In addition to documenting the growing tally of journalists killed and injured, CPJ’s research has found multiple kinds of incidents of journalists being targeted while carrying out their work in Israel and the two Palestinian territories, Gaza and the West Bank.
These include 25 arrests, as well as numerous assaults, threats, cyberattacks, and censorship. As of March 18, CPJ’s records showed that 19 of these journalists were still behind bars.
(Editor’s note: These numbers are being updated regularly as more information becomes available.)
Several journalists have also lost family members while covering the war.
On November 13, eight family members of photojournalist Yasser Qudih were killed when their house in southern Gaza was struck by four missiles, according to Reuters news agency and The Guardian. The incident occurred five days after a November 8 report by HonestReporting—a group that monitors what it describes “ideological prejudice” in media coverage of Israel—raised questions about Qudih and three other Gaza-based photographers having prior knowledge of Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel. Major media outlets, including Reuters, rejected the claims. HonestReporting subsequently withdrew the accusations, but its report prompted the Israeli prime minister’s office to tweet that the photographers were accomplices in “crimes against humanity” and Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz to say they should be treated as terrorists. Qudih survived the attack.
On October 25, Wael Al Dahdouh, Al-Jazeera’s bureau chief for Gaza, lost his wife, son, daughter, and grandson when an Israel airstrike hit the Nuseirat refugee camp in the center of Gaza, according to a statement from Al-Jazeera and Politico. On January 7, the Al-Jazeera bureau chief lost a fifth family member. His son, Hamza Al Dahdouh, a journalist and camera operator for Al-Jazeera, was killed along with a colleague while on their way back to the southern city of Rafah after filming the aftermath of an airstrike when their vehicle was struck by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), multiple news reports said.
In Gaza, the risks are acute. Israel responded to Hamas’ surprise attack with airstrikes and a ground assault into Gaza, which is controlled by the militant Palestinian group.
CPJ is investigating reports that more than 50 offices in Gaza were damaged, leaving many journalists with no safe place to do their jobs, as they also contend with extensive power and communications outages, food and water shortages, and sometimes have to flee with their families.
In both Gaza and Israel, journalists reporting on the war have indicated they lack personal protective equipment (PPE). CPJ has received multiple requests from freelance journalists seeking PPE, but delivering this equipment to journalists in the region is difficult. CPJ currently recommends journalists consult CPJ’s PPE guide to source their own equipment.
“Journalists in Gaza are facing exponential risk,” said Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. “But their colleagues in the West Bank and Israel are also facing unprecedented threats, assaults, and intimidation to obstruct their vital work covering this conflict.”
Journalists from outlets including the BBC, Al-Jazeera, RT Arabic, and Al-Araby TV have reported obstructions to their reporting by the Israeli police, military, and others since the war began. Some of those incidents include:
On December 18, an Israeli soldier shot Palestinian journalist and freelance photographer Ramez Awad, injuring his thigh, while he was covering Israeli operations in the village of Jaffna, north of the West Bank city of Ramallah, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, the Qatar-funded London-based Pan Arab Newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, the Palestinian Authority-run Wafa news agency, and the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes.
On November 26, several journalists reported being assaulted by Israeli forces while waiting in front of Ofer prison, located between Ramallah and Beituniya, to cover Israel’s release of Palestinian prisoners as part of the Hamas-Israel truce and prisoner exchange agreement, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS), the London-based news website The New Arab, and Al Araby TV.
Journalists from Sky News Arabia, Firas Lutfi, and Raed El-Helw, who were previously assaulted on October 7, informed PJS that Israeli forces targeted them with tear gas and unidentified bullets while reporting from what they thought was a safe area, away from clashes in front of Ofer prison. They were wearing their media vests and informed the Israeli soldiers that they were members of the media. As a result of this attack, El-Helw was injured in his hand while trying to retrieve his camera and leave the area. El-Helw stated that it was a deliberate sniper attack on him and that he observed a laser light on his hand right before he was targeted. PJS shared footage of interviews with Lutfi and El-Helw, along with another video documenting El-Helw’s injury. PJS added that the crews of TRT and Roya News were present during the attack on the journalists.
In a separate November 26 incident near Ofer prison, Al-Araby TV reporter Fadi Al-Assa, an Al-Araby cameraman and another reporter were also targeted with tear gas canisters and rubber bullets from their position on rooftops in the vicinity of the prison. Al-Assa told The New Arab that an IDF drone flew right above them, and they were clearly identifiable as journalists holding their cameras. Israeli forces entered the house and reached them on the rooftop and searched the journalists. They confiscated the memory card of Al-Araby’s cameraman and forced them to leave at gunpoint, according to The New Arab and Al Araby TV.
On November 17, Al-Jazeera English videographer Joseph Handal was assaulted by Israeli settlers in Bethlehem, West Bank, according to the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa, the Palestinian News Network, and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate. The attackers smashed the lights and windows of Handal’s car, and hit Handal in the face with a stone before he was taken to a hospital, those sources said.
On November 17, in Jerusalem, reporter Murat Can Ozturk and camera operator Ahmet Bagis of Turkish news channel TRT Haber were assaulted while live on air from the area, covering Israeli forces clashing with Palestinian worshippers at Al-Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem’s Wadi Al Joz neighborhood. An Israeli border police officer broke the camera with his weapon, according to TRT Haber, Turkey’s Daily Sabah newspaper, and TRT’s manager in Jerusalem, Yalcin Aka, who spoke to CPJ over the phone.
On October 16, journalist and columnist Israel Frey went into hiding after his home was attacked the previous day by a mob of far-right Israelis after he expressed solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, according to Haaretz and Middle East Eye.
On October 12, BBC Arabic reporters Muhannad Tutunji, Haitham Abudiab, and their team were dragged from their vehicle, searched, and held at gunpoint by police in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, despite their vehicle being marked “TV” in red tape and Tutunji and Abudiab presenting their press cards to police, the BBC reported. The broadcaster said Tutunji was struck on the neck and his phone was thrown on the ground while trying to film the incident.
In response, the Israeli police issued a statement, quoted by the BBC, that its officers noticed “a suspicious vehicle and stopped it for inspection” and searched the vehicle “for fear of possession of weapons.”
On October 7, Sky News Arabia said that its team in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon was assaulted by Israeli police. The channel’s correspondent, Firas Lutfi, said the police pointed rifles at his head, forced him to undress, confiscated their phones, and escorted them out of the area, according to Sky News Arabia and the Cairo-based Alwafd news.
On December 22, Israeli soldiers arrested Palestinian journalist Mohamed al-Rimawi, who works at the Ramallah based Awda TV of the Radio and Television Commission, after a dawn raid on his home in the West Bank city of Beit Rima, according to his outlet, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and the Palestinian Authority-run Palestine TV.
STATUS: Currently imprisoned
On December 16, Israeli forces arrested Palestinian freelance journalist Hatem Hamdan at the Awarta checkpoint, south of the West Bank city of Nablus, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, news reports, and a Facebook post by his sister-in-law. These reports said that Hamdan’s car was seized. Hamdan is a freelance reporter and cameraman who has been contributing updates and commentary since the start of the war, including on the release of prisoners and the situation in the West Bank, to different broadcasters, including Jordan’s Al-Haqeqa TV, the Yemeni channel Al-Hawaia, the Nablus-based An-Najah TV, and the Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera.
Prior to that, Hamdan worked for the news agency J-Media covering news including Israeli seizures of land and homes north of the West Bank city of Ramallah and the throwing of Molotov cocktails at Israeli troops in Ramallah. In early September 2023, Palestinian intelligence agents arrested Hamdan and held him for questioning for four days in the West Bank city of Al-Bireh, according to the Palestinian press freedom group MADA and a Facebook post by Hamdan.
STATUS: Currently imprisoned
On December 7, 2023, Palestinian journalist Diaa Al-Kahlout, chief bureau correspondent for the Qatari-funded London-based pan-Arab newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, was arrested from the Al-Souk area in Beit Lahya, a city in northern Gaza, along with an unknown number of family members, according to a statement by his outlet and a report by Beirut-based news website Al-Modon. On January 9, 2024, Al-Kahlout was released from Kerem Shalom crossing along with other Palestinian men who were held under Israeli custody, according to his outlet. In a video posted by the outlet after his release, Al-Kahlout said that he faced mistreatment and violence from Israeli officers, including the Shin Bet, and that while being held at a military base he was questioned about an article, published in 2018 by his outlet but written by a different journalist, which described details about Sayeret Matkal, the Israeli military unit, and its operations abroad.
