Middle East & North Africa

2024

  
Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was arrested by Iran on December 19, 2024, but her arrest was only made public on December 27. (Screenshot: France 24/YouTube)

CPJ, RSF, IJF call for release of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala

Editor’s note: Cecilia Sala was freed on January 8, 2025. Press freedom organizations and the organizers of the International Journalism Festival (IJF) called on Iran on Tuesday to release Italian journalist Cecilia Sala with immediate effect. Sala was arrested in Iran on December 19 and is being held in the notorious Evin prison. Iran confirmed…

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Italian journalist Cecilia Sala was arrested by Iran on December 19, 2024, but her arrest was only made public on December 27. (Screenshot: France 24/YouTube)

Iran arrests, detains Italian journalist Cecilia Sala

Editor’s note: Cecilia Sala was freed on January 8, 2025. New York, December 28 2024—CPJ is deeply concerned by the arrest of Italian journalist Cecilia Sala in Iran. Italy’s foreign ministry said Sala was arrested on December 19 and was being held in Iran’s notorious Evin prison, although news of her arrest was only made public on…

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Civil defense members put out a fire in a broadcast van following an Israeli strike on December 26, 2024, that Gaza health authorities say killed five journalists with the Al-Quds Al-Youm television channel. (Photo: Reuters/Khamis Said)

Israeli strike kills 5 Al-Quds Al-Youm TV journalists in central Gaza

Beirut, December 26, 2024—Israeli forces killed five journalists and media workers with Al-Quds Al-Youm TV, a channel affiliated with the Islamic Jihad militant group, in a Thursday strike on their vehicle outside Al-Awda Hospital in central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp. The Associated Press reported that footage showed the van had visible press markings. “CPJ denounces Israel’s killing…

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Journalists Nazim Dashdan (left) and Jihan Belkin were killed near Aleppo on December 19, 2024, in a suspected Turkish drone attack on their vehicle. The manager of Belkin’s outlet, Hawar News Agency, said the car was marked with ‘Press’ insignia. (Photos: Hawar News Agency)

2 Kurdish journalists killed in suspected Turkish drone attack in northern Syria

Sulaymaniyah, December 20, 2024 —The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the killing of journalists Jihan Belkin and Nazim Dashdan in northern Syria in a suspected Turkish drone attack on their vehicle and calls for an investigation into whether they were targeted for their work. “Journalists are civilians and must be protected at all…

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Israeli forces kill at least 4 Gaza journalists in the past week

Beirut, December 16, 2024 – The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly denounces the killings of four Palestinian journalists in Gaza during the past week and calls for the international community to hold Israel accountable for its attacks against the media. “At least 95 journalists and media workers have been killed worldwide in 2024,” CPJ’s CEO…

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

Rapid Support Forces kill Sudanese journalist Hanan Adam and brother

New York, December 12, 2024—On Monday, December 8, soldiers with the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) killed journalist Hanan Adam, a correspondent for local Sudanese Communist Party-affiliated newspaper al-Midan, and her brother, Youssef Adam, at their home in the village of Wad Al-Asha in the east-central al-Gezira state, according to statements by the Sudanese…

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People celebrate with the Syrian opposition flag in Damascus on December 10, 2024, after Bashar al-Assad's oppressive regime was toppled and the former president fled to Russia. (Photo: AFP/Omar Haj Kadour)

CPJ calls on new Syrian leaders to protect journalist safety, hold Assad’s media persecutors to account 

As Syria transitions to a new government following the December 8 toppling of Bashar al-Assad, the Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities to take decisive action to ensure the safety of all journalists and hold accountable those responsible for the killing, imprisonment, and silencing of members of the media during the country’s 13-year civil…

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Sayed Saber

Egypt jails journalist Sayed Saber after recent social media posts

Washington, D.C., December 9, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Egyptian authorities to immediately release journalist Sayed Saber, who was arrested on November 26 and ordered by the Supreme State Security Prosecution the following day to serve 15 days in detention pending investigation.   “The arrest of journalist Sayed Saber is the latest example…

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Mourners gather at the funeral of Syrian photojournalist Anas Alkharboutli in Syria's northern city of Idlib on December 4, 2024. Alkharboutli was killed in an air strike near the Syrian city of Hama on December 3, his employer said. (Photo: AFP/Omar Haj Kadour)

Award-winning Syrian photojournalist Anas Alkharboutli killed in Hama

Sulaymaniyah, December 4, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists is saddened and alarmed by the killing of award-winning Syrian journalist Anas Alkharboutli in a western Syria conflict zone and calls for an investigation into whether he was targeted for his work. Alkharboutli, 32, who worked as a photographer for the German agency dpa, was killed in…

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A damaged car marked with 'Press' at the site of an Israeli strike that killed a few journalists and wounded several others as they slept in guesthouses used by media in Hasbaya in southern Lebanon on October 25, 2024

CPJ calls for international probe after evidence indicates Israel targeted journalists in deadly Lebanon strike 

New York, November 26, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for an immediate international investigation into a deadly Israeli strike in Lebanon that legal experts believe could be a war crime as it likely deliberately targeted civilians, killing three members of the media. “Journalists are civilians and must never be targeted,” said CPJ CEO Jodie…

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2024