Middle East & North Africa

  
Sonia Dahmani is seen in a television interview prior to her arrest in May 2024

Tunisia frees prominent commentator Sonia Dahmani 

New York, November 27, 2025 — The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the Thursday release of Tunisian commentator and lawyer Sonia Dahmani, who had been held since May 2024 over comments made during a television appearance, and calls on authorities to clarify the conditions of her release and ensure she can work and move freely….

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Journalists inside the Press House headquarters in Gaza City during the last war.

Amid the loss of war, this media center stands by Gaza’s free press

For years, Bilal Jadallah was the quiet force defending independent journalism in the Gaza Strip — a mentor, protector, and the architect of rare safe spaces for Palestinian journalists working under constant threat. When he was killed in an Israeli strike on November 19, 2023, early on in the latest Israel-Gaza war, the loss reverberated…

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Soldiers lock a gate from the inside at Sde Teiman detention facility, after Israeli military police arrived at the site as part of an investigation into the suspected abuse of a Palestinian detainee.

Israeli journalist faces threats after reporting alleged sexual abuse of prisoner

Washington, DC, November 17, 2025 – The Committee to Protect Journalists deplores the escalating threats and harassment against Channel 12 Israeli journalist Guy Peleg in apparent retaliation for his reporting on the alleged abuse of a prisoner at an Israeli detention facility. Following his August 2024 exposé, which aired a leaked video allegedly showing Israeli…

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Reuters journalist Raneen Sawafta receives medical care following an Israeli settler9 attack near Nablus on November 8, 2025.

Surging Israeli settler violence hurts West Bank journalists

With settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank spiking, journalists are also facing more frequent and severe attacks.  So far in 2025, the Committee to Protect Journalists has documented 11 attack incidents involving at least 23 Palestinian and international journalists by Israeli settlers — some alongside soldiers — compared with one attack on…

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Sonia Dahmani is seen in court on November 11, 2025.

CPJ calls on Tunisian authorities to end harassment of jailed commentator Sonia Dahmani

New York, November 12, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Tunisian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release political commentator Sonia Dahmani, ensure she receives urgent medical care, and end her judicial harassment.  On November 11, the Tunis Court of First Instance postponed Dahmani’s criminal hearing, regarding her media comments on prison conditions in Tunisia,…

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The father of podcast host Seif al-Islam Eid (seen here) was arrested in Egypt in a case of transnational repression.

CPJ, partners condemn arrest of exiled Egyptian podcast host Seif al-Islam Eid’s father

In a joint statement, the Committee to Protect Journalists and 18 human rights and press freedom organizations called on Egyptian authorities to immediately release the father of exiled Egyptian podcast host Seif al-Islam Eid, who was arrested on October 22, 2025, and to cease targeting the family members of exiled journalists and human rights defenders….

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President Trump visits Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during the Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 14, 2025. (Photo: AP/Alex Brandon)

CPJ, partners call on US to prioritize rights during Saudi crown prince’s visit

Ahead of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s planned visit to Washington on November 18, 2025, the Committee to Protect Journalists and 10 other human rights and press freedom organizations released a joint statement calling on the U.S. government, including Congress, to address Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses. The statement noted that this will be…

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Parviz Sedaghat, a prominent economist and editor, was arrested by Iranian authorities in November.

Iranian authorities arrest economist and editor Parviz Sedaghat amid crackdown

Paris, November 7, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Iranian authorities to immediately release editor and economist Parviz Sedaghat and halt their escalating campaign against journalists, academics, and writers commenting on social and economic injustices. Sedaghat, editor-in-chief of Naghde Eqtesad Siyasi (Political Economy Critique), an independent platform that publishes critical essays on the economy…

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The Dome of the Rock is seen behind Israeli security forces after clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians at al-Aqsa Mosque over visits by Jews to the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's Old City in 2021.

Palestinian journalists targeted with Ramadan bans, arrests at Al-Aqsa holy site

Nazareth, November 4, 2025—Israeli police banned at least 10 Palestinian journalists from Jerusalem’s disputed Al-Aqsa Mosque compound during Ramadan this year, CPJ has found, in what many view as a deliberate effort to censor coverage of the holy site. Intimidatory tactics against the press have increased in the two years since the start of the…

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The RSF advanced into El Fasher in late October after besieging the city for 18 months.

As Sudan’s El-Fasher falls, the world loses sight of its journalists

New York, October 31, 2025 — As paramilitary forces seized control of Sudan’s El-Fasher in late October, its journalists have become both witnesses and victims of the unfolding horrors.  The Committee to Protect Journalists has received reports from several rights groups that 13 journalists and media workers in the North Darfur capital — among the…

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