Ammon News - AMMONNEWS- On the heels of an attack on Agence France-Presse's Amman offices, the Committee to Protect Journalists(CPJ) calls on the Jordanian government to hold to account those who threaten or attack journalists.

"Vows by Jordanian officials to find and bring to justice the perpetrators of every recent attack on the media have come to nothing," said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Mohamed Abdel Dayem, in a statement issued Wednesday.

"These unfulfilled assurances amount to a tacit endorsement of violence against the press." he added.

Tens of protests attacked AFP's offices on last Wednesday, destroying furniture and equipment, said AFP journalist Kamal Taha, who was on duty at the time.

The assault came just three hours after an unidentified caller made threats of physical harm against AFP Amman bureau chief Randa Habib and the agency's office.

The attack came two days after a June 13 AFP story that referred to an incident in which men threw bottles at King Abdullah's motorcade during a visit to southern governorate Tafileh.

Officials denied that the motorcade was attacked. The next day, some 300 government loyalists demanded the closure of AFP's offices for "inaccurate reporting," news reports said.

The State minister of media affairs and communications,Taher Adwan, resigned, citing laws that he viewed as "restrictive for freedom of expression" and "the repeated attacks on journalists who are doing their professional duties." Adwan, a veteran journalist and the former editor-in-chief of a popular daily, Al-Arab al-Yawm, had issued a prompt condemnation of the attack on AFP.

CPJ has documented multiple attacks on media in Jordan since March, including threats against Al-Jazeera staffers, assaults on journalists covering pro-reform demonstrations, and the hacking of news websites.




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