STATUS: Released
On November 19, the award-winning Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha was detained and questioned by Israeli forces as he was fleeing into southern Gaza with his family, according to The New Yorker, CNN, and Al-Jazeera. He was released the following day, those sources said. Abu Toha recently wrote for The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The Atlantic about the impact of Israeli strikes on his neighborhood. He was released on November 21. “I’m safe but I still have severe pain in my nose and teeth after being beaten by the Israeli army,” Abu Toha posted on Facebook on November 24. “I gave them all my family’s passports, including my American son’s passport but they didn’t return anything to me. Also my clothes and my children’s were taken and not returned to me. No wallet, no money, no credit cards. Everything was confiscated.”
The IDF said in a statement that Abu Toha was taken into questioning because of “intelligence indicating of a number of interactions between several civilians and terror organizations inside the Gaza Strip,” according to The Times of Israel and CNN.
STATUS: Released
On November 19, Palestinian journalist Tarek el-Sharif, the host of the call-in radio show “With the People” on the West Bank-based Raya FM station, was arrested by Israeli soldiers at his home in Ramallah, West Bank, after a dawn raid, according to the Palestinian press freedom group MADA, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, the London-based news website The New Arab, and the journalist’s wife, Suha Tamim, who spoke to CPJ over the phone. Tamim said el-Sharif was being held at Ofer prison and was arrested because of his journalism, specifically his reporting on Gaza and his program “With the People,” adding that el-Sharif did not cover politics. Tamim told CPJ in November that el-Sharif’s lawyer has not been informed by authorities of the reason for his arrest. Later in December he was charged with incitement, which can carry a sentence of up to two years, according to human rights groups in the region.
STATUS: Currently Imprisoned
On November 18, Palestinian journalist Ibrahim al-Zouhairy, a contributor to Al-Hadath news website, was arrested by Israeli forces at his home in Burham town, northern Ramallah, West Bank, according to the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate. Soldiers broke into his family home in Burham, north of Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to al-Zouhairy’s sister, journalist Hala al-Zouhairy, and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate. In an interview with CPJ, Hala al-Zouhairy said that soldiers assaulted the journalist and another brother, Mohammad al-Zouhairy, a law student at Birzeit University, and arrested the pair. They also threatened to kill the family. She said that the brothers were not informed of any charges against them and that their lawyers have no information about the reason for their arrest.
STATUS: Currently imprisoned
On November 17, Palestinian freelance photographer and activist Abdalafo Bassam Zaghir was arrested by Israeli soldiers at Damascus gate near Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, according to the Hamas-affiliated Quds News Network, the Palestinian press freedom group MADA, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, and Sanad News Agency. He was released on November 21.
STATUS: Released
On November 16, Palestinian journalist Mervat Al Azze was placed under arrest after being questioned by Israeli police in Jerusalem over Facebook posts. Al Azze, a part-time producer covering Gaza for NBC, was charged with incitement and transferred to a military court in Jerusalem, according to the London-based news website The New Arab, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate, the Palestinian press freedom group MADA, and her lawyer Jad Qadamani who told CPJ via messaging app that Al Azze had been held and interrogated for more than three days. Al Azze was released in the hostage exchange deal between Israel and Hamas on November 28.
STATUS: Released
On November 8, Israeli soldiers arrested journalist Mohamad al-Atrash, a host for the program “People’s Discussions” at the local Palestinian Radio Alam, after raiding his house in Hebron, West Bank, according to the radio, the London-based news website The New Arab, and the Palestinian press freedom group MADA. Al-Atrash’s wife told Radio Alam that he was arrested and his phone confiscated in a dawn raid. Israeli authorities charged him with incitement on social media. Since the beginning of the 2023 Israel-Gaza war, Al-Atrash has been reporting on a daily basis on the Israeli military campaign in Gaza, including airstrikes, shortages of fuel at Gaza hospitals, and the rising death toll, as well as the war’s impact on the West Bank. He also shares commentary on his personal Facebook account, which has nearly 10,000 followers. Radio Alam quoted al-Atrash’s lawyer, Khaled al-Araj, as saying that at a November 26 hearing Israeli prosecutors indicted al-Atrash for incitement over posts on his personal Facebook and Instagram accounts, rejected his bail, and extended his detention until the end of his trial without specifying a date.
STATUS: Currently imprisoned
On November 8, Israeli soldiers arrested reporter Amer Abu Arafa, a freelance reporter who works for the London-based Quds Press agency and Shehab news agency, after raiding his house in Hebron, West Bank, according to the Quds Press agency, the London-based news website The New Arab, the Palestinian press freedom group MADA, and the journalist’s brother Ammar Abu Arafa, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app. Ammar Abu Arafa told CPJ that Israeli soldiers broke down their door, raided their house, assaulted his brother, and confiscated his phone. He noted that his brother has health issues and requires medication for paranasal sinuses. Amer Abu Arafa, 39, was previously arrested and placed under administrative detention in July 2022 without charges or trial for eight months, according to his news outlet, Ultra Palestine news website, and his brother, who told CPJ that Amer Abu Arafa was only freed four months ago. Abu Arafa’s wife, Safa Hroub, told CPJ that her husband wasn’t notified of any charges against him and that he has been prevented from seeing a lawyer or his family. She said he was placed in administrative detention for six months on November 19.
STATUS: Currently imprisoned
On November 5, journalist Ameer Abu Iram, who works for the West Bank’s Ramallah-based news outlet Al Ersal Network, was arrested during a raid by Israeli soldiers on his home in Birzeit, Ramallah, according to a video shared by Al-Ersal on Facebook, a statement by the Palestinian press freedom group MADA, and his wife Joman Abu Arafa, who told CPJ that Abu Iram wasn’t notified of the charges against him or the reasons for his arrest. She said that Abu Iram had been placed in administrative detention on November 7 and that he was being held in Ofer Prison in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Abu Arafa told CPJ that her husband was previously arrested in October 2017 over his journalism, when he was a reporter for the Hamas affiliated Al-Aqsa channel. He was freed in late November 2017, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes.
STATUS: Currently imprisoned
On November 5, Somaya Jawabra, a 30-year-old freelance journalist from Nablus in the northern West Bank, was arrested. She was summoned, along with her husband, journalist Tariq Al-Sarkaji, for an investigation at the Israeli police station in the Ari’el camp. While her husband was later released, Jawabra, who is seven months pregnant, remains in detention. Her arrest followed about two weeks of incitement against her by settlers in a Telegram group, according to her husband and London-based news website The New Arab, RT Arabic, and the Palestinian press freedom group MADA. The New Arab said settlers accused Jawabra of having Hamas ties and of inciting against Israel. On November 12, Jawabra was released from prison under the condition of house arrest for an indefinite period, and bail of 10,000 Shekels (about $2,588 U.S. dollars), and a third-party bail of 50,000 Shekels (about $12,940 U.S. dollars), in addition to preventing her from using the internet, and keeping her, her husband, and her mother-in-law under home supervision, according to the London-based news website The New Arab, and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate.
STATUS: Released under home supervision
On October 29, 62-year-old journalist Nawaf al-Amer of Sanad news agency was arrested in a raid by Israeli soldiers on his house in Kafr Qallil town of Nablus in the West Bank, according to his son, Ibrahim al-Amer, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app, and Al-Shabab local radio in Nablus. The Palestinian press freedom group MADA reported that al-Amer was arrested at 4 a.m. on October 29, after his house was searched and his phone was confiscated. MADA also reported that Al-Amer suffers from health issues, including diabetes, and needs medical care, which was confirmed to CPJ by his son, Ibrahim al-Amer, who said his father wasn’t notified of any charges against him. Nawaf al-Amer was previously arrested in 2011, when he was working as a programs director at the Hamas-affiliated Al-Quds TV channel, and spent 13 months in administrative detention, before he was freed in 2012, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes and MADA.
