Middle East & North Africa

  
A tribute to victims of an April 2018 suicide attack in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul, that killed at least nine journalists. (AP/Rahmat Gul)

Getting Away with Murder

CPJ’s 2018 Global Impunity Index spotlights countries where journalists are slain and their killers go free By Elisabeth Witchel, CPJ Impunity Campaign Consultant Impunity is entrenched in 14 nations, according to CPJ’s 2018 Global Impunity Index, which ranks states with the worst records of prosecuting the killers of journalists.

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Senate Foreign Relations Committee must keep up pressure over Khashoggi

CPJ writes to the leaders of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, requesting that they ensure the Trump administration conducts a quick and thorough investigation into Jamal Khashoggi’s killing, as required by the Magnitsky Act, and that they consider holding independent hearings on Saudi Arabia.

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The path(s) to justice in Jamal Khashoggi’s murder

In an emotional address to Turkey’s parliament today, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan described the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi as a savage and premeditated act and demanded that Saudi officials be brought to Turkey to stand trial. Most of the information about the investigation that has emerged has come through leaks to the Turkish…

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In an October 9 file photo, protesters outside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul hold portraits of critical Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Saudi Arabia today said the journalist was killed during a fight in the consulate. (AFP/Ozan Kose)

Saudi attorney general says Khashoggi was killed during fight in consulate

New York, October 19, 2018–Saudi state media today reported that the country’s attorney general has confirmed prominent journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi died in the country’s Turkey consulate, The Associated Press reported. A statement by the attorney general said that Khashoggi was killed after a fight inside the consulate on October 2, and…

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Shoppers walk on a market street in the northeastern Syrian town of Qamishli on May 2, 2018. A prominent Syrian writer was arrested and held for five days in the town in late September and early October 2018. (AFP/Delil Souleiman)

Prominent Syrian writer Yousph arrested in northeastern Syria, held for five days

Syrian writer Souleman Yousph, a contributor to several media outlets, including the Assyrian news website Ankawa, the independent Arabic news website Elaph, and the political and cultural online secular magazine Ahewar, was arrested and detained without charge on September 30, 2018, and held for five days. An eyewitness to the arrest who asked to remain…

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A demonstrator holds a picture of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi during a protest in front of Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 5, 2018. Khashoggi has not been seen since entering the consulate on October 2. (Reuters/Osman Orsal)

CPJ calls on Saudi Arabia to account for Jamal Khashoggi’s whereabouts

New York, October 6, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Saudi Arabia to immediately account for the whereabouts of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who has not been seen since entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. Multiple news outlets reported today that Turkish authorities, who have been investigating his disappearance…

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Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a press conference in the Bahraini capital Manama on December 15, 2014. Khashoggi was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on October 2, 2018. (AFP Photo/Mohammed al-Shaikh)

CPJ expresses concern for Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi

Beirut, October 3, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist who has been living in self-imposed exile in the U.S. since 2017, and urges Saudi authorities to immediately disclose his whereabouts. Khashoggi, a columnist for The Washington Post and a former editor-in-chief of the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan who…

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Mexican journalist Carmen Aristegui holds her mobile phone during a press conference in Mexico City in 2017 about governments using spyware to target journalist. (AFP/Alfredo Estrella)

CPJ Safety Advisory: Pegasus spyware used to target journalists, civil society

[EDITOR’S NOTE: See CPJ’s updated safety advisory here https://cpj.org/2019/11/cpj-safety-advisory-journalist-targets-of-pegasus-.php.] In a report published on September 18, Citizen Lab said it had detected Pegasus, a spyware created for mobile devices, in over 45 countries. Pegasus, which transforms a cellphone into a mobile surveillance station, could have been deployed against a range of journalists and civil society…

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Live Stream – Press Behind Bars: Undermining Justice and Democracy

Event scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. EDT on Friday, September 28, 2018. Committee to Protect Journalists Executive Director Joel Simon, Reuters President and CPJ board member Stephen J. Adler, and human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, who represents the imprisoned Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, speak on a panel at the 73rd…

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A portrait of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during National Day celebrations in September 2018. The climate for press freedom has become more repressive under his rule. (AFP/Fayez Nureldine)

‘New’ Saudi Arabia ushers in even more repressive climate for journalists

Marwan al-Mureisi knew the rules: even in Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s “new” Saudi Arabia, issues touching on politics, religion, or the royal family were out of bounds. So in his reporting for the privately owned website Sabq and other outlets, al-Mureisi wrote about science, technology, and the need to embrace creativity and innovation–all hallmarks…

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