UAE's press freedom improving, says watchdog

Dubai: The UAE is among nine Arab states to have improved its status regarding press freedom this year compared with 2006, according to a media watchdog.

Click here to view the press freedom statistics in Arab countries(pdf)

The remaining 12 Arab countries covered by the index published in Paris yesterday were said to have less press freedom.

The UAE, which ranked 77 in 2006, was promoted to 65th position this year. The index, issued by Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF), gauges press freedom in 169 countries around the world.

His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai ordered last month that journalists cannot be imprisoned while performing their duties.

Mohammad Yousuf, Secretary-General of the Journalists Association in the UAE, told Gulf News the improvement in press freedom in the country was noticeable and the proposed publication law will have clauses that will make such an improvement constitutional.

Much better

"The situation has become much better since the establishment of the association in 2004. Last year witnessed the lowest number of cases against journalists compared with previous years," Yousuf said.

Furthermore, he said the way journalists were treated in courts and at police stations had improved drastically.

In a telephone interview, Hajar Smouni, head of the RSF Middle East and North Africa desk told Gulf News there was great potential for the UAE to improve its status further in the next index, especially if the proposed publication law introduces the rule prohibiting journalists from being jailed for doing their jobs. Smouni said such an order would place the UAE amongst the Scandinavian countries, which guarantees no jail terms for journalists in cases related to the performance of their jobs.

"Even France and other European states have not granted such an advantage for journalists to perform freely in spite of the relatively free environment of practising journalism in the EU," Smouni said.

She said the 2007 index was prepared before Shaikh Mohammad ordered law enforcement departments to refrain from issuing jail sentences for journalists.

"It was great news for UAE journalists, the RSF and for journalists around the world."

Unfortunately, she said while the situation has improved in Mauritania, Kuwait, the UAE and Saudi Arabia in addition to a slight improvement in Qatar, Lebanon, Algeria, Yemen and Tunisia, conditions of the performance of journalists in Jordan, Djibouti, Egypt, Palestine, Somalia and Morocco were getting much worse.