2025

Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, March 3, 2025—Kurdistan security forces arrested four journalists from the new digital outlet Media21 on February 28 in the eastern Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah, confiscating their phones and taking them from their homes. The journalists were identified as Bashdar Bazyani, Dana Salih, Sardasht HamaSalih, and Nabaz Shekhani. Security forces closed the outlet’s office…

The U.K. government must lead on a joint statement addressing Egypt’s human rights crisis, according to a February 19 letter sent by the Committee to Protect Journalists and 24 other press freedom and human rights organizations to U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy ahead of the 58th session of the U.N. Human Rights Council. The letter…

Washington, D.C., February 21, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the blocking of Egyptian independent media outlet Zawia3, based in Brussels, and calls on Egyptian authorities to end the country’s systematic censorship of independent journalism. “The blocking of Zawia3 is yet another example of Egyptian authorities arbitrarily censoring media without legal justification, using technology to suppress journalism and restrict Egyptians’…

Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, February 13, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by Kurdistan security forces’ assault on 12 news crews covering a February 9 protest by teachers and other public employees over unpaid salaries, which resulted in at least 22 journalists teargassed, two arrested, and a television station raided. “The aggressive treatment meted out to…

The Committee to Protect Journalists, along with 11 other press freedom and human rights organizations, calls on Egyptian authorities to reject the current draft of the Criminal Procedure Code so a new code be developed in line with international human rights standards. The joint statement highlights several problematic provisions in the draft—especially Articles 79, 80, and 116—that…

The Committee to Protect Journalists sent a letter to Tunisian President Kais Saied on February 12 asking him to secure the release of journalist Mohamed Boughaleb, whose health is gravely worsening, and to repeal the cybercrime law Decree 54. Boughaleb, a reporter with local independent channel Carthage Plus and local independent radio station Cap FM,…

New York, February 7, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for the immediate release of journalist Chadha Hadj Mbarek after a Tunisian court sentenced her to five years in prison on Wednesday. Another journalist, freelancer Chahrazad Akacha, was sentenced to 27 years in absentia. “The sentencing of journalists Chadha Hadj Mbarek and Chahrazad Akacha is a clear example of how the Tunisian…

Washington, D.C., February 3, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a January 21 ruling by the Ataq Primary Court in Shabwa province, southern Yemen, sentencing journalist Aziz Al-Ahmadi to four months in prison with a suspended sentence over a social media post questioning a solar energy project in the province. “The sentence against Al-Ahmadi is yet another…

Sulaymaniyah, January 31, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Iraqi Kurdish authorities to release journalist Omed Baroshky after the Duhok criminal court on Thursday sentenced him to six months in prison on charges of defamation. Baroshky’s lawyer, Reving Yaseen, told CPJ via messaging app that the charges stem from a January 23, 2024 Facebook post…

Brussels, January 24, 2025–European Union officials and foreign ministers must seize the opportunity provided by the Gaza ceasefire at January 27’s Foreign Affairs Council meeting to ensure that a free press can prevail, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. CPJ urges the EU to call for independent investigations into the deliberate targeting of journalists…