CPJ is honored to present its 2026 International Press Freedom Award to Lebanese journalist Christina Assi.
Since 2018, Lebanese journalist Christina Assi has worked as a photojournalist and photo editor for Agence France-Presse (AFP) in Cyprus. On October 13, 2023, Assi and six other journalists were targeted by Israel in a double-tap strike while reporting in Alma Al-Shaab on the Israeli-Lebanese border. Reuters correspondent Issam Abdallah, Assi’s best friend, was killed in the first strike, from which she sustained serious injuries resulting in the amputation of her right leg.
Independent investigations by AFP, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Reuters, and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon all concluded that Israel conducted an apparently deliberate attack on a group of clearly identifiable members of the media. A deliberate attack on civilians constitutes a war crime under international law. The October 13 targeted attack was the first instance CPJ documented of Israeli forces deliberately targeting journalists following October 7, 2023, and is emblematic of Israel’s longstanding impunity for targeting the press.
Since the attack, Assi has campaigned for justice for Abdallah’s murder, advocated for journalist safety, and supported a rehabilitation program for people with similar life-altering injuries. Ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympic games, she carried the torch in Vincennes, France, representing the journalists who died in the line of duty alongside another survivor of the attack, American journalist Dylan Collins.
CPJ has launched public advocacy efforts demanding accountability and justice since the October 13 incident. CPJ has repeatedly pressed Israeli authorities for information about whether they have investigated the attack and criticized the country’s lack of transparency and accountability. CPJ has argued that evidence indicated a possible war crime and called for an effective, independent investigation.
CPJ also joined and supported letters to international bodies, including a letter to the UNESCO director-general urging continued attention to the case and a 2024 letter to the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory urging it to investigate the October 13 attack and publish findings. CPJ has continued to highlight Assi’s case in reports, public statements, and press conferences.