Tunisian journalist Chadha Hadj Mbarek sentenced to 5 years in prison
New York, February 7, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for the immediate release of journalist Chadha Hadj Mbarek after a Tunisian court sentenced her to five years in prison on Wednesday. Another journalist, freelancer Chahrazad Akacha, was sentenced to 27 years in absentia. “The sentencing of journalists Chadha Hadj Mbarek and Chahrazad Akacha is a clear example of how the Tunisian…
Yemeni journalist handed 4-month prison sentence over social media post
Washington, D.C., February 3, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a January 21 ruling by the Ataq Primary Court in Shabwa province, southern Yemen, sentencing journalist Aziz Al-Ahmadi to four months in prison with a suspended sentence over a social media post questioning a solar energy project in the province. “The sentence against Al-Ahmadi is yet another…
Iraqi Kurdish journalist Omed Baroshky sentenced to 6 months in prison
Sulaymaniyah, January 31, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Iraqi Kurdish authorities to release journalist Omed Baroshky after the Duhok criminal court on Thursday sentenced him to six months in prison on charges of defamation. Baroshky’s lawyer, Reving Yaseen, told CPJ via messaging app that the charges stem from a January 23, 2024 Facebook post…
CPJ calls on EU to ensure media access and justice after Gaza ceasefire
Brussels, January 24, 2025–European Union officials and foreign ministers must seize the opportunity provided by the Gaza ceasefire at January 27’s Foreign Affairs Council meeting to ensure that a free press can prevail, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. CPJ urges the EU to call for independent investigations into the deliberate targeting of journalists…
Sudanese journalist Yahya Hamad Fadlallah dies after army arrest
Washington, D.C., January 22, 2025—Prominent Sudanese journalist Yahya Hamad Fadlallah has died in a hospital, one month after Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) arrested him and his son at their home in the capital Khartoum on December 11, according to news reports. Fadlallah was tortured by the army, falsely accused of collaborating with the paramilitary Rapid…
Egypt arrests journalist, wife of jailed cartoonist after interview
Update: Since publication of this alert, the SSSP ordered on January 16 that Serag be detained for 15 days pending investigation on charges of joining a terrorist organization, spreading false news, using a website to promote terrorist ideas, and committing a financing-related crime, according to independent media outlets Mada Masr and Al-Manassa. Washington, D.C., January…
Tunisia uses new cybercrime law to jail record number of journalists
Tunisia has reached a troubling milestone, with at least five journalists behind bars in CPJ’s December 1, 2024, prison census, the highest number since the organization began keeping track in 1992. Once hailed as a beacon of freedom in the Arab world after the 2011 revolution that sparked the Arab Spring, Tunisia is now erasing…
Yemeni journalist appears in Houthi court after 3-month disappearance
Washington, D.C., January 15, 2025—Yemen’s Houthi forces must release journalist Mohamed Al-Miyahi and the group’s non-state judicial system must drop its case against him, said the Committee to Protect Journalists Wednesday. After more than three months of arbitrary detention, including one month of enforced disappearance, Al-Miyahi appeared before the Houthi’s Specialized Criminal Prosecution in Sana’a…
CPJ welcomes reports of Gaza ceasefire, calls for media access and war crimes investigations
Beirut, January 15, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Wednesday’s reports of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and calls on authorities to grant unconditional access to journalists and independent human rights experts to investigate crimes committed against the media during the 15-month long war. “Journalists have been paying the highest price…
Iranian journalist and documentary filmmaker detained in Evin prison
Washington D.C., January 8, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that Islamic Republic of Iran authorities arrested Iranian journalist Mohammad-Hossein (Mehrdad) Aladin in the capital, Tehran, and have since detained him in Evin prison, according to news reports. “Iranian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Mehrdad Aladin and cease the practice of arbitrarily jailing members…