STATUS: Currently imprisoned
On October 28, journalist Mohammad Badr, a reporter and columnist for the Palestinian online website Al-Hadath, gave himself up to the IDF for detention, his wife Soujoud Al-Assi and the Al-Hadath editor-in-chief Rola Sarhan told CPJ. Earlier that month, Israeli forces began to put pressure on Badr’s family to force him to surrender. The pressure began after Badr received a phone call from an Israeli military officer ordering him to return to custody after he had been released from a four-month detention earlier this year even though he had no outstanding charges, according to Palestinian press freedom group MADA. On October 22, Israeli military forces first arrested Badr’s father and two brothers, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes and Assi, who spoke to CPJ. Less than a week later, Israeli forces arrested Assi, also a journalist for Al-Hadath, from the couple’s home in Beit Liqya, southwest of Ramallah. During her arrest, Israeli soldiers searched and vandalized their house and seized electronic devices, according to the Palestinian press group MADA. Later that day, Badr turned himself in, Sarhan told CPJ. Assi, Badr’s father, and one of Badr’s brothers have since been released; a second brother is still in detention, Assi told CPJ.
STATUS: Currently imprisoned
On October 27, The Israel Defense Forces arrested Palestinian freelance journalist Belal Arman, who contributed to the now-banned J-Media news agency, and he was later placed in administrative detention for four months. IDF forces surrounded Arman’s home in the West Bank town of Kharbatha Bani Harith, west of Ramallah, asked him to produce identification and a cell phone, and then arrested him, according to the Palestinian press freedom organization MADA, the Beirut-based press regional freedom organization SKeyes, and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate. Arman’s cousin, Sameh Arman told CPJ that the family has received no information about the reason for his arrest and that on November 9 he was placed in administrative detention for four months.
STATUS: Currently imprisoned
On October 26, Lama Khater, a freelance writer with Middle East Monitor and the Palestinian news website Felesteen and a political activist, was arrested by the IDF in the city of Hebron, West Bank, her husband Hazem Fakhoury told CPJ, and Al-Jazeera and the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes reported. Fakhoury said he did not know the reason for his wife’s arrest but that her lawyer had told him that Khater would be transferred to administrative detention—incarceration without charge, alleging that a person plans to commit an offense. Khater was previously arrested in 2018 and detained for more than a year over her critical reporting, according to the Palestine Information Center and the Middle East Monitor. On November 8, Khater’s husband told CPJ via messaging app that soldiers in her cell threatened her with rape and burning of her children. Her lawyer, Hassan Abbadi, who visited her in prison, also wrote about these details on his Facebook page, which was also reported by Al-Jazeera. The lawyer told CPJ via phone call that Khater was strip searched, and threatened to be “deported to Gaza.” Khater was released in a prisoner exchange in November 2023.
STATUS: Released
On October 25, Israeli military forces arrested Palestinian freelance journalist Radwan Qatanani, who covers issues related to Israel’s military occupation for several Palestinian news websites, including Etar, Arabi 21, Hadarat, and the Hamas-affiliated Quds News Network. He was later placed in administrative detention for six months. Israeli military forces searched Qatanani’s home in the Askar Refugee Camp, on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Nablus, in the early morning. When they didn’t find the journalists there they called him and asked him to come home. Qatanani returned to the house and was arrested, Qatanani’s brother, Ali Qatanani, told Palestinian press freedom group MADA. Beirut-based regional press freedom organization SKeyes and the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate also reported on the arrest. Qatanani´s brother told CPJ that Qatanani was being held in Megiddo Prison, in northern Israel, and that the family has been unable to get any information about his condition or the reasons for his arrest.
STATUS: Currently imprisoned
On October 20, Israeli military forces arrested Palestinian journalist and producer Thaer Fakhoury. He is being held in administrative detention for six months. Fakhoury is the director of the media production company Space Media, which provides video production services, including to Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera. He also provides live footage of events in the West Bank on his Facebook account, which has 74,000 followers. He also works as a graphic designer and caricaturist, according to his personal Facebook account. Israeli military forces surrounded Fakhoury´s home in southern Hebron and raided it, according to news reports and a report by the Palestinian press freedom group MADA. Fakhoury´s father told MADA that the journalist and his brother were held in a room and questioned while soldiers searched the house. Soldiers blindfolded and handcuffed Fakhoury, seized his cell phone and his car keys, and took him away in a military jeep parked near his house. A relative who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity said the family believed the arrest was related to Fakhoury’s social media posting.
STATUS: Currently imprisoned
On October 20, Israeli military forces arrested Palestinian freelance journalist Musaab Qafesha. He was later placed in administrative detention for six months. Qafesha contributes reporting from Hebron and other West Bank locales to broadcasters and news agencies including Egypt’s Al-Watan TV, Iraq’s Al-Rafidiain TV, Al-Watan News Agency, and the Hamas-affiliated Quds News Network. Qafesha also used to work for the monitoring and documentation team of the Palestinian digital rights group Sada Social. Israeli soldiers surrounded Qafesha’s home in Hebron and urged Qafesha and his brother to come out. As soon as they complied, they were handcuffed, taken to military jeeps and driven away to an unknown destination, according to Palestinian press freedom group MADA, citing another brother, and news reports. On October 26, Qafesha was placed in administrative detention for six months, according to Facebook posts by the official Commission of Detainees Affairs. Qafesha´s father, Khamis Abdulkader Qafesha, told CPJ that he believed his son may have been arrested because of his activity on social media, though he could not identify anything specific that might have drawn scrutiny.
STATUS: Currently imprisoned
On October 19, Palestinian journalist Alaa al-Rimawi, the director of the Israeli-banned J-Media agency, was arrested after turning himself in at Ofer prison following a raid by Israeli military forces, who entered his home in Ramallah while he was undergoing medical examinations at a hospital, arrested his son, and notified his family that he had to surrender himself to Israeli custody, according to Palestinian press freedom organization MADA, the Lebanese regional press freedom group SKeyes, and a video al-Rimawi posted on TikTok while he was in the hospital. On November 20, al-Rimawi’s wife told CPJ that her husband had been placed in administrative detention for six months, but did not know the exact date the detention began. On October 16, three days prior to al-Rimawi’s arrest at Ofer Prison, the IDF ordered J-Media agency to shut down, according to MADA and the London-based news website The New Arab. Al-Rimawi’s family told CPJ that they believe he is being held over his social media posting, though they didn’t specify which posts.
STATUS: Currently imprisoned
On October 19, Palestinian journalist and political commentator Imad Abu Awad was arrested by Israeli forces in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. He was later held under administrative detention for six months. Abu Awad provides commentary to international and regional broadcasters including Al-Jazeera, Al-Ghad and Al-Qahera News. He also shares video clips of his TV appearances and comments on his Facebook account, which has over 3,800 followers. A former program producer for the Hamas-affiliated Al-Quds TV, he directs the Al-Quds Center for Palestinian and Israeli Studies think tank and the U-Smart Center for Training, a training center for Palestinians, in Ramallah. Israeli forces arrested Abu Awad at his office at U-Smart Centre for Training and searched the premises, according to news reports and the Palestinian press freedom group MADA. They seized his cell phone and laptop. Ten days after his arrest, he was placed in administrative detention for six months and transferred to Nafha Prison, outside Beersheba, his brother told CPJ. Abu Awad´s brother told CPJ that the family spoke to Abu Awad in prison and that he is in good health.
STATUS: Currently imprisoned
On October 16, Israel Defense Forces arrested Palestinian journalist Abdel Nasser al-Laham, a photographer covering local news for the Ma’an News Agency. He is being held without charge at Ofer Prison, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. IDF forces broke down the door to al-Laham’s home in the Dheisheh refugee camp, south of Bethlehem, at 6:30 a.m., pointed their guns at the journalist, tied his hands behind his back, and blindfolded him, al-Laham’s father, Mohammad al-Laham told Ma’an, which published a video of soldiers leading the journalist away. Al-Laham´s father told CPJ that his son was questioned about activities during his time at university, though was unable to specify what.
