2019

New York, December 23, 2019 — The Saudi public prosecutor’s office announced today that a court had sentenced five people to death and three to jail terms for their roles in the October 2018 killing of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, which took place in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, according to…

Washington, D.C., December 19, 2019 — A court in Oran, in northwest Algeria, sentenced cartoonist Benabdelhamid Amine to one year in prison on December 11 after finding him guilty of insulting the president, “violating territorial integrity,” and “disseminating publications harmful to national security,” according to news reports. The Djamal City Criminal Court suspended nine months…

Turkish intelligence agents arrested Arash Shoa-Shargh, an Iranian journalist living in exile in Turkey, on January 5, 2018, in Van, a city near Iran’s border, a friend of the journalist, who asked not to be named to protect their safety, told CPJ on December 16, 2019.

Washington, D.C., December 17, 2019 — Libyan authorities should immediately account for the whereabouts of journalist and press freedom advocate Rida Fahil al-Bom and do their utmost to secure his release, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

As wars subsided and a record low number of journalists were murdered in reprisal for reporting, the total number of journalists killed because of their work fell sharply in 2019. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

Beirut, December 11, 2019 — Israeli authorities should disclose any charges against Palestinian journalist Sameh al-Titi or release him immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

For the fourth consecutive year, at least 250 journalists are imprisoned globally as authoritarians like Xi Jinping, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Mohammed bin Salman, and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi show no signs of letting up on the critical media. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

In October 2018, authorities arrested Pouyan Khoshhal as he drove through the northern Iranian city of Rasht, by the Caspian Sea. The reason for the journalist’s arrest: his use of the word “death” instead of “martyrdom” to describe a Shiite saint in an article for the reformist newspaper Ebtekar.

Beirut, December 10, 2019 — Malaysian authorities should disclose their reasons for holding Syrian Kurdish journalist Himbervan Kousa or release him immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Beirut, December 9, 2019 — Iraqi authorities should conduct a thorough and transparent investigation into the abduction of journalist Zaid Mohammed al-Khafaji, secure his release, and hold the perpetrators to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.