Middle East & North Africa

Paris, June 17, 2025—One journalist and one media worker with Iran’s state-owned broadcaster have died from their injuries following Monday’s Israeli strike on the headquarters of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) in the capital Tehran, according to news reports. Nima Rajabpour, a 50-year-old news editor died after undergoing surgery for shrapnel in his back and thigh,…

Beirut, June 16, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is distressed by news reports that Austin Tice was executed in 2013 on the orders of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, after more than 12 years of uncertainty over the American journalist’s fate. “Reports that journalist Austin Tice was executed in 2013 are horrifying and demand immediate…

Washington, D.C., June 14, 2025 — Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior announced the Saturday execution of prominent Saudi journalist Turki al-Jasser, who had been detained for seven years on charges of treason, foreign collaboration, funding terrorism, and endangering national security and unity.  Saudi authorities arrested al-Jasser in 2018 and seized his devices, believing that he…

Paris, June 9, 2025—Iranian-American journalist Reza Valizadeh, who is serving a 10-year sentence in Tehran’s Evin Prison, launched a hunger strike on June 7 to protest the seizure of his essential documents, including his birth certificate, which he needs to manage his legal affairs and protect his assets abroad. Valizadeh, a former Radio Farda reporter, returned to…

Update: Omar Faiad was deported to France on June 10, 2025. Details of his deportation and the imprisonment of both journalists are included in the 10th to 13th paragraphs. New York, June 9, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Israeli authorities to immediately and unconditionally release two French journalists held among the crew of…

New York, June 5, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists denounces Israel’s strike on a hospital courtyard in central Gaza on Thursday, which killed three journalists and critically injured three others, and calls for international action to stop Israel targeting journalists based on unsubstantiated terrorism claims. “These are not isolated incidents, but systematic attacks by Israel…

Paris, June 5, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by a new wave of harassment by Iranian authorities targeting the Iranian families of BBC journalists as part of a broader campaign of repression beyond the Islamic Republic’s borders.  BBC Persian journalists in London told The Guardian and CPJ that their families back in Iran have faced…

Washington, D.C., June 5, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists on Thursday condemned the issuance of arrest warrants for three Yemeni journalists and the nine-hour detention of two others, who were forced to delete a Facebook post about an assault.  The security directorate in eastern Hadramout Governorate issued the three arrest warrants against Sabri bin Mukhshen, Abduljabar Bajabeer, and Muzahim Bajaber based…

New York, June 12, 2025—More than 200 global leaders of news and press freedom organizations called on world leaders, governments, and international institutions on Thursday to act immediately to ensure  journalists from outside Gaza are given immediate, independent access to the territory, in a letter coordinated by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters…

Washington, D.C., June 2, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Houthi rebels’ abduction of at least four Yemeni journalists and media workers  in the western port city of Hodeidah, and the sentencing of journalist Mohamed Al-Miyahi to 1½ years in jail for criticizing the group’s leader. Local press freedom groups said those abducted between May…