Iraq / Middle East & North Africa

  
The funeral of Sergei Magnitsky is held in Moscow on November 20, 2009. The lawyer died in state custody after exposing official corruption. (Reuters/Mikhail Voskresensky)

Global Magnitsky Act could be powerful weapon against impunity in journalist murders

Last week, the proposed Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act emerged from the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee with approval. The bill was passed by the Senate last year. If passed by the full House of Representatives and signed into law by the president, it has the potential to offer partial redress to one of…

Read More ›

From Charlie Hebdo in Paris to bloggers in Bangladesh, extremists target press

Thursday marks one year since two gunmen burst into the Paris offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and opened fire. Over the following year, CPJ documented the deaths of 28 journalists who were killed for their work by Islamic militant groups such as Islamic State and Al-Qaeda. This StoryMap charts the deadly attacks that took…

Read More ›

Photos of children who lost their documents while fleeing militants in Mosul are displayed at an Iraqi passport office. Many journalists fled the violence but the fate of those who remained is hard to determine. (AFP/Safin Hamed)

Chasing ghosts: Tracking Iraq’s missing journalists in Islamic State stranglehold of Mosul

Amar hasn’t left his house in five days. Every evening he fears a knock on the door will bring militants who have been searching for him. He hasn’t earned a salary in more than a year and relies on a few trusted neighbors to bring him food.

Read More ›

Students light candles at the edge of the Tigris to mark a June 2014 massacre of army cadets by Islamic State. As the militants are pushed out of Iraq, the toll of destruction on Iraqis, including journalists, is only just coming to light. (AFP/Ahmad al-Rubaye)

In Iraq, Islamic State exacts heavy toll on journalists and their families

The militant group Islamic State swept through Iraq last summer, taking over city after city and leaving a wave of destruction of a scale only just being discovered. Even now it is difficult to understand how much damage was inflicted, including on the Iraqi journalist community, where rumors of missing or killed journalists are swirling…

Read More ›

Video: Bob Simon recounts 1991 capture in Iraq

When I heard the news last week that Bob Simon had died, I immediately thought back to an interview I had done with him in 2010. It was at an event called the “Courage Forum.,” an ideas festival which took place the Museum of Modern Art hosted in New York City. It featured speakers who…

Read More ›

Fight for justice in Kurdistan as suspect in journalist’s murder is exonerated

The family of Kawa Garmyane, a journalist shot dead in Kurdistan in December 2013, has vowed to continue the fight for justice after Mahmoud Sangawi, a military commander charged with ordering the killing, was exonerated on Sunday by a court in Kalar. The court also upheld the death penalty handed to Twana Khaleefa, who was…

Read More ›

Mission Journal: The Kurdish conundrum–more outlets but not more ‘news’

In the stairwell between the newsroom and studios of Nalia Radio and Television (NRT) stand a charred monitor, a burnt vision mixer, and smashed camera lens. They make up a display of equipment damaged when armed men set fire to the station in Sulaymaniyah, a city in eastern Iraqi Kurdistan which is home to much…

Read More ›

CPJ

Coming to Kurdistan

One of the strongest memories I have of meeting President Masoud Barzani is the winding drive up to his mountain-top headquarters in the town of Salahuddin outside Erbil. That was in 2008, when a CPJ delegation secured a pledge from the head of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to “create an atmosphere that is conducive…

Read More ›

CPJ

Video: CPJ warns of impunity in Iraqi Kurdistan

On Tuesday, the Committee to Protect Journalists expressed its concerns over the press freedom climate in Iraqi Kurdistan at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. where we launched our special report, “Mountain of impunity looms over Kurdistan journalists.” You can watch a video of the press conference here.

Read More ›

Journalists ride in an army soldiers' carrier to the front line during clashes between forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and opposition fighters on August 24, 2013. (Reuters/Khaled al-Hariri)

Arab journalists need training for civil unrest and wars

In recent years, Arab journalists have been taking great risks to report important stories in a region where war and civil unrest remain an ever-present threat. Many are operating without proper equipment or safety training in how to recognize and mitigate the various risks they face.

Read More ›