Global Voices Online

“Are we witnessing a media freedom backslide in Jordan? For the past couple years or so, Jordan has been making baby steps towards safeguarding the freedom of the press, one was the recent scrapping of an article that imprisoned journalists. However, from what I read this week, things are not looking good as it seems the kingdom is regressing to its earlier status of muzzling press freedoms.I will try not to jump to conclusions quickly and point out that the Jordanian government has denied banning the newspaper,” writes Jordanian blogger Natasha Tynes on the World Press Freedom Day.

Recent Links also in Middle East & North Africa

For a preview on the dating scene in Amman, Jordan, check out House of Curiosity.

Fariba Pajooh, an Iranian blogger and journalist, has been in prison for more than 100 days. According to [fa] Ghomar Asheghaneh, an Iran based blogger, her parents do not know what to do and her father is in a bad physical condition.

Hadi Ghaemi, a leading human rights activist, writes in Huffingtonpost: “Much of the international public and media consider mass protests in Iran to have ended, because images of hundreds of thousands of demonstrators no longer appear on TV screens… But the protest movement is alive and continues to challenge the legitimacy of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government, and to demand fundamental rights.”