Middle East & North Africa

Washington, D.C., May 6, 2026 — Since the Iran war started late February, the Committee to Protect Journalists has documented a crackdown on the press across the Gulf, and tracked unpublicized cases of arrests, intimidation, legal and financial actions against journalists and their media outlets. The escalation represents a significant and underreported threat to press…

New York, May 12, 2026 — For years, Tunisia was viewed as one of the few post-Arab Spring success stories for press freedom in the region. In the decade following the 2011 revolution, journalists gained greater space to investigate corruption, criticize authorities, and report more openly than anywhere else in North Africa. Those gains, while…

The Committee to Protect Journalists is monitoring press freedom violations related to the ongoing military escalation between Israel, the U.S and Iran and its spillover across the Middle East, including its regional and global impact on journalists and media workers. Since the Iran war broke out on February 28, when the U.S and Israel launched…

Two years into Israel’s genocide in Gaza, press freedom inside the country has reached a breaking point. Journalists report escalating censorship, harassment, and self-censorship that, they say, now functions as “part of the war effort.” Independent reporting has sharply declined, leaving the Israeli public with a distorted view of the conflict. An October 2025 report…

One year after the toppling of Bashar al-Assad, whose family ruled Syria through iron and fire for five decades, journalists say they enjoy more freedom than ever but also uncertainty in the face of conflict as they wait for the introduction of new media laws.  CPJ’s interviews with 20 journalists and press groups found conditions…

Nazareth, December 3, 2025 — Foreign correspondents entering Gaza under Israeli military escort describe conditions that prevent independent reporting and reinforce longstanding Committee to Protect Journalist concerns: escorted visits are not meaningful access and cannot satisfy Israel’s obligations under international law to enable independent newsgathering. Since the Israel-Gaza war began in October 2023, Israel has…

For years, Bilal Jadallah was the quiet force defending independent journalism in the Gaza Strip — a mentor, protector, and the architect of rare safe spaces for Palestinian journalists working under constant threat. When he was killed in an Israeli strike on November 19, 2023, early on in the latest Israel-Gaza war, the loss reverberated…

With settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank spiking, journalists are also facing more frequent and severe attacks.  So far in 2025, the Committee to Protect Journalists has documented 11 attack incidents involving at least 23 Palestinian and international journalists by Israeli settlers — some alongside soldiers — compared with one attack on…

In Sudan’s vast western region of Darfur, journalists in El-Fasher are trapped under siege, enduring violence, hunger, and relentless bombardment alongside the people whose lives they report on.  The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a group that evolved from the notorious Janjaweed militias accused of atrocities in earlier Darfur conflicts, have been fighting the Sudanese…

Tunisian lawyer and commentator Sonia Dahmani, known for her bold defense of human rights and civil liberties, has become a symbol of the country’s escalating crackdown on dissent. Arrested in May 2024, she has been subjected to five separate legal proceedings that could put her behind bars for decades under Decree 54 — a law…