2026

In early March, as the Iran war spread across the Middle East and Israeli strikes rained down on Lebanon, many journalists covering the country’s growing displacement crisis found themselves living it. For freelance video journalist Hadil Iskandar, who has worked for German broadcaster Deutsche Welle and pan-Arab outlet Daraj Media, it was the second time…

The Committee to Protect Journalists and eight other human rights organizations have written to Bangladesh’s newly elected Prime Minister Tarique Rahman urging his government to take steps to protect human rights and uphold press freedom. In a joint letter, the groups called on the government to publicly affirm its commitment to press freedom and media…

The Committee to Protect Journalists has joined two other press freedom groups in calling on Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to end the intensifying harassment, arbitrary arrests, and deportations of Afghan journalists living in exile in Pakistan. In a joint letter sent March 13, the organizations said Afghan journalists who fled Taliban persecution were now…

Miami, March 17, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Haitian authorities to find and ensure the safe return of Haitian journalists Osnel Espérance and Junior Célestin, who were abducted Friday while reporting in the capital city Port-au-Prince, according to Haitian media outlets Le Nouvelliste and VantBef Info.  Espérance and Célestin, who work respectively for Uni…

CPJ signed a joint letter on March 16 with 34 diaspora, human rights, and civil society organizations urging the U.S. Congress to hold markup sessions for the bicameral and bipartisan Transnational Repression Policy Act (H.R. 4829/S.2525). The bill would establish stronger U.S. mechanisms to protect people from foreign government threats and to hold perpetrators accountable….

Nashville Notícias reporter Estefany Rodríguez was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials on March 4, 2026, despite being in the United States legally. She arrived in the U.S. in 2021 and sought asylum after facing death threats in relation to her reporting in her native Colombia. At the time of her detention, Rodríguez…

São Paulo, March 16, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Brazilian authorities to end the police investigation against journalist Luís Pablo Conceição Almeida, known as Luís Pablo, and return personal equipment seized from his house on March 10 by order of the Supreme Federal Court (STF) Judge Alexandre de Moraes. The Federal Police raided Luís…

Washington, D.C., March 16, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Monday’s order to release on bond journalist Estefany Rodríguez, whose lawyers said she was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) without being presented a warrant and urges the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to release her immediately and unconditionally. On Monday, an immigration judge…

Istanbul, March 16, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists urged the Turkish authorities on Monday not to fight the appeals of veteran journalists Ahmet Altan and Nazlı Ilıcak. An Istanbul court found Altan, the former editor-in-chief of the defunct liberal daily Taraf, and Ilıcak, a former host for the defunct Can Erzincan TV, guilty of “aiding a [terrorist] organization without being…

Berlin, March 16, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Hungarian authorities to swiftly investigate the forcible removal of reporters Judit Presinszky and Nóra Siteri with the news site Telex from a campaign event, and to ensure that journalists can cover election-related events without intimidation or violence. “Telex’s Judit Presinszky and Nóra Siteri being forcibly removed while…