Middle East & North Africa

  

CPJ and partners call on President Biden to protect journalists in the Israel-Gaza war

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) joined five other press freedom and human rights organizations on Wednesday in calling on U.S. President Joe Biden to act immediately and decisively to promote the conditions for safe and unrestricted reporting amid hostilities between Israeli forces and Palestinian and Lebanese armed groups. The Israel-Gaza war has taken a severe toll on journalists…

Read More ›

Al-Jazeera journalist Wael Al Dahdouh holds the hand of his son Hamza, who also worked for Al-Jazeera and who was killed in an Israeli strike in southern Gaza on January 7, 2024.

CPJ calls for probe into whether Hamza Al Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya were targeted in strike

New York, January 7, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists has called for an independent investigation into an Israeli drone strike that killed Al-Jazeera journalist Hamza Al Dahdouh, who is the son of Al-Jazeera Gaza bureau chief Wael Al Dahdouh, and freelance journalist Mustafa Thuraya on Sunday as they drove their car to an assignment in…

Read More ›

Iranian journalist Hasan Abbasi rearrested and held incommunicado

Washington, D.C., January 4, 2024—Iranian authorities should immediately release journalist Hasan Abbasi, whose whereabouts are unknown since his arrest, and drop any charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On Tuesday, security forces arrested Abbasi, a freelance investigative reporter, in a public location in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas in…

Read More ›

Al-Jazeera journalist Samir Sassi arrested on undisclosed charges in Tunisia

New York, January 4, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that Tunisian authorities arrested journalist Samir Sassi and calls for his immediate and unconditional release. On Wednesday, January 3, police raided and searched the home of Sassi, a reporter at Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera, in the capital Tunis and arrested him, according to…

Read More ›

Tunisian journalist Zied el-Heni was recently arrested for allegedly insulting the president. (Screenshot: YouTube/IFM)

Tunisian journalist Zied el-Heni arrested after criticizing commerce minister

New York, January 2, 2024—Tunisian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Zied el-Heni and drop all charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On December 28, police arrested el-Heni, a prominent columnist and political commentator for the daily “Émission Impossible” show on the independent radio station IFM, after he responded to…

Read More ›

Relatives of Al-Jazeera cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa, who was killed on December 15, 2023, by an Israeli airstrike, mourn his death during his funeral in the town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on December 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Mohammed Dahman)

Israel-Gaza war takes record toll on journalists

Update: As of December 31, 2023, at least 77 journalists and media workers were killed; 70 of them Palestinian. More journalists have been killed in the first 10 weeks of the Israel-Gaza war than have ever been killed in a single country over an entire year, according to CPJ data. By December 20, 2023, at…

Read More ›

A call to action for protection of journalists in Israel-Gaza war

New York, December 21, 2023 – Since October 7, at least 68 journalists have lost their lives in the Israel-Gaza war. In more than three decades of documenting journalist fatalities, the Committee to Protect Journalists has never seen violence of such intensity. This devastating toll and related anti-press aggression and restrictions severely impact the ability…

Read More ›

Al-Jazeera cameraperson Samer Abu Daqqa killed, correspondent Wael Al Dahdouh injured in drone attack in Khan Yunis

Beirut, December 15, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply saddened by a drone strike that killed Al-Jazeera Arabic cameraperson Samer Abu Daqqa and injured reporter and Gaza bureau chief Wael Al Dahdouh, and calls on international authorities to conduct an independent investigation into the attack to hold the perpetrators to account. On December 15,…

Read More ›

Israeli police officers beat, injured Anadolu photographer Mustafa Alkharouf in Jerusalem

Washington, D.C., December 15, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply shocked by reports and footage of Israeli security forces severely beating Anadolu Agency photojournalist Mustafa Alkharouf and calls for transparency and timeliness by Israeli authorities as they investigate and hold those involved in attacking the journalist to account. Alkharouf, a photojournalist with Turkish state-owned…

Read More ›

Algerian prosecutor requests one-year sentence for journalist Mustapha Bendjama

New York, December 13, 2023 – Algerian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Mustapha Bendjama and drop all charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Wednesday. During an appeal hearing held in the northeastern city of Annaba on Tuesday, December 12, the state prosecutor requested an additional one-year prison sentence for…

Read More ›