Afghans rest in makeshift tents as they seek asylum from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees outside the Islamabad Press Club in Islamabad, Pakistan, on May 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

‘Living in fear’: Exiled Afghan journalists face arrest, hunger in Pakistan

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Many exiled Afghan journalists are still in limbo more than 18 months after the Taliban seized power, forcing hundreds of thousands of Afghans to flee as the Taliban cracked down on the country’s previously vibrant independent media landscape.

Exiled journalists unable to move beyond neighboring Pakistan are in increasingly dire straits. Unable to find jobs without work authorization, their visas are running out as they struggle with the snail-paced process of resettlement to a third country.

CPJ spoke with six exiled Afghan journalists in Pakistan who are facing visa issues. Read more about their experiences in CPJ’s new in-depth article.

Also this week, CPJ published security insights and tips featuring journalists’ experiences reporting in the West Bank, the factors driving the increasing violence in the area, and how media workers can protect themselves.

Global press freedom updates

  • CPJ to release report on the state of press freedom in the European Union
  • CPJ joins call for Armenia to amend draft law allowing comprehensive wartime censorship
  • In Belarus, Infa-Kurier newspaper stops publication following ‘extremist’ label
  • Documentary filmmaker Shahida Tulaganova denied entry to Uzbekistan
  • Journalist Victor Ticay arrested over coverage of Easter ceremony in Nicaragua
  • Journalist Karol Noroña leaves Ecuador after death threat
  • CPJ calls on Maldives authorities to swiftly investigate threats against two journalists
  • Bangladeshi journalist Ayub Meahzi attacked, thrown off building
  • Jailed Vietnamese journalist Nguyen Lan Thang faces anti-state charges
  • Sierra Leone journalist Alie Melvin Tokowa beaten while filming political dispute
  • Congolese journalist Mills Tshibangu detained overnight in defamation case
  • South African journalists attacked, threatened, harassed in separate incidents
  • Lebanese authorities summon two journalists in separate cases

Spotlight

As journalists from around the world gather at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, CPJ is delighted to join a diverse group of voices debating and exploring key challenges and solutions to press freedom and related issues. All of the panels will be livestreamed on IGF’s YouTube channel. Here are some key sessions that CPJ is participating in that we invite you to watch or attend.

What we are reading

[Editors’ note: This article has been updated to include additional events featuring CPJ.]

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