STATUS: Currently imprisoned
On October 16, Israel Defense Forces arrested Palestinian journalist Moath Amarneh, a photographer and cameraman for the West Bank-based J-Media agency, the same day that Israel banned J-Media on security grounds. Amarneh, who lost his left eye to an Israeli rubber bullet while covering protests in 2019, was placed in administrative detention for six months on October 29 in Megiddo Prison and, according to news reports and MADA, beaten by prison officers. According to the Palestinian press freedom group MADA and news reports, on October 16, 12 Israeli soldiers stormed into Amarneh´s home in the Dheisheh refugee camp, south of Bethlehem, and handcuffed him. One of the soldiers forced Amarneh to speak to an officer over the phone, who asked Amarneh about the nature of his work. When he said that he was a journalist, the officer informed him that he was under arrest for incitement. He was provided access to a lawyer, who has been able to visit him in prison, according to news reports. Amarneh still suffers severe health conditions and is in need of medicines that weren’t allowed in according to emails from his relatives CPJ received.
STATUS: Currently imprisoned
On October 16, Israel Defense Forces arrested Palestinian journalist Mustafa al-Khawaja, a reporter for the West Bank-based J-Media Network and the Hamas-affiliated channel Al-Aqsa TV, on October 16. He was later placed in administrative detention for six months. The day of his arrest, Israel banned J-Media on security grounds; Al-Aqsa TV has been banned for several years. Around 20 soldiers broke through the gate of al-Khawaja’s home in Ni’lin, west of Ramallah, at around 3 a.m., according to Palestinian press freedom group MADA, citing an interview with al-Khawaja’s brother, Hamada al-Khawaja, and news reports. Soldiers asked for al-Khawaja’s identification, handcuffed him, seized his mobile phone, and drove him to an unknown destination. He was placed under administrative detention for six months on October 26, news reports said. Al-Khawaja has been given access to a lawyer, but his lawyer told CPJ on November 20 that visits to prisoners aren’t allowed. Al-Khawaja’s lawyer believes he is now held in Megiddo Prison, in northern Israel, but was not able to confirm. Al-Khawaja’s family believes he was arrested because of his social media commentary on the Israel-Gaza war.
STATUS: Currently imprisoned
On October 15, Israel Defense Forces arrested Palestinian journalist Sabri Jibril, a reporter for the West Bank-based J-Media agency, on October 15, 2023, and later placed him in administrative detention. The day after his arrest, Israel banned J-Media on security grounds. Jibril’s brother, who asked not to be named for safety reasons, told CPJ that they believe that the journalist was arrested for his social media commentary on the 2023 Israel-Gaza war, though they did not specify what comments. According to an October 26 Facebook post by the official Commission of Detainees Affairs and Jibril’s brother, Jibril was placed in administrative detention in Megiddo Prison for six months.
STATUS: Currently imprisoned
Editor’s note: Fathi Atkidik, who appeared on the list of arrested earlier, is a former journalist whose arrest may not be related to his previous journalistic work. CPJ has removed his name from the list while we continue to investigate circumstances surrounding his arrest.
On November 22, Anas Al-Sharif, a reporter and videographer for Al-Jazeera Arabic in northern Gaza, reported receiving threats from Israeli military officers via the phone, according to Al-Jazeera and the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes. Al-Sharif said on Al-Jazeera that he had received multiple phone calls from officers in the Israeli army instructing him to cease coverage and leave northern Gaza. Additionally, he received voice notes on WhatsApp disclosing his location. However, he emphasized his role as one of the few journalists remaining to cover northern Gaza and stated his determination to stay and continue reporting. The Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate issued a statement expressing concern about the imminent risk faced by journalists in the north, citing threats against some of them, including Al-Sharif.
From November 19-26, journalist Motaz Azaiza received multiple threats from anonymous numbers urging him to cease his coverage in northern Gaza and relocate to the south or flee to Egypt, according to his post on X, formerly Twitter, and the Amman-based news outlets Roya News and Al Bawaba. Azaiza has been reporting on the war via his Instagram account, which has over 14 million followers, and has gained significant recognition in the media, as his coverage has provided a window from Gaza to the world.
On November 5, a team of journalists from the German public broadcaster ARD, including ARD correspondent Jan-Christoph Kitzler, accompanied by a Palestinian and a German network employee, were returning from reporting on violence by settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank. They were stopped by Israeli soldiers south of the Palestinian city of Hebron. The soldiers threatened the journalists with their weapons, and even questioned whether they were Jewish, according to the German television news service Tagesschau and Haaretz. One team member was also called a traitor, according to the same sources. Kitzler posted a photo on the social media platform X, showing one of the soldiers aiming a gun towards him. Kitzler attributed the soldiers’ aggression to the team reporting on increasing settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, writing in his post that “it’s noteworthy that many of the soldiers in that area are settlers themselves, creating an environment where journalists are generally unwelcome.”
Christian Limpert, the head of the ARD Tel Aviv studio, also called the incident as an attempt to obstruct ARD and other international media from reporting in the West Bank, according to Tagesschau and Haaretz.
After more than an hour, the situation eased when the IDF’s Foreign Desk, responsible for foreign correspondents, mediated by telephone. Haaretz reported that the IDF apologized and stated its commitment to ensuring freedom of the press in the West Bank. Limpert reported that days before this incident, soldiers detained an ARD cameraman and his soundman for two hours from reporting on settler violence near Qawawis in South Hebron. During that incident, their phones and camera were temporarily confiscated, according to Haaretz and the Foreign Press Association in Israel (FPA)’s statement.
On October 30, Al-Jazeera’s Gaza Strip correspondent Youmna El-Sayed told the broadcaster that her husband received a threatening phone call from a private number from a man who identified himself as a member of the IDF and told the family “to leave or die,” according to the advocacy group Women In Journalism and CNN Arabic. El-Sayed told Al-Jazeera English that she felt it was too risky to drive on any road in Gaza, especially as two cars had been shelled by a tank earlier in the day and that the previous time her family had tried to flee Gaza City, they had been forced to turn back because of Israel’s bombardment of southern Gaza.
On October 15, RT Arabic correspondent Dalia Nammari and her crew, who held Israeli press cards, were stopped by Israeli police at the border for identity checks, according to RT Arabic and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate. One officer threatened Dalia with his weapon and they warned the crew not to return to the location or else they risked arrest, those sources said.
On October 15, a video posted by Al-Araby TV depicted an Israeli police officer shouting and swearing at their correspondent while he was reporting live from Ashdod in southern Israel. The journalist said on air that the officer was armed.
On October 14, Al-Jazeera shared footage from an area in southern Israel near the Gaza Strip, known as the Gaza envelope, showing four IDF soldiers ordering Al-Jazeera journalists to stop filming and leave the area immediately. The incident was also covered by Arabia News 24.
CPJ’s emails requesting comment on these incidents from the IDF spokesperson for North America and the Israeli police did not receive any replies.
On November 11, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate announced that its website had been subjected to cyberattacks. The syndicate added that they believed it was a targeted attack due to their role in reporting on crimes committed against journalists, according to the syndicate and Rania Khayyat, who was working for the syndicate and spoke with CPJ.
On November 10, Plestia Alaqad, a Palestinian journalist whose Instagram reporting from Gaza has been featured by NBC News and The New York Times, said on X, formerly Twitter, that she had experienced multiple hacking incidents on her Instagram account. This was also reported by Sinar Daily. Several other journalists reporting from Gaza through Instagram also reported hacking attempts. Journalist Yara Eid suggested that these incidents might be politically motivated cyberattacks aimed at undermining the credibility and work of Palestinian journalists, according to the Coalition For Women in Journalism and Sinar Daily.
On November 3, Al-Mamlaka TV in Jordan experienced cyberattacks on its website, according to a statement by the channel and the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes. The channel said on X, formerly Twitter, that this attack was related to its coverage of the war in Gaza.
On October 31, Al-Jazeera released a statement confirming that its websites and servers were targeted in a cyberattack, attributed to its coverage of the Israel-Gaza war. Al-Jazeera disclosed that certain attackers’ IP addresses were linked to a party actively participating in the ongoing conflict, while other IPs made efforts to mask their true origins, according to Al-Jazeera and the Lebanese news website Al-Modon.
On October 18, the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency, Wafa, experienced a cyberattack that disrupted its news website, according to Wafa and the Amman-based news outlet Roya News. “This attack is part of a broader effort to suppress Palestinian media and silence platforms of truth,” Wafa said. CPJ was unable to determine who carried out the attack.
On October 9, The Jerusalem Post reported that its website was down due to a series of cyberattacks the previous day. The group Anonymous Sudan claimed responsibility for these attacks on Telegram, Axios and Time magazine reported.
