No journalist jailed in Qatar, says attorney general

Manama: No journalist in Qatar has been sent to jail in defamation suits in the last eight years, Qatar’s Attorney General has said.

"The press enjoys total freedom in Qatar. There are no restrictions and the media here expresses itself freely," Dr Ali Fetais Al Marri said, quoted by Qatar News Agency. The attorney general was addressing reporters at a press conference at the end of the UN anti-corruption meeting.

Qatar was ranked 94 in the 2009 report issued by the Paris-based Journalists Without Borders.

According to the media barometre kept by the international media watchdog, 35 journalists have been killed so far in 2009 and 175 imprisoned. The number of cyberdissidents who have been imprisoned is now 93.