"Like Walking Through A Minefield" Thomas Brunegard, Vice President, World Association of Newspapers "Running an independent newspaper in an Arab country is like walking through a minefield," said Mr Brunegard in his welcome address to the conference. Mr Brunegard, a Vice President of WAN and CEO of the Stampen Group in Sweden, outlined the dangers in this minefield -- governments that punish and restrict media outlets, religious authorities who object to coverage, pressures put on lawyers who defend journalists and independent media, self-censorship, a lack of high-quality training, and the challenges of surviving and prospering financially. Restrictions on movement are also a problem. Mr Brunegard said five participants scheduled to attend the Forum were banned from attending by their governments merely because of their journalistic activities. "I am very pleased to say that there are today a growing number of newspapers in the Arab region that manage to deal with all the issues I have mentioned," he said. "Furthermore, there are a number of papers that prosper without compromising their editorial line." "Bad Habits Spread Very Quickly" Rohan Jayasekera, Associate Editor, Index on Censorship "Bad habits, when it comes to governments, spread very quickly. That’s something we’ve seen since 2001 -- the bad habits of Britain, France or the United States, have spread to the region, often with their enthusiastic support." Mr Jayaskera was speaking about anti-terrorism laws that have the potential to reduce freedom of speech. When western governments adopt them, and encourage already repressive regimes to do so in the name of fighting terrorism, the results can be other than what was intended. Governments in the Arab world use such laws "solely to settle political scores with journalists," said Mr Jayasekera. "A woman riding a bicycle in a no-go area, old men criticising leaders in public -- they have been jailed under anti-terrorism laws." Mr Jayasekera’s comments opened the first session on the latest government policies that affect the press. He said that in Arab countries where there was growing professionalism among journalists -- he cited Morocco, Lebanon and Egypt -- there also tended to be growth in freedom of expression. "But even in these countries, you see the authorities picking on publishers, the bringers of bad news, often with inappropriate laws," he said. Is There Reason for Optimism? Ahmed Reda Benchemsi, Publisher and Editor in Chief, TelQuel, Morocco Ahmed Reda Benchemsi, a speaker at last year’s conference, recalled that he had finished his presentation on a note of optimism about press freedom in Morocco. Since then, TelQuel’s Arabic-language sister publication, Nichane, published "How Moroccans Laugh at Religion, Sex and Politics," which included some popular jokes. Though Mr Reda Benchemsi took care to ensure that the jokes were inoffensive, they led to a ferocious campaign by an Islamic party, death threats, the banning of the publication and three-year jail sentences for two of its journalists. Then, in August, an editorial that questioned the King’s unique views on democracy resulted in detention, interrogation and the destruction of copies of the paper -- all for using language that was considered inappropriate for talking about the king. There is much talk of reforms in Morocco, and a new generation of journalists is pushing the limits on what can be discussed, said Ahmed Reda Benchemsi. But, in fact, nothing much has changed. Journalists continue to pay the price for violating a press law that can impose up to five years in prison for "inappropriate" reporting on Islam, the monarchy or about the King himself. In fact, newspapers can’t even write "the King" without writing "His Majesty" or "His Highness". Ahmed Reda Benchemsi was scolded for even referring to him as a human being. "The margin for maneuvering for journalists is not increasing," he said. Freedom is Just a Word in Tunisia Omar Mestiri, Editor, Kalima, Tunisia Journalists in Tunisia aren’t arrested for their professional activities. But they are arrested and jailed for verbally abusing employees, for violating customs laws, for signing a check without sufficient funds. "They’re never sentenced for their work, they’re sentenced for other matters," said Mr Mestiri. He has a list of 250 examples of laws being used inappropriately to punish journalists for their work. While the Tunisian Constitution respects journalism, "all of this is theoretical and very nice, but when we look at the practical, it’s very different," said Mr Mestiri. Kalima, an on-line magazine, has applied four times for a license to publish. It’s been waiting eight years. In fact, only one independent magazine has been licensed in the past 20 years. Similar problems exist for TV and radio. "There are conditions for getting frequencies that are limited to the government," he said. Three new television licenses have been issued to the family of the president, making media a "family business" in Tunisia. Nightmare in Mauritania Abdel Vetah Abeidna, Editor-in-Chief, Al-Aqsa, Mauritania Abdel Vetah Abeidna can’t go home anymore. If he did, he’d have to spend a year in jail and pay one million Euros -- one million! -- because he accused a businessman of helping to protect members of Mauritania’s flourishing drug trade. Mr Vetah Abeidna claims he avoided a murder attempt when he spent four days in prison following his arrest. "If I go to Nouakchott (the Mauritian capital), I have to go to prison immediately, I have to pay one million Euros. Where will I get one million Euros?" he asks. Mr Vetah Abeidna told a harrowing tale of a legal case in which he succeeded in convincing three judges that the defamation suit should be heard under the press code, which imposes reasonable damages in proven cases of defamation, and not under the penal code, which imposes jail sentences and fines without limits. But after the three judges ruled in his favor, his opponents found a judge willing to use the penal code. So Mr Vetah Abeidna can’t go home anymore. "In the Arab world, we feel like we’re so behind, so weak," he said. "We feel like we’re living on a different earth than the people in France, or Britain, or in the United States. There, they write their opinions, their feelings, and this does not result in problems." The Law Isn’t Enough Ziyad Baroud, Attorney at Law, Lebanon "The law only protects as much as the government protects, as much as the system protects," said Mr Baroud. What good is the law in Lebanon? "For more than five decades, Lebanon has face a lot of assassinations where the assassins have gone unpunished," said Mr Baroud. The Constitution stipulates that freedom of speech is protected by law and that the press is free. But that didn’t protect people like Gebran Tueni, the editor and publisher of An-Nahar, who was killed by a car bomb in December 2005 by an assassination "designed to break his pen and obliterate his voice." Nor do laws provide adequate protection for investigative journalism, which benefits society by helping to fight corruption and hold people accountable. "Sometimes journalists break laws to get news. The problem is in the law itself," said Mr Baroud, who argued that journalists who publish "secret" information that exposes wrongdoing should not be punished for doing so. "To punish a person who publishes this information without showing if the information is correct is bad from a legal point of view," he said.