Middle East & North Africa

2025

  
Sudanese journalist Yahya Hamad Fadlallah speaks on local channel Blue NIle TV.

Sudanese journalist Yahya Hamad Fadlallah dies after army arrest

Washington, D.C., January 22, 2025—Prominent Sudanese journalist Yahya Hamad Fadlallah has died in a hospital, one month after Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) arrested him and his son at their home in the capital Khartoum on December 11, according to news reports. Fadlallah was tortured by the army, falsely accused of collaborating with the paramilitary Rapid…

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Egypt arrests journalist, wife of jailed cartoonist after interview

Update: Since publication of this alert, the SSSP ordered on January 16 that Serag be detained for 15 days pending investigation on charges of joining a terrorist organization, spreading false news, using a website to promote terrorist ideas, and committing a financing-related crime, according to independent media outlets Mada Masr and Al-Manassa. Washington, D.C., January…

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Tunisia uses new cybercrime law to jail record number of journalists

Tunisia has reached a troubling milestone, with at least five journalists behind bars in CPJ’s December 1, 2024, prison census, the highest number since the organization began keeping track in 1992. Once hailed as a beacon of freedom in the Arab world after the 2011 revolution that sparked the Arab Spring, Tunisia is now erasing…

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Yemeni journalist appears in Houthi court after 3-month disappearance

Washington, D.C., January 15, 2025—Yemen’s Houthi forces must release journalist Mohamed Al-Miyahi and the group’s non-state judicial system must drop its case against him, said the Committee to Protect Journalists Wednesday. After more than three months of arbitrary detention, including one month of enforced disappearance, Al-Miyahi appeared before the Houthi’s Specialized Criminal Prosecution in Sana’a…

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CPJ welcomes reports of Gaza ceasefire, calls for media access and war crimes investigations

Beirut, January 15, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Wednesday’s reports of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and calls on authorities to grant unconditional access to journalists and independent human rights experts to investigate crimes committed against the media during the 15-month long war.  “Journalists have been paying the highest price…

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Journalist Mohammad-Hossein (Mehrdad) Aladin was immediately arrested Janurary 7 after appearing at the preliminary court known as Shahi Moghadas, which is based inside Evin prison. (Photo: Reuters via West Asia News Agency/ Majid Asgaripour)

Iranian journalist and documentary filmmaker detained in Evin prison

Washington D.C., January 8, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that Islamic Republic of Iran authorities arrested Iranian journalist Mohammad-Hossein (Mehrdad) Aladin in the capital, Tehran, and have since detained him in Evin prison, according to news reports.  “Iranian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Mehrdad Aladin and cease the practice of arbitrarily jailing members…

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VPNs, training, and mental health workshops: How CPJ helped journalist safety in 2024

Haitian journalist Jean Marc Jean was covering an anti-government protest in Port-au-Prince in February 2024 when he was struck in the face by a gas canister fired by police into the crowd. One of at least five journalists injured while covering civil unrest in the country that month, Jean arrived at the hospital with a…

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Credit: Youtube/Elbilad

Algerian authorities arrest journalist Abdelwakil Blamm, target other journalists 

New York, January 6, 2025—Algerian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release freelance journalist and political activist Abdelwakil Blamm, who was arrested December 29, 2024, outside his home in the Chéraga suburb of Algiers, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. “Abdelwakil Blamm’s detention is a troubling escalation of the ongoing crackdown on press freedom in Algeria,” said…

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Smoke rises from the area around the International Airport following an Israeli airstrike, as seen from Sanaa, Yemen, on December 26, 2024. Separately, the Yemeni branch of Al-Qaeda announced on December 28 the execution of 11 individuals, including Yemeni journalist Mohamed Al-Maqri. (Photo: AP/Osamah Abdulrahman)

Al-Qaeda executes Yemeni journalist after 9 years of enforced disappearance

Washington, D.C., January 2, 2025—The Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) announced on Saturday, December 28, 2024, the execution of 11 individuals, including Yemeni journalist Mohamed Al-Maqri, whom they accused of spying and abducted in 2015. “The killing of Mohamed Al-Maqri highlights the extreme dangers Yemeni journalists face while reporting from one of the world’s…

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A military vehicle moves in a street outside the building where the Al Jazeera office is located, in Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, September 22, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Torokman - RC2F5AA82Z43

CPJ urges Palestinian Authority to lift ban on Al Jazeera’s operations in West Bank

The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a decision by the Palestinian Authority to suspend Al Jazeera’s operations in the West Bank. “Governments resort to censoring news outlets when they have something to hide,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg. “The Palestinian Authority should reverse its decision to suspend Al Jazeera’s operations and allow journalists to report freely without fear…

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2025