Middle East & North Africa

  
A view of Iran's capital, Tehran, with the snow-covered Alborz mountain range in the background on February 5, 2024.

Iranian journalist Nasrin Hassani begins 7-month prison sentence

Washington, D.C., February 6, 2024—Iranian authorities must release journalist Nasrin Hassani from prison immediately and cease jailing members of the press for doing their jobs by reporting on events of public interest, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.  On Sunday, Hassani, a reporter for the state-run local newspaper Etefaghyeh, and editor-in-chief of the social…

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A destroyed military vehicle in Khartoum, Sudan, on April 20, 2023.

CPJ alarmed by extended communications blackout in Sudan

New York, February 5, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports of an ongoing communications blackout across most of Sudan since Friday and urgently calls for an immediate restoration of telecoms and internet networks across the country, where a nearly 10-month conflict has displaced millions. Since February 2, mobile and internet services provided…

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CPJ calls for an investigation into the targeting of journalists with Pegasus spyware in Jordan

Beirut, February 1, 2024 – The Committee to Protect Journalists is highly alarmed by the targeting of journalists with Pegasus spyware in Jordan and repeats its calls for an immediate moratorium on the sale, transfer, and use of such surveillance technologies, as well as a ban on spyware and its vendors that facilitate human rights…

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Iranian journalist starts serving 6-month sentence; others face raids, legal threats

Washington, D.C., January 31, 2024—Iranian authorities must immediately release Iranian Kurdish journalist Arsalan Rasouli Amarlooi and end its campaign of harassment and legal threats against journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On January 24, security forces arrested Rasouli and took him to a prison work camp in the northern city of Kelardasht to…

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Canadian-Palestinian journalist disappears in Gaza; reports allege eyewitnesses saw IDF arrest

Update: On Tuesday, February 6, Mansour Shouman posted a new video from southern Gaza, saying he had been on the run for two weeks to avoid Israeli tanks and sniper fire.  Washington, D.C., January 30, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists expresses deep concerns over the reports that Canadian-Palestinian citizen journalist Mansour Shouman went missing on his way…

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CPJ, partners, call on EU to help journalists in Israel-Gaza war

The Committee to Protect Journalists on Wednesday joined 17 other partner organizations in sending a letter to Josep Borrell, the High Representative for the European Union on Foreign and Security Policy, urging him to call for press freedom and journalists’ rights to be respected during the Israel-Gaza war. The unprecedented killing of so many journalists…

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A man walks by a house hit by fighting in Khartoum, Sudan, on April 25, 2023.

CPJ calls for immediate release of Sudanese journalist Haitham Dafallah and his brother

New York, January 22, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists is shocked by reports that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a Sudanese paramilitary group, arrested journalist Haitham Dafallah and his brother Omar Dafallah, and calls for their immediate release. On Friday, RSF soldiers arrested Dafallah, editor-in-chief of local independent news website al-Maidan, and his brother from their…

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CPJ calls for immediate release of Sudanese journalist Ogail Ahmed Naime

New York, January 19, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a Sudanese paramilitary group, arrested journalist Ogail Ahmed Naime and calls for his immediate release. On Thursday, January 18, RSF soldiers arrested Naime, a freelance journalist, from his home in Khartoum, according to news reports. As…

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Palestinian journalists are being imprisoned by Israel in record numbers

In October, when the Israel-Gaza war began, Alaa al-Rimawi snapped into action, covering developments on J-Media, the West Bank-based news agency he directs, as well as on TikTok and Facebook. But his conflict coverage would be short-lived. Less than two weeks after the start of the war, Israel banned J-Media on security grounds and quickly…

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A man reads a newspaper with a picture of Mahsa Amini, who died after being arrested by morality police, in Tehran, Iran, on September 18, 2022.

CPJ calls for release of all jailed Iranian journalists after bail granted to Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi

Washington, D.C., January 17, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Iran’s decision to grant bail to journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi while they await the outcome of appeals against their lengthy jail sentences, but calls on Iranian authorities to drop all charges and release all journalists still being held in connection with their work….

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