Letters

  
Pegasus spyware can secretly turn an individual’s mobile phone into a 24-hour surveillance device, enabling the operator to remotely access the full contents and functions of the phone.

CPJ, partners file ECtHR amicus brief on spyware use against journalists in Azerbaijan

The Committee to Protect Journalists, together with partners Access Now, Data Rights, and Human Constanta, filed an amicus brief on April 21 to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on the use of spyware to silence journalists, activists, and human rights defenders. The brief was filed in support of a group of cases involving the secret surveillance…

Read More ›

Ahmed Shihab-Eldin

CPJ shares statement from international legal counsel acting in case of US-Kuwaiti journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin

On April 22, the international legal counsel acting for the sisters of U.S.-Kuwaiti journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin issued an urgent statement, saying they were “extremely concerned for Ahmed’s safety and wellbeing” in Kuwaiti detention, and demanding his release.  The international legal team has filed urgent appeals with United Nations experts, and they are engaging with U.S.,…

Read More ›

Daphne Caruana Galizia

CPJ, partners urge Malta to take action on media reforms 

CPJ joins four press freedom and journalist organizations to call on the Maltese authorities to make long-overdue media reforms an immediate priority, and to commit to meaningful and transparent collaboration with national and international civil society.  The assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was killed in a car bomb attack in 2017, generated…

Read More ›

CPJ submission to UN documents series of journalist jailings, secretive trials, torture claims in Tajikistan

New York, April 17, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists has submitted a report on the state of press freedom in Tajikistan to the United Nations Human Rights Council ahead of November’s 53rd Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session. The submission details a significant deterioration of media freedom — in what was already one of the world’s most restrictive environments…

Read More ›

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele speaks during the First National Prayer Breakfast for El Salvador organized by Prospera Foundation, in San Salvador, El Salvador, January 19, 2026. REUTERS/ Jose Cabezas

CPJ urges press freedom support in El Salvador in statement to Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Thursday submitted a statement to the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, a bipartisan body of the U.S. House of Representatives, calling attention to the systematic erosion of press freedom in El Salvador under the ongoing state of exception. The statement, filed during the “The State of Exception in El Salvador: Year…

Read More ›

Civilians and members of the press

CPJ, partners file emergency motion to Israeli Supreme Court seeking independent media access to Gaza

On Monday, April 13, 2026, the Committee to Protect Journalists, together with its amicus partners the Foreign Press Association in Israel, the Union of Journalists in Israel (UJI) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), filed an emergency motion to the Israeli Supreme Court asking the justices to expedite a decision on allowing the international media to…

Read More ›

Sudanese army soldiers patrol an area in the city of Khartoum North on November 3, 2024. (Photo: AFP/Amaury Falt-Brown)

CPJ, partners urge decisive U.S. action to end Sudan war on third anniversary

New York, April 15, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 28 other civil society organizations in a joint letter urging the United States to take decisive action to help end the war in Sudan, as it marks its third anniversary. The letter highlights escalating atrocities by both the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese…

Read More ›

Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

CPJ, partners urge Kazakhstan’s president to act over wave of journalist arrests

In a joint letter led by the Committee to Protect Journalists, six international press freedom and human rights organizations have written to Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev expressing concern over a series of journalist detentions and growing pressure on the media. Since December, four prominent journalists have been placed under house arrest pending trial on criminal…

Read More ›

CPJ, partners condemn total impunity 27 years after murder of Serbian editor Slavko Ćuruvija

Berlin, April 10, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists and partner organizations marked the 27th anniversary of the assassination of Serbian newspaper publisher and editor Slavko Ćuruvija on April 10 by condemning the complete impunity for those responsible for one of the most serious attacks on journalism in the country’s history. Slavko Ćuruvija, a prominent critic of the…

Read More ›

U.S. journalist Shelly Kittleson in a Baghdad cafe on March 25, 2025 (left), and a screenshot showing men pushing her into a car on March 31, 2026. (Photo and screenshot: AP; red indicator: CPJ)

CPJ, RSF, Foley Foundation urge US government to designate Shelly Kittleson hostage, mobilize all resources to secure safe, swift release

CPJ, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), and the Foley Foundation sent a joint letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on April 3 urging the U.S. government to secure the immediate, safe release of American journalist Shelly Kittleson, who was abducted in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on March 31. The nonpartisan, nonprofit organizations asked…

Read More ›