2022

CPJ has joined more than 60 civil society organizations in a letter calling Egyptian authorities to immediately release British-Egyptian blogger and activist Alaa Abdelfattah after he announced that he will escalate his hunger strike in prison.  Abdelfattah, imprisoned since 2019, began a hunger strike in April of no more than 100 calories per day, which resulted in the severe…

New York, November 1, 2022 – The Committee to Protect Journalists on Tuesday renewed its call for Iran to release all journalists behind bars in the country, at least 37 of whom were detained over the past six weeks of anti-government protests, and urged the U.N. Security Council to hold Iran accountable by implementing investigation…

By Jennifer Dunham/CPJ Deputy Editorial Director No one has been held to account in nearly 80% of journalist murders during the last 10 years, CPJ’s 2022 Global Impunity Index found, and governments show little interest in tackling the issue. Published November 1, 2022 Statistical table | Methodology | Database: All journalists murdered for their work…

New York, October 20, 2022 — In response to news reports that the University of Chicago received an anonymous bomb threat on Tuesday for hosting an event featuring Iranian American journalist Negar Mortazavi, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement:    “The bomb threat against journalist Negar Mortazavi was a crude attempt at censorship….

The human rights records of Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco are under review by the United Nations Human Rights Council through the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). This U.N. mechanism is a peer-review process that surveys the human rights performance of member states, monitoring progress from previous review cycles, and presents a list of recommendations on how a…

On October 11, 2022 Algerian authorities arrested journalist Nadir Kerri, editor-in-chief of local independent news website Autojazair, specializing in automotive news in Algiers, after he responded to a summons for questioning, according to news reports, and a local journalist and press freedom advocate familiar with the case, Zaki Hannache, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app.  On October 12,…

How zero-click surveillance threatens reporters, sources, and global press freedom By Fred Guterl Published October 13, 2022 Aida Alami has always been wary of surveillance. As a journalist from Morocco, a state with a track record of intercepting phone calls and messages of political rivals, activists, and journalists, she habitually took precautions to protect her…

By CPJ MENA Staff Last July, when the Pegasus Project investigation revealed that imprisoned Moroccan journalist Soulaiman Raissouni was selected for surveillance by Israeli-made Pegasus spyware, the journalist could only laugh.  “I was so sure,” his wife Kholoud Mokhtari said Raissouni told her from prison.  Raissouni is one of seven local journalists named by the…

In late June, the general counsel of NSO Group, the Israeli company responsible for the deeply intrusive spyware tool, Pegasus, appeared before a committee established by members of the European Parliament (MEPs). Called the PEGA Committee colloquially, the Parliament established it to investigate allegations that EU member states and others have used “Pegasus and equivalent…

Beirut, October 12, 2022 – Iraqi Kurdistan authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalists Sartip Qashqayi and Ibrahim Ali and refrain from detaining and arresting journalists because of their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On Sunday, October 9, officers from the Kurdistan Special Counter-Terrorism group arrested Qashqayi, the editor-in-chief of the privately…