Middle East & North Africa

  
Alaa Abdelfattah

Egypt violates own law by adding 2 years to Alaa Abdelfattah’s prison term

Washington, D.C., September 24, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Egyptian authorities to release Alaa Abdelfattah, a prominent Egyptian-British blogger and writer, upon completion of his five-year prison sentence this Sunday, September 29. Abdelfattah was arrested on September 28, 2019, and in December 2021, he was sentenced to five years in prison, starting from…

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Israeli forces raid Al Jazeera’s West Bank office, issue 45 day ban on its journalism

Beirut, September 22, 2024 – The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Israeli authorities to stop harassing and obstructing Al Jazeera after armed Israeli forces raided the Qatari broadcaster’s office in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah during a live broadcast early Sunday morning, ordered its closure for 45 days, and forced its staff…

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Sonia Dahmani

Tunisia appeals court upholds Sonia Dahmani’s conviction amid election coverage crackdown

New York, September 13, 2024—Tunisian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release commentator Sonia Dahmani, following an appeals court decision Tuesday to uphold her conviction for spreading false news with a reduced eight-month sentence, and allow all journalists and news outlets to cover the upcoming presidential elections freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. “The…

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Issam Abdallah's aunt

CPJ joins call for UN commission to investigate Israel murder of journalist Issam Abdallah

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 10 press freedom and human rights organizations in a letter to the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel to investigate and help provide accountability for the murder of Reuters video journalist Issam Abdallah, who was killed by Israeli…

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A police vehicle drives around Cairo's Tahrir Square in November 2022. Since March 2024, Egyptian authorities have arrested four journalists and taken them to unknown locations. CPJ and other rights groups have called for their immedate release. (Photo: AFP/ Khaled Desouki)

CPJ and 34 other organizations condemn spate of Egyptian journalist arrests

On September 9, the Committee to Protect Journalists and 34 human rights and press freedom organizations released a joint statement condemning the recent arrests and enforced disappearance of four Egyptian journalists — Ashraf Omar, Khaled Mamdouh, Ramadan Gouida, and Yasser Abu Al-Ela — and called for their immediate release. The statement also urged Egyptian authorities…

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Paramilitary group kidnaps, demands ransom for Sudanese journalist 

New York, August 29, 2024—Armed men affiliated with the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took freelance journalist Aladdin Abu Harba from his home in the East Nile region of Khartoum, an area under RSF control, on Friday, August 23, and detained him in an unknown location, according to news reports and a local journalist…

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Protesters lift portraits of slain journalists Hero Bahadin (left) and Gulistan Tara in Sulaimaniya, Iraqi Kurdistan, on August 24, 2024.

CPJ submits report on Iraq to UN’s human rights review

The Committee to Protect Journalists has submitted a report on the state of press freedom and journalist safety in Iraq and semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan to the United Nations Human Rights Council ahead of its January to February 2025 Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session. The U.N. mechanism is a peer review of each member state’s human…

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Syrian journalist Bakr al-Kassem, who freelances for AFP news agency, was detained at a checkpoint on August 26, his house was searched, and his equipment confiscated. It is unclear why he is being held. (Photo: Courtesy of Nabiha Taha)

Syrian journalist detained without explanation, held by Turkish intelligence

Editor’s note: Bakr al-Kassem was released without charge on September 2, according to media reports. Beirut, August 27, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by Monday’s detention of freelance journalist Bakr al-Kassem in northern Syria and his transfer to Turkish intelligence custody, and calls for his immediate release. “We are deeply concerned that Syrian opposition…

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CPJ, others urge EU to act against Israel’s unprecedented journalist killings, press freedom violations

The Committee to Protect Journalists and 59 partners on Thursday, August 22, wrote to EU High Representative Josep Borrell, European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, and EU member state foreign ministries asking that the EU “take action against the Israeli authorities’ unprecedented killing of journalists and other violations of media freedom.” The letter condemns widespread and…

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A strike hit the car of three Chatr Multimedia Production Company journalists, killing video editor Hero Bahadin (left) and Turkish reporter Gulistan Tara (center) in Sulaymaniyah province, Iraq, on August 23, 2024. Rebin Bakir (right), a video editor and social media officer, was seriously injured. (Photos: Chatr Multimedia Production Company)

2 media workers killed, 1 injured in drone strike in Iraqi Kurdistan

Sulaymaniyah, August 23, 2024—A suspected Turkish drone strike killed two journalists and injured another in the Said Sadiq district of Sulaymaniyah province on Friday.  “We are deeply saddened by the tragic August 23 drone strike that killed two journalists and injured a third in Iraqi Kurdistan,” said Yeganeh Rezaian, CPJ’s interim MENA program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. “Turkish authorities should swiftly…

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