Sabri Jibreen, a reporter for the West Bank-based J-Media agency, was arrested by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on October 14, 2023 and later placed in administrative detention. After his arrest, Israel banned J-Media on security grounds. Jibreen was released on June 11, 2025, after nearly 20 months of detention.
Around 25 IDF soldiers raided Jibreen's home in Tuqu’, southeast of Bethlehem, for 20 minutes in the early hours before taking Jibreen away in a military vehicle, according to the Palestinian press freedom group MADA, citing an interview with Jibreen’s brother. J-Media also reported the arrest on Facebook.
Jibreen's brother, who asked not to be named for safety reasons, told CPJ that family members believe that the journalist was arrested for his social media commentary on the Israel-Gaza war, though they did not specify what comments.
In the days prior to his arrest, Jibreen posted commentary on his Facebook page about the war, including a video of the funeral of a person allegedly deported from Bethlehem to the Gaza Strip, pictures of journalists Mohammed Sobh and Saeed al-Taweel, who were killed in an Israeli airstrike, and a photo of Jibreen's dead cousin, all of which have since been removed. Jibreen's reporting in the weeks before he was arrested include human interest stories, local news, coverage of protests against Israeli settlers south of Bethlehem, and reports on alleged attempts by Israeli settlers to take over Palestinian areas by erecting tents.
According to an October 26, 2023 Facebook post by the official Commission of Detainees Affairs and Jibreen's brother, Jibreen was placed in administrative detention, initially in Megiddo Prison.
Under administrative detention procedures, authorities may hold detainees for six months without charge if they suspect the detainee of planning to commit a future offense and then extend the detention an unlimited number of times, according to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem. Judges may accept evidence against the detainee without disclosing it on security grounds.
A day after his arrest, the IDF ordered the J-Media agency to shut down, according to the Palestinian press freedom group MADA and the London-based news website The New Arab. In a statement, the IDF described the media outlet as “an illegal organization” and said its closure was necessary for “the sake of the security of the State of Israel and for the safety of the public and public order,” those sources said, adding that J-Media complied and ceased operations.
In September 2024, Jibreen's brother told CPJ via messaging app that the journalist was in southern Israel’s Ramon Prison and that his administrative detention had been extended multiple times. He added that Jibreen's family had not been allowed to visit him and had no information about his health condition.
Jibreen later told CPJ that he was “beaten by prison authorities and special units during my arrest, while being transferred between prisons, and even inside prison cells on various occasions. This included severe kicking, starvation, verbal abuse, humiliation, tearing of clothes, and breaking of my glasses. I also fell ill due to contaminated food, lack of access to hygiene materials, and being denied showers."
He lost 18 kilograms (40 pounds) while in detention, according to his account.
Jibreen was detained as part of the mass arrests Israeli forces conducted in the occupied West Bank in the wake of October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, prompting Israel to declare war on the militant group.
He was among the journalists whose testimony was included in the CPJ special report “We returned from hell,” published in February 2026, which compiles accounts from 58 journalists who reported patterns of abuse, torture, and mistreatment against Palestinian journalists inside Israeli prisons.
The Israeli military did not respond to CPJ’s repeated requests for comment on specific allegations by journalists in the report, instead requesting ID numbers and geographic coordinates that CPJ does not collect or provide. When asked about allegations of physical and sexual abuse, starvation, and the investigation and accountability process, an army spokesperson said “individuals detained are treated in accordance with international law,” adding that the armed forces “have never, and will never, deliberately target journalists,” and that any violations of protocol “will be looked into.”
CPJ also emailed the Israel Prison Service (IPS) regarding the allegations in the report. In response, the IPS said “all prisoners are detained according to the law” and that “all basic rights are fully upheld by professionally trained prison guards.” The service said it was unaware of the claims described, and that to its knowledge “no such events have occurred,” but noted that “prisoners and detainees have the right to file a complaint that will be fully examined and addressed by official authorities.”
In November 2021, Jibreen was briefly arrested by Israeli forces and held for questioning for several hours about posts on his personal Facebook page that Israeli officials alleged contained inciting material, Jibreen told Beirut-based press freedom group SKeyes.
“The interrogating officer reviewed the news about Jerusalem that I published on my private Facebook page, namely what it’s happening in the city in terms of attacks, violations, and casualties resulting from Israeli attacks,” Jibreen said in November 2021. The investigating officer ended the questioning by threatening him with harsher punishment if he was caught again.