Committee to Protect Journalists – Defending Journalists Worldwide.

CPJ urges Israel to free journalists detained in raid

People flee as smoke rises above the Al-Shifa hospital compound and buildings in its vicinity during Israeli bombardment in Gaza City on March 21, 2024. (Photo: AFP)

On Monday, March 18, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a new offensive on the Al-Shifa hospital complex, arresting scores of Palestinians. An unspecified number of journalists, including Mahmoud Elewa, a freelance correspondent for Al-Jazeera TV, and Mohamad Arab, a freelance journalist with Al-Araby TV, were among those held.

Arab and Elewa were among the first to report on the hospital raid and the arrest of Al-Jazeera reporter Ismail Al-Ghoul on Monday. Al-Ghoul was released after about 12 hours in Israeli custody following earlier U.S. State Department inquiries about his detention and calls for his release by organizations, including CPJ and Al-Jazeera.

Telecommunications blackouts have hindered communication with journalists in the area. Thousands of Palestinians displaced by the war have sought shelter in the hospital complex, and journalists have been working there since the early days of the war. CPJ was unable to confirm further details about other journalists arrested in the raid.

“The Israel Defense Forces need to be fully transparent about journalists who have been detained and refrain from any attempts to block the work of journalists at Al-Shifa hospital and all of Gaza,” said Carlos Martinez de la Serna, CPJ’s program director, in New York. “CPJ is gravely concerned by these arrests and calls on the IDF to immediately release those held and provide an explanation for their arrests.”

–Journalist casualties in the Israel-Gaza war
–Full coverage of the war

Sudan’s blackout impedes war reporting

People try to access the internet via Starlink in Omdurman, Sudan, March 9, 2024. (Photo: Reuters/El Tayeb)

For the last six weeks, Sudan has been almost totally cut off from the world. Since early February, there has been an internet and telecommunications blackout in the country, where a war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed more than 13,000, displaced millions, and threatens to cause widespread famine.

Industry sources told Reuters that RSF was to blame for the blackout, which RSF has denied. In recent days, some telecommunications providers have been gradually restoring services in different areas, including in parts of Khartoum.

The blackout — hardly the country’s first internet shutdown — has rendered the work of journalists, already under strain, nearly impossible. Some Sudanese have used Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet system to get online, but connectivity is unreliable. Many journalists have fled in order to keep covering the war from abroad.

Ataf Mohamed, editor-in-chief of local independent newspaper Al-Sudani, is now running the newsroom from the Egyptian capital Cairo. CPJ spoke with him about the scope of the blackout and what it’s meant for news coverage.

Journalists Attacked

Garry Tesse

KILLED

Haitian journalist Garry Tesse disappeared on his way to the Radio Lebon FM station in Les Cayes on October 18, 2022. His body was found six days later on the seashore and showed signs of severe torture.

Authorities opened a murder investigation, but the circumstances of Tesse’s death have remained shrouded in mystery since one of the principal suspects was released from jail in December 2023, leading to accusations of a cover-up by local press advocacy group SOS Journalistes.

Tesse, 39, was a vocal critic of political and judicial corruption on his midday radio show, “Gran Lakou” (Creole for “Big Yard”), on Radio Lebon FM. He was especially critical of a local prosecutor, stating on his radio show shortly before his death that there was a plot by the prosecutor to have him killed.

Learn more about Tesse