2025

New York, January 17, 2025—A Taliban court in the capital Kabul on January 1 sentenced Afghan News Agency reporter Mahdi Ansary to 18 months in prison on charges of disseminating anti-Taliban propaganda. “Mahdi Ansary’s unjust sentence is indicative of the Taliban’s continued brutality and suppression of press freedom in Afghanistan,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s…

Update: Since publication of this alert, the SSSP ordered on January 16 that Serag be detained for 15 days pending investigation on charges of joining a terrorist organization, spreading false news, using a website to promote terrorist ideas, and committing a financing-related crime, according to independent media outlets Mada Masr and Al-Manassa. Washington, D.C., January…

CPJ’s 2024 imprisoned journalists’ data illustrates how arbitrary prison sentences handed down in connection with journalistic work can become a years-long nightmare. Globally, incarcerated journalists routinely face harsh conditions—including lack of access to medical care, food, hygiene products, and water—along with loss of vital emotional support because long, often expensive journeys make it difficult for…

Tunisia has reached a troubling milestone, with at least five journalists behind bars in CPJ’s December 1, 2024, prison census, the highest number since the organization began keeping track in 1992. Once hailed as a beacon of freedom in the Arab world after the 2011 revolution that sparked the Arab Spring, Tunisia is now erasing…

In spite of the Senegalese gendarmerie officer holding a gun held to his head, Ibou Sané held firm. He refused the officer’s order to admit that he knew René Capain Bassène – but in the end it didn’t matter. Testimony he insisted he never gave was used in court to help convict Bassène, a well-known…

China, Israel, and Myanmar lead the world’s top jailers of journalists New York, January 16, 2024—The number of journalists jailed worldwide reached a near all-time high in 2024, according to a new report released by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). China, Israel, and Myanmar were the leading jailers of reporters, followed by Belarus and…

War, authoritarian repression, and political and economic instability continued to put journalists’ freedom and lives at risk in 2024. Last year, the Committee to Protect Journalists’ annual prison census documented more than 100 new jailings of journalists for their work.

Washington, D.C., January 15, 2025—Yemen’s Houthi forces must release journalist Mohamed Al-Miyahi and the group’s non-state judicial system must drop its case against him, said the Committee to Protect Journalists Wednesday. After more than three months of arbitrary detention, including one month of enforced disappearance, Al-Miyahi appeared before the Houthi’s Specialized Criminal Prosecution in Sana’a…

Beirut, January 15, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Wednesday’s reports of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and calls on authorities to grant unconditional access to journalists and independent human rights experts to investigate crimes committed against the media during the 15-month long war.  “Journalists have been paying the highest price…

Bogotá, January 15, 2025–Venezuelan authorities should immediately release journalist Leandro Palmar and his assistant Belises Salvador Cubillán, who were detained January 9 in the western city of Maracaibo while covering anti-government protests, media outlets reported, and ensure they can do their jobs without fear of reprisal, said the Committee to Protect Journalists on Tuesday. A criminal…