On November 23, Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi proposed a government resolution to cease any state advertising, subscriptions, or other commercial connections with the Haaretz daily newspaper, according to Haaretz and The Times of Israel. He cited what he described as the publication’s “defeatist and false propaganda” against the State of Israel during wartime. However, the Cabinet did not approve the proposal, likely due to criticism from the Union of Journalists, which slammed it as “harmful to freedom of the press” and a “populist” maneuver to curry favor with the political base. Karhi, who led efforts to pass emergency regulations to shut down foreign broadcasters deemed harmful to national security, also included domestic media in his initial draft, the Times of Israel reported.
On November 12, Israel’s security cabinet approved a decision to shut down the Lebanon-based broadcaster and the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen TV in Israel. This move aligned with emergency regulations passed last month, enabling the government to close foreign news outlets deemed to be harming national security, as reported by the Jerusalem Post and The Times of Israel. According to these sources, the Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi was authorized to order the channel’s Israel offices closed and its equipment confiscated.
On November 8, the Israeli Knesset passed an amendment to the Counter-Terrorism Law, introducing a new criminal offense called the “consumption of terrorist materials,” with a maximum penalty of one year’s imprisonment, according to Al-Jazeera and The Times of Israel. The amendment adds a new offense to Article 24 of Israel’s Counter-Terrorism Law, described as the “systematic and continuous consumption of publications of a terrorist organization under circumstances that indicate identification with the terrorist organization.” Several human rights organizations have raised concerns about the ramifications of the law on freedom of expression, press freedom, and journalists. The law’s broad terms could potentially be weaponized against journalists who rely on consuming information from entities or sources designated as “terrorist” by Israel, compromising their work.
On October 30, Rolling Stone magazine announced that the Israeli government denied a press credential to its journalist Jesse Rosenfeld, who has covered Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration critically. “Rolling Stone is not a news organization and we are not dealing with this gentleman, thank you,” Ron Paz, Israel’s director of foreign press, told Rolling Stone on Monday, according to Rolling Stone and The Wrap entertainment website.
On October 29, Israeli authorities shut down Dream radio station, which is based in Hebron, the largest city in the West Bank, on the grounds that it was disrupting the movement of their aircraft, according to the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency Wafa, Palestinian news agency Maan, and the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate. The director of the station Talab Al-Jaabari told CPJ that “the head of the Israeli intelligence called me and threatened me with confiscation of equipment. There was no official order.” Dream was previously closed by the IDF in 2015 and 2022.
On October 16, Israel proposed new emergency regulations that would allow it to halt media broadcasts that harm “national morale.” Officials have threatened to close Al-Jazeera’s local offices under this proposed rule, and to block the global news outlet from freely reporting on the war.
On October 16, the IDF ordered the West Bank-based J-Media agency to shut down, according to the Palestinian press freedom group MADA and the London-based news website The New Arab. In a statement, the IDF described the media outlet as “an illegal organization” and said its closure was necessary for “the sake of the security of the State of Israel and for the safety of the public and public order,” those sources said, adding that J-Media complied and ceased its operations immediately. J-Media provides footage and media services to broadcasters and covers Palestinian news, according to the Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes and CPJ’s review of its website.
More on journalist casualties in the Israel-Gaza conflict
See our safety resources for journalists covering conflict
Editor’s note: The name of the wife of journalist Amer Abu Arafa has been corrected. Her name is Safa Hroub.
]]>“I am like a lone flame of a candle in a big dark room. I can’t light the whole room but I light a small corner, and that corner is worth fighting for,” Ortega’s daughter, Michaella Ortega, recalled her father saying.
Ortega was gunned down in 2011 outside a thrift store in Palawan, shortly after his morning broadcast – a platform he used to report on corruption within the government of now former Palawan provincial governor Joel Reyes.
More than 13 years later, Reyes – the alleged mastermind behind Ortega’s murder – remains at large, despite an outstanding arrest warrant against him. A gunman was sentenced to life in prison in 2013.
In March, CPJ and media freedom groups Free Press Unlimited and Reporters Without Borders met with Philippine authorities in the capital Manila to provide new information about where Reyes may be hiding. Philippine national police and the justice department pledged to take action.
Ortega’s murder is widely seen as emblematic of the entrenched impunity in the Southeast Asian country, where since 1992, 96 journalists have been killed in connection with their work.
The Philippines has been consistently listed as one of the world’s worst offenders on CPJ’s Global Impunity Index, which ranks countries where killers of journalists go free.
CPJ spoke with Michaella and her mother, Patria Ortega, about their hopes that the family’s fight for justice could help end this impunity, the power of journalism, and the failure to solve press killings in the Philippines. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The case has dragged on for 13 years. Why hasn’t full justice been served?
Patria: I don’t know if it’s the system, or the people inside the system. In our case, we have all the evidence. If the case doesn’t go anywhere, or we lose, then it’s a signal to the people.
Michaella: A lot of international organizations have rightfully assessed that the Gerry Ortega case is emblematic of the level of impunity in the Philippines. This is a very strong case, a lot of public interest, public pressure. Civil society organizations across sectors – environmentalists, human rights, journalists – have pushed for accountability and yet, it’s moving at a snail’s pace. It really shows you the deeply entrenched corruption.
Dad was a loud voice. A voice that held corrupt practices to account, a voice that was speaking truth to power – and then that voice was snuffed out. There was no way that the system could protect these voices.
This is almost the same copy-and-paste case of so many other cases in the Philippines, with strong voices of dissent – journalists, activists, priests, lawyers, anyone who says anything to someone in power – then the [perpetrators] get away with it.
He highlighted a number of issues through his journalism. Are they still relevant today?
Michaella: Very relevant. He was an anti-corruption advocate, he was also pro-environment, and then he did radio broadcast. He really wanted to make sure the government serves the people. It’s not only these issues are still relevant today, but that people like him are dwindling. These are the very voices that you need in times like this, but loud and brave voices are getting snuffed out. It’s very, very difficult to speak out anymore.
You said people like him are dwindling. What does that mean for local journalism?
Michaella: The media landscape is very different now. The killing of journalists, the injustice and impunity could continue to happen. It’s very difficult for us as people, as community to believe that anything can be better. It’s very difficult to convince people of that anymore. When dad was alive, he was the most popular radio commentator in Palawan. How’s that possible? It’s because, somehow, people were able to imagine a better world.
Ortega was threatened before he was killed, yet he continued with his radio broadcast.
Patria: He would say that if they kill you, they kill you. He was banking on his spirituality.
Michaella: He felt like it was his duty to serve the people.
What has it been like fighting for justice for 13 years?
Michaella: When we started out – in the first week after dad was killed – we were having conversations of how do we define what justice looks like. We were not into the thing that my dad was doing. I had just graduated from college, my mom was busy with her [veterinary] clinic – it was a different life that we were pulled into. Suddenly we were meeting lawyers, investigators, people from the government and we were in front of cameras. It was a weird thing when we had just lost someone. Nobody trained for us for this.
So as a way for us to regain some sense of agency, we were asking ourselves – how do we define justice? Why are we even doing this? Why are we showing up?
One of the ways that we have justified it to ourselves is that why we kept showing up is because of justice – obviously to see the conviction of the mastermind – but more importantly, it doesn’t stop there.
Real justice is when there’s enough of a change in the culture, in the system, that people like Gerry Ortega will survive, will thrive, and will have their voices heard.
Is this what keeps you going?
Patria: It’s a long fight. We have to start with the kids. I’m telling people, if there is only one person who talks about the evil of the society, most probably that person will die. But if there are more people [doing the same], then it’s going to be difficult to kill all of them.
Michaella: We show up hoping that it will have some effect. It becomes harder and harder each year – but definitely, if we can have some effect that someone like him would be protected, would not be shot, then we’ve shown that the system can exercise justice.
What do you want to see immediately?
Patria: I want the trial to proceed. I want the case to be done. A conviction.
Michaella: The thing we asked for is for it to go through trial. A fair trial. It has stopped because of technicalities and motions. [The alleged mastermind] escapes justice, becomes a fugitive, we can’t even have a trial. Here’s someone who clearly shows disrespect [to the judicial system].
What do you hope to see next now that new leads of the case have been given to the Philippine authorities?
Patria: I hope the government will act on it. When you don’t shine light on evil people, they will continue do their thing.
