Letters

  
Demonstrators and journalists protest against hunger in Gaza City on July 19.

CPJ, partners demand an end to Israel’s starvation and killing of journalists in Gaza

CPJ joined 15 other media and human rights organizations in a joint letter demanding an end to the forced starvation and targeted killing of journalists in Gaza by Israel. The letter calls on governments, international organizations, the media, and civil society to ensure access for food and medical supplies; end to the blockade on foreign…

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Leopoldo Batz (left), a journalist from Totonicapán, interviewing a citizen. Screen grab: Eddy Zeta

CPJ, partners publish report on threats to community journalism in Guatemala

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined seven other press freedom and human rights organizations—including ARTICLE 19 Mexico and Central America, Reporters Without Borders, and Protection International—in releasing a report documenting systemic threats to community journalism in Guatemala. The report is based on a fact-finding mission carried out between October 2024 and January 2025, with investigators…

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Soldiers guard the Israel-Gaza border fence in Israel on March 18, 2025. (Photo: Reuters/Amir Cohen)

CPJ, 35 others urge Israel to allow free movement of journalists in and out of Gaza

CPJ joined 35 members of the International News Safety Institute in a July 25 letter calling for Israel to respect the freedom of movement of journalists.  The joint letter called for Israeli authorities to allow Gazan journalists and their families – many of whom, like the rest of the population, are starving and facing extraordinary…

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(Photo Credit: Al-Manassa)

CPJ, 22 others call for Egyptian cartoonist Ashraf Omar’s release a year after arrest

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 22 other organizations in a joint letter calling for Al-Manassa cartoonist Ashraf Omar’s release a year after he was arrested July 22, 2024, and later accused of joining a terrorist group with knowledge of its purposes, spreading false news, and misusing social media. The statement also urged Egyptian authorities to…

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Image: CPJ

CPJ, Freedom House urge US to maintain Cameroon’s ineligibility for trade benefits

The Committee to Protect Journalists and Freedom House called on the U.S. government to maintain Cameroon’s ineligibility for preferential trade benefits ahead of its July 18 African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) review hearing, citing Cameroon’s continued repression and imprisonment of journalists. Cameroon is consistently among Africa’s worst jailers of journalists, with five journalists — Amadou Vamoulke, Manch Bibixy, Thomas Awah…

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Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s government is putting pressure on editorial and media independence.

CPJ, other groups urge Greece to create national plan to fight press attacks

On July 16, CPJ and nine other organizations wrote to the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis about reforms needed to address ongoing media freedom concerns in the country.  The letter notes the persistence of serious issues in Greece, including surveillance, threats, harassment, physical attacks, and murders of journalists. It also cites government pressure on editorial…

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(Photo: Courtesy of the family of René Capain Bassène)

CPJ, 180 partners call for René Capain Bassène’s release in Senegal

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 180 journalists, civil society organizations, and academic researchers in a joint letter urging Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye to end the prolonged detention of journalist and writer René Capain Bassène, who has been behind bars since January 2018 and convicted of complicity in murder. A CPJ investigation found Bassène could…

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Sonia Dahmani - A Tunisian appeals court reduced the prison sentence of Sonia Dahmani, a lawyer and political affairs commentator, from one year to eight months on September 10, 2024. She was convicted of spreading false news in July. (Screenshot: Elhiwar Ettounsi/YouTube)

CPJ, partners: Tunisian authorities must release Sonia Dahmani, end misuse of cybercrime Decree-Law 54

New York, July 18, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 36 other press freedom and human rights organizations in a statement condemning Tunisia’s ongoing crackdown on freedom of expression and calling for the immediate release of imprisoned commentator Sonia Dahmani, who is serving multiple prison sentences under a repressive cybercrime Decree-Law 54 for her media…

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Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro arrives at Brasilia International Airport, in Brasilia, Brazil March 6, 2025. REUTERS/Adriano Machado

CPJ, partners condemn the Bolsonaro administration’s surveilling of journalists in Brazil

The Coalition in Defense of Journalism (CDJor), which the Committee to Protect Journalists is a member, strongly condemns the 2019-2022 Bolsonaro administration’s use of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency to surveil journalists, media outlets, and civil society organizations. Details on the depth of administration’s surveillance of journalists came to light after Brazil’s Federal Supreme Court unsealed…

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CPJ calls on a Georgia solicitor-general to investigate charges against journalist Mario Guevara 

The Committee to Protect Journalists sent a letter on Friday, June 27, to Gwinnett County Solicitor-General Lisamarie N. Bristol in Georgia to express concerns about three misdemeanor charges levied against journalist Mario Guevara. In the letter, CPJ asked Bristol to open an investigation as to why these charges — distracted driving, failure to obey traffic control devices,…

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