Iran / Middle East & North Africa

On January 14, the Committee to Protect Journalists, along with more than 30 press freedom and human rights organizations, called for urgent protections for journalists, human rights defenders, and others jailed for their writing, expression of opinion, or peaceful assembly amid nationwide protests and internet shutdown. The signatory organizations called on Iranian authorities to immediately…

Paris, January 19, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Iranian authorities to immediately release freelance documentary photographer Navid Zarrehbin Irani, and to halt the systematic harassment and intimidation of journalists in Iran. Irani was arrested on January 16, 2026, at his home in Mashhad, the capital of Khorasan Razavi province in northeastern Iran, according…

Iranian authorities have imposed a near-total internet shutdown as nationwide protests intensify, severely restricting journalists’ ability to report and cutting off communication with the outside world. The blackout began on January 8, more than a week after protests erupted in late December over mounting economic pressure, currency devaluation, and rising living costs. Journalists and rights…

Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, December 9, 2025 — The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Iranian authorities to immediately release Iraqi Kurdish reporter Omer Ahmed and his crew, who were arrested on December 3 in the city of Sardasht in West Azerbaijan province while covering a cultural festival. “The arrest of Omer Ahmed and his crew shows…

Paris, November 7, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Iranian authorities to immediately release editor and economist Parviz Sedaghat and halt their escalating campaign against journalists, academics, and writers commenting on social and economic injustices. Sedaghat, editor-in-chief of Naghde Eqtesad Siyasi (Political Economy Critique), an independent platform that publishes critical essays on the economy…

Iranian-American journalist Reza Valizadeh has spent more than a year imprisoned in Iran, enduring severe psychological torment and relentless interrogations for the simple fact that he is a journalist. Initially detained in Tehran’s Evin Prison, his already dire situation deteriorated significantly after a devastating Israeli attack on the facility. Valizadeh was transferred to the dangerously overcrowded and medically inadequate Fashafouyeh Prison, where extreme neglect and inhumane…

Paris, August 28, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the mayor of Tehran, Alireza Zakani, to respect the Tehran Journalists’ Association’s right to function without undue interference after the mayor’s office of the Iranian capital city ousted the organization, in what the group described as retaliatory action. “We strongly oppose the forced closure of…

Paris, July 31, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Iranian authorities to explain the grounds on which they have summoned and arrested 98 “so-called citizen-journalists” for having contact with a London-based Persian-language television channel. “Iranian authorities must immediately clarify the legal basis for this mass detention of its citizens and cease treating those who…

Paris, July 9, 2025—Hackers linked with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) infiltrated the Telegram accounts of current and former staff of the outlet Iran International in a targeted campaign to intimidate and silence journalists, the London-based broadcaster reported Tuesday. The breaches were linked to two coordinated attacks – one in the summer of 2024…

The dead have been buried and most journalists detained during Iran’s 12-day war with Israel have been freed, but the media are still reeling, as authorities crack down on critical voices and disrupt internet access. The state news agency has announced a “season of traitor-killing,” with hundreds of people arrested and at least six executed…