Michaella: We fight because we hope to be able to contribute to our community. We have fought precisely because of that kind of support from civil society that we’re not left behind to fend for ourselves. That’s the reason why we can continue to show up. We wouldn’t be able to fight if other people stopped showing up first.
Everyone continues to show up, continues to knock on doors, finding the next window [of opportunity for justice], that’s the major reason why we even have any kind of energy to continue do this.
It’s traumatizing, it’s difficult. We do want to move on with our lives. My dad wouldn’t have wanted us to have a life that’s defined by someone’s murder.
So [this fight] has to be bigger than that. It being an emblematic case, it being a case that may have some repercussions on the justice system or our culture, then it matters to show up.
]]>The Committee to Protect Journalists was one of 15 press freedom groups and journalist associations that contributed to the report as partner organizations to the Platform, which was set up in 2015 to support media freedom in the member states of the Council of Europe.
Read the report, “Press Freedom in Europe: Time to Turn the Tide,” here.
]]>She’s not alone: Niang is one of at least five journalists jailed since last year in Senegal in connection with their work. It’s the highest number ever recorded in the country since CPJ began keeping track in 1992 with its annual December 1 prison census.
“The government has tried to silence all discordant voices,” Babacar Touré, director of the Kéwoulo news site, where Niang worked, told CPJ in a January interview. “Maty’s place is with us, in our editorial office to prepare for this election.”
Though the journalists were arrested months before the current unrest, their detentions are indicative of a broader crackdown on press freedom and dissent which has called into question Senegal’s reputation as a stable democracy. Authorities have repeatedly jailed opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, most recently in July when they also dissolved his political party, and responded violently to protests. Journalists have faced arrest over coverage of Sonko’s prosecution, and other efforts to curb political reporting.
In early February, after President Macky Sall decided to postpone elections originally scheduled for later in the month, attacks on the media spiked. Senegalese police have targeted dozens of journalists with tear gas, violence, and harassment as they covered demonstrations against the election delay. The government has also repeatedly blocked mobile internet access.
A press code used against the press
Niang and the four other journalists in Senegal’s prisons — Allô Sénégal news presenter Ndèye Astou Bâ, the outlet’s columnist Papa El Hadji Omar Yally, its camera operator Daouda Sow, and its manager Maniane Sène Lô — face a raft of charges. Notably, each is accused of “usurping the function of a journalist.”
The charge stems from the combined application of Senegal’s press and penal codes. Adopted in 2017, the press code, which regulates the media sector, was promoted by officials as a way to professionalize the local press and strengthen democracy. But, as press freedom advocates warned at the time, it imposed limitations on who could be considered a journalist. “Only holders of a national card can claim the status of journalist,” reads Article 22 of the press code. Article 227 of Senegal’s criminal code punishes people who claim to work in a “legally regulated profession” – such as journalism – without “fulfilling the required conditions” with up to two years in prison and a fine.
“Holding the card is not about the professional identity of journalists, it’s simply a document that allows journalists to be distinguished from those who are not journalists when they go to a ceremony,” Serigne Saliou Gueye, publication director of the Yoor Yoor newspaper who has been working as a journalist for over 20 years, told CPJ. “I’m all for professionalizing journalists,” he added, but the issue of impersonating journalists is a “false problem.”
Gueye was jailed in May 2023 over a column Yoor Yoor published under an anonymous byline that criticized the prosecution of opposition leader Sonko. He was held for nearly a month and accused of usurping the function of a journalist and of contempt of court, before being released in June under judicial control, a conditional freedom set by the judge.
‘Paranoia in our ranks’
At least four other journalists – Pape Sane, Pape Alé Niang, Pape Ndiaye, and Touré – have been arrested in connection with their work over the past year and then released under strict conditions, including not speaking publicly about their cases, their lawyers told CPJ. The journalists face various accusations under the penal code, including false news and conduct likely to undermine public security. Those who spoke to CPJ did so about the general media environment in Senegal, not the specifics of their prosecutions.
“It’s all about muzzling the press…and putting pressure on those who resist,” Pape Alé Niang, editor of the news site Dakarmatin, told CPJ. His arrest in 2022 put Senegal on CPJ’s prison census that year for the first time since 2008. He was released and rearrested that December for discussing his prosecution in a Facebook live broadcast, released in January 2023, and then detained again for 10 days in July and August over a broadcast about Sonko’s arrest.
In separate cases last year, Senegalese police also arrested two Senego news website reporters—Abdou Khadre Sakho in August and Khalil Kamara in September—and accused them each of spreading false news in publications about Sonko. Kamara was additionally accused of defamation, contempt of court, and insulting the head of state. Both were released without charge within 24 hours.
“These arrests and imprisonments of journalists have created a paranoia in our ranks,” Ibrahima Lissa Faye, president of the Association of Online Press Professionals, known by the French acronym APPEL, told CPJ. “At any moment you could be prosecuted for disseminating false news without there being any false news, or for undermining state security: catch-all offenses that amount to absolutely nothing, but are used to muzzle journalists.”
CPJ reached Senegal’s Minister of Communication, Telecommunications, and Digital Economy, Moussa Bocar Thiam, over the phone and he asked to be sent a message, but did not subsequently respond to CPJ’s questions about the arrests. Calls to government spokesperson Abdou Karim Fofana, as well as calls and messages sent to Justice Minister Aïssata Tall Sall, went unanswered.
An ongoing ‘spiral’ of fear
Senegal’s constitutional court ruled in mid-February that a new election must take place as soon as possible, and a national dialogue panel has proposed June 2 as a new date. Sall has reaffirmed his earlier commitment not to run again and said he would exit office on April 2, when his term ends. Journalists have continued working amid ongoing unrest, but the prospect of arrest looms alongside threats of violence and censorship.
“There’s this constant anxiety that journalists feel on a daily basis,” Moustapha Diop, director of the Walf TV broadcaster, told CPJ. Walf TV was taken off air for a week in early February; last June it was suspended for a month over protest coverage. “We have the impression that whenever there is tension, the authorities have a simple reflex: Wal Fadjri [the parent group of WalfTV] must stop broadcasting,” Diop said.
Internet shutdowns since the election delay have also impeded journalism in what is now a familiar pattern for the local press. In 2023, internet and social media were shut down and social media was blocked in 2021. The 2023 shutdowns prompted civil society groups to file a lawsuit in January against the Senegalese government at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice. The plaintiffs, including Moussa Ngom, an author of this piece, claimed that the 2023 shutdowns violated their freedom of expression and right to work.
“Senegalese journalists have been working in fear. Especially those in groups labeled ‘against the power,’” Ayoba Faye, another local journalist and plaintiff in the internet shutdowns lawsuit, told CPJ. “Above all, the new president must stop this spiral.”
]]>Here is CPJ’s briefing on the legal battle to extradite Assange, the charges he would face in the U.S., and why his prosecution is worrying for journalists in the U.S. and internationally.
What are the charges against Assange?
The 18 indictments against Assange stem from WikiLeaks’ obtainment and publication in 2010 of some 400,000 classified U.S. military documents relating to its involvement in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. These leaks— the largest security breaches of their kind in U.S. military history—included a video showing the 2007 killing in Iraq of two Reuters journalists by a U.S. military airstrike.
Prosecutors allege that Assange unlawfully published the names of classified sources and conspired with former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to obtain classified information.
Manning was convicted in 2013 on espionage charges and served seven years in a military prison before President Barack Obama commuted the remainder of her sentence in 2017. Manning was again jailed in 2019 for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks and freed in 2020, as the judge said her detention was no longer serving “any coercive purpose.”
Seventeen of the charges against Assange are under the 1917 Espionage Act, which has been increasingly used by the Department of Justice to prosecute whistleblowers, CPJ has documented. The other charge, under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, is that Assange “encouraged” Manning to leak classified information.
If extradited and convicted in the U.S., Assange’s lawyers have said that he faces up to 175 years in prison, although U.S. prosecutors have said the sentence would be much shorter.
When did the U.S. government indict Assange?
The Justice Department in April 2019 unsealed an indictment accusing Assange of computer hacking under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. In May 2019, Assange was indicted on 17 counts of violating the Espionage Act for his role in obtaining and publishing classified U.S. government material. In June 2020, the U.S. filed a superseding indictment against Assange that broadened the scope of the computer hacking charges.
