarmouk TV Channel, which he denied.

Another team of journalists working for Jordan Today TV was subjected to attempts of assault by the staff of a centre treating autistic children on which they were preparing reportage, according to the statement.

In the two cases, seven violations related to restricting the right to freedom of opinion, violating the right to property by seizing cameras, the right to personal freedom, the right to personal safety, the right to proper and respectful treatment, the right to freedom of movement and the right to indiscriminative treatment were committed.

The report said that, between January and November 30, 2017, CDFJ recorded 172 violations against 76 journalists and three media outlets in 29 cases.

They included prevention of publication, blocking media websites, pre-monitoring, physical assault, threats, attacks on media equipment, prevention of coverage, arrests, insulting treatment, denying coverage permissions, deleting contents of cameras, assaults on private belongings and seizure of documents.