While the leaks in question in these indictments were published while President Barack Obama was in office, his Justice Department notably declined to file charges against Assange due what it termed a “New York Times problem”—namely if it indicted Assange, a legal pathway would be created for the Justice Department to prosecute The New York Times, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, and other media outlets that published the classified logs. This could allow for the prosecution of any journalists who publish leaked documents.
What’s at stake for journalism?
CPJ has long spoken out against the prosecution of Assange and the implications for press freedom globally, and repeatedly called for the charges to be dropped, including in a 2010 letter to Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder.
While Assange’s controversial diplomatic and military leaks have named and endangered vulnerable journalists, U.S. prosecution efforts have been described as “holding a gun to the head of investigative journalism.”
The arguments used in the indictments against Assange could establish a legal pathway for the prosecution of journalists and severely weaken the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of the press. Journalists’ right to report on matters of public interest without fear of censorship or retribution could be harmed.
If Assange were found guilty of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, it could facilitate the criminalization of investigative journalists’ interactions with their sources.
If Assange is extradited and prosecuted in the U.S. under the Espionage Act, it would allow the U.S. government to extradite any publisher of classified information from any country with which the U.S. has an extradition agreement. It would set a harmful precedent for governments worldwide, establishing a framework whereby states can pursue journalists through the courts, no matter where they are located.
Furthermore, the prosecution of Assange in the U.S. would be a gift to authoritarian leaders who could cite Washington’s example the next time they wanted to jail an irksome journalist or publisher.
How did Assange end up in the U.K.?
Assange sought asylum in the Embassy of Ecuador in London in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden where he was wanted for questioning on allegations of rape and sexual assault, which he denied. Assange’s legal team feared he would be handed over for onward extradition to the U.S. for prosecution.
Assange’s lawyers told the British High Court this month that the Trump administration planned to kidnap or kill Assange to “sustain impunity for US officials in respect of the torture/war crimes committed in its infamous ‘war on terror’…”
After falling out with the Ecuadorian government, Assange was evicted from the country’s embassy in April 2019, arrested by the British police for skipping bail, and imprisoned, pending the conclusion of the U.S. extradition case.
What’s next?
The British High Court is not expected to rule on Assange’s final application to appeal until March at the earliest.
If successful, Assange will be allowed to appeal on the grounds that his extradition would be a breach of the extradition treaty between the U.S. and the U.K., which prohibits doing so for political offences.
If Assange loses at the High Court, he will have 28 days to file an appeal at the European Court of Human Rights, one of his lawyers, Jennifer Robinson, said during a briefing on the case. If Assange was granted provisional measures, it would prevent the U.K. from extraditing him until a ruling from the ECHR.
]]>But the latest numbers don’t tell the full story. Turkey has consistently vied with China for the top slot in CPJ’s list of shame and has taken first place five times in recent years, in 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, and 2018.
The fall in imprisoned journalists in Turkey does not signal an improvement in media freedom, Barış Altıntaş, co-director of the Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), a local group advocating for press freedom and freedom of speech, told CPJ.
“Even if there were zero journalists in prison today, 200 journalists may be arrested tomorrow,” she said. “The government determines the number of arrested journalists, even when it is low.”
Although dozens of journalists have been freed since 2022, most are still under investigation or awaiting trial, placing a stranglehold on the country’s critical media, CPJ’s research shows.
Why is Turkey—a NATO member with close ties to the West—frequently ranked alongside authoritarian states like Iran and Egypt in CPJ’s prison census?
Understanding Turkey’s high rates of incarceration of journalists requires a closer look at its domestic politics, particularly the long-running conflict with Kurdish insurgents.
Imprisoned due to political winds
The reasons that journalists are imprisoned in Turkey are “100% political,” said Ülkü Şahin, a lawyer with the Journalists’ Union of Turkey (TGS), who monitors media trials. “The arrests of journalists run in parallel with politics in Turkey. Whenever there are times of crisis in Turkey, the number of arrested journalists increases.”
The conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has ruled Turkey since 2002, has repeatedly used the security forces and judicial system to outmaneuver its political opponents.
“The journalism trials all stem from politics,” one court reporter told CPJ on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal. “The judges are either ignorant about the law or they manipulate it for their advantage.”
Shifting political winds in Turkey regularly sweep up journalists across the political spectrum. Left-wing nationalist journalists were targeted in the early 2010s, when hundreds including lawmakers, retired generals, and academics were arrested in relation to the alleged ultra-nationalist Ergenekon conspiracy to overthrow the government.
Some jailed reporters were linked to coup plots, while others were arrested for “influencing a fair trial”—effectively criminalized for independent coverage of police and court activities. Journalists who had been close to the previous regime were imprisoned alongside Kurdish citizens and socialists, two groups that are always present in the country’s prisons.
Today, Turkey’s three longest-serving journalists are socialists serving life sentences. Hatice Duman has been behind bars since 2003, Mustafa Gök since 2004, and Erdal Süsem since 2010.
In 2016, the trend of politically-influenced media arrests continued with the mass detention of journalists working for outlets associated with the U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen, after his religious group fell out with its former ally the AKP.
Media detentions intensified after the 2016 attempted military coup, which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed on Gülen, who denied involvement. That year, Turkey set a new global record of 84 journalists in jail—the most ever imprisoned by a nation in a year in CPJ’s census.
‘We will punish you through the judiciary’
Today, the government continues to pressure the media to report its version of reality, a second court reporter told CPJ on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal, adding that the arbitrary sentences handed down to journalists were the “best indicator of how the judiciary is under the influence of politics.”
The government’s attitude has been “either you practice journalism according to our instructions or we will punish you through the judiciary, with either investigations or prison,” said Fatma Demirelli, co-director of Platform for Independent Journalism (P24), a local press freedom group.
Mehmet Baransu, a former reporter and columnist for the shuttered newspaper Taraf, has been imprisoned since 2015 on multiple charges that stemmed from his reporting. In 2020, he was sentenced to more than 19 years in prison on charges that include alleged membership in Gülen’s movement. The government considers Taraf a mouthpiece for the Gülen movement, which it has designed as a terrorist organization and refers to as FETÖ/PDY.
Baransu has appealed the verdict. After the 2016 coup attempt, thousands of people with suspected ties to the Gülen community were interrogated but “there wasn’t one testimony regarding my or Taraf’s involvement [with Gülen],” Baransu told CPJ in an interview conducted via his lawyer.
Meanwhile, he remains in prison awaiting retrial on two cases which have been merged. One charge relates to a leaked National Security Council document that Taraf published and the other charge, which the journalist denies, is that he obtained a classified military document titled “The Sovereign Action Plan.”
Baransu believes the multiple journalism-related charges that he is facing are a punishment for his 2010 scoop about a planned coup. These reports, based on leaked documents and published in Taraf in 2010, led to the so-called Sledgehammer trials, in which more than 300 military officers were jailed.
Kurdish journalists labeled as terrorists
Kurdish journalists in particular are in the crosshairs. The question of Kurdish self-determination is a live one in Turkey, where Kurdish people have been subjected to decades of discrimination since the country’s founding. Turkish security forces have been fighting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) since 1984 and peace efforts in the early 2010s failed. The PKK is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States, and many Western governments.
Vaguely worded anti-terror and penal code statutes have allowed authorities to conflate journalistic reporting that they consider favorable to banned groups, like the PKK, with membership of a terrorist organization—for which the punishment is up to 15 years in prison.
Journalists’ union lawyer Şahin described terrorism-related charges as a “very functional” offense for authorities because of their “flexible” legal definition. Instead of asking prosecutors for evidence of a defendant’s “organic ties” or links to a terrorist organization, courts punish journalists simply for reporting the news, Şahin said.
Four out of five of the newly jailed journalists named in CPJ’s 2023 prison census were Kurdish— Sedat Yılmaz, Abdurrahman Gök, and Dicle Müftüoğlu were arrested over alleged PKK ties. Meanwhile, Celalettin Can was serving a 15-month sentence for guest editing the pro-Kurdish newspaper Özgür Gündem for one day in 2016 before it was shuttered due to alleged PKK ties.
(CPJ’s prison census provides a snapshot of journalists jailed as of December 1; since then, some Turkish reporters have been released. Gök and Yılmaz were freed pending trial on December 5 and 14 respectively, while Can was released conditionally on December 20.)
‘Revolving door’ of arrests and intimidation
When it comes to the Kurdish media, Turkey has an unofficial revolving door policy: as soon as one journalist from a newsroom is released pending trial, another is arrested, said Serdar Altan, one of 15 Kurdish members of the press — 14 journalists plus one media worker — imprisoned in June 2022 on charges of PKK membership.
This is an intimidation tactic, said Altan, who was freed on bail, after 13 months behind bars, on July 12, the day that the group’s mass trial on terrorism charges opened.
Sometimes the aim is to hinder an outlet’s work, at other times it’s to make an example of the journalists, but authorities generally avoid arresting every journalist at an outlet or shuttering it to avoid “negative publicity,” he said.
The main reason that the number of Turkish journalists in jail dropped in CPJ’s 2023 census is that a mass group that was imprisoned as of CPJ’s census date in 2022 had been released, awaiting trial, on that same date in 2023.
All were indicted on charges of terrorism, with their outlets labeled as propaganda tools because of their news policies, according to CPJ’s review of indictments, verdicts, and interrogation records.
CPJ visited the mainly Kurdish city of Diyarbakır, in southeastern Turkey, to observe several of these trials on terrorism charges in 2023. The courthouse had the usual harsh, white florescent lighting seen in similar buildings across Turkey, but security was noticeably tighter: two X-ray searches, full height turnstiles, an ID control, a ban on phones in the courtroom.
Journalists’ trials in this part of the country usually do not attract much public attention in western Turkey because the government is “effective” in presenting them as cases involving terrorist propaganda, said Altan, who is based in Diyarbakır.
“The Western media says, ‘Let’s not get into this if they took the journalist because of terrorism,’” he said.
Altan co-chairs the Dicle Fırat Journalists Association, a local press freedom group. His other co-chair, Dicle Müftüoğlu, is being held on terrorism charges in Sincan Women’s Closed Prison in the capital, Ankara. When her trial opened in Diyarbakır on December 7, she participated via teleconference.
Yılmaz—who worked with Müftüoğlu as an editor at the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya News Agency—agreed that Turkish civil society was often reluctant to stand up for Kurdish journalists.
“Being a Kurdish journalist is perceived as a potential crime in the polarized, divided circumstances of Turkey,” said Yılmaz, who spent eight months in detention prior to his December 14 release on the first day of his trial on terrorism charges.
“Being a Kurdish journalist makes your non-existent crime even heavier.”
]]>The letter highlights how Azerbaijani authorities have implemented internet restrictions on several occasions during military conflict since 2020.
In a major crackdown on the independent press leading up to elections, authorities have arrested at least nine journalists from prominent outlets in retaliation for their work.
Read the full letter here.
]]>The report concluded that Greece is the only EU country to currently have two open cases of impunity for the murder of journalists, and almost no other country in the EU has experienced such a high number of physical attacks which endanger the safety of journalists in the last few years.
The organizations called on Greek authorities to make a clear demonstration of political commitment to improve press freedom in the country and take specific measures in compliance with European standards to renew the trust of the media community.
Read the full report here.
]]>Prageeth, a then 50-year-old cartoonist and columnist for the news website Lanka e News was last seen by his family and colleagues in the suburbs of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo on January 24, 2010, two days before elections that gave incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa a sweeping victory.
Dozens of journalists were murdered, assaulted, and intimidated throughout Rajapaksa’s presidency from 2005 to 2015, with violence often linked to media coverage of Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war between the government and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, which ended in 2009.
Mahinda Rajapaksa’s brother, Gotabaya, was defense secretary at the time and has been accused of involvement in multiple attacks on journalists, including Prageeth’s disappearance and the 2009 murder of Lasantha Wickrematunge. Gotabaya Rajapaksa has denied any involvement in these cases.
After the Rajapaksas were voted out in 2015, an investigation by the police Criminal Investigation Department found that a military intelligence unit abducted and most likely killed Prageeth. Nine military officials were served indictments on kidnapping and murder charges in November 2019, when Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected president.
A commission of inquiry set up by Gotabaya Rajapaksa in 2020 issued a report recommending the acquittal of all accused in Prageeth’s case. A retired military officer and key witness who previously testified that he interrogated Prageeth at an army camp following the journalist’s disappearance later changed his testimony when he was summoned before the commission.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigned in 2022 and Prageeth’s case is the only ongoing prosecution regarding grave crimes against journalists in Sri Lanka, which local analysts say have never resulted in a conviction.
With a portrait of Prageeth hanging on the wall of their home, Sandya Ekneligoda spoke with CPJ about the obstacles in pursuing justice for her husband, her concern that the Rajapaksas are using their political connections to disrupt prosecution of her husband’s case, and her hopes for the future as Sri Lanka is set for a presidential election later this year.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Can you describe the months leading to your husband’s disappearance?
Prageeth was first abducted on August 27, 2009 and released on the 28th. [He told me] they threw him into a white van. They tied him to a pole and interrogated him while there was a bright light above his head so he could feel the unbearable heat. They refused to give him his diabetes and heart medication.
When they released him, they asked him to get down from the vehicle and sit down. He thought, “They are going to shoot me. This is going to be my last day.” They said, “Sit until you don’t hear the vehicle’s sound. Then, you can remove the blindfold and walk.”
Even though Prageeth filed a police complaint, no actions were taken. He received many anonymous calls. He took some security measures because he was being followed. He took different routes in the morning and evening. But Prageeth never stopped his work.
What happened on January 24, 2010?
My two sons and I saw Prageeth in the morning before he went to his office. In the evening, we were supposed to attend a “bodhi puja”[ceremony], so he wore the white shirt of our 15-year-old son. When he was wearing it, he was really happy and said, “Our son has grown up.” I can never forget what he said on that day.
Every day, I would call him around 9:15 p.m. I tried to call him three or four times but his mobile was switched off. I started to panic. My heart was pounding and I was shaking. I knew something was wrong because of what happened when he was abducted before.
When I went to the police station, they did not want to accept my complaint at first. The [officer-in-charge] said, “Your husband might still be at home. Why don’t you go look for him? These days, people are getting ‘abducted’ to get famous.”
What has your journey to locate Prageeth looked like?
I believe no woman should go through what I have gone through. The first thing was hate speech, including from politicians and ministers. They said that I don’t cry, so it’s an act. The former attorney general went to the U.N. and said that Prageeth was living in another country.
In 2015, when the CID started to investigate, all of a sudden [rumors circulated that] Prageeth was a “terrorist.” But multiple government agencies said he did not have ties to any terrorist organization.
They started to paste posters in public areas, saying I was able to go to Geneva [the U.N. office where Sandya has advocated for her husband] by selling rice packets. Sometimes I was not allowed to sit in tuk-tuks and buses. There were shops that didn’t allow me to buy goods.
[When Prageeth disappeared], my elder son was 15 and my younger son was 12. It was a continuous struggle for me to look after my children’s well-being and fight for justice for my husband. Whenever I ensured my children were coming out of trauma, again another problem started.
What would you like to see next in your fight for justice?
I will make sure I get justice through the judicial system. But the three-judge panel has repeatedly changed. One judge was transferred so one seat is vacant. Of the two remaining judges, one judge is a former brigadier and worked closely with the army. I have also requested the chief justice to change that judge.
Are you concerned that the Rajapakas could still try to interfere in the case?
Even though the Rajapaksas have lost power, that doesn’t mean they have lost their [government] connections. None of them want to get the Rajapaksa family indicted in this case, so [those connections] will make sure to drag out [the proceedings] to protect this family.
How would you like Prageeth to be remembered?
I want the world to remember Prageeth as someone who wrote about the important issues and understood the responsibility of being a journalist. When others are talking about my Prageeth, it means he is still living in people’s hearts.
CPJ’s calls and WhatsApp messages to Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s aide Sugeeshwara Bandara and police spokesperson Nihal Thalduwa did not receive any replies. Ministry of Defense spokesperson Nalin Herath did not respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment.
]]>The latest version of the bill empowers a five-member commission appointed by the president to direct the blocking of social media accounts or an “online location which contains a prohibited statement,” which could include news websites. An amended version of the bill is to be tabled in parliament later this month.
Read the full letter:
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