Middle East & North Africa

  

60+ organizations urge US Congress to pursue justice for slain Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh

Washington, D.C., July 18, 2023 —It has been more than a year since Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was fatally shot while reporting on an Israeli military raid of a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. The prevailing consensus is that an Israeli soldier was responsible for her death. Yet there has been no…

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60+ NGOs call on US Congress to pursue justice for slain Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh

Read the full letter by a coalition of more than 60 organizations urging members of Congress to support the Justice for Shireen Act (H.R. 3477). (Read the press release about the letter here.)

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Iranian authorities rearrest journalist Nazila Maroofian

Washington, D.C., July 11, 2023—Iranian authorities should release journalist Nazila Maroofian and drop any charges against her, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On Saturday, July 8, authorities arrested Maroofian, a Kurdish Iranian investigative reporter for the state-run news website Rouydad24, after she responded to a summons at a court in Evin prison in…

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Syria revokes accreditation of 2 BBC journalists

Beirut, July 10, 2023 – Syria’s Ministry of Information must reverse its decision to revoke the accreditation of two BBC journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On July 8, the ministry said it had canceled the accreditation of two local journalists working for the BBC over “false” and “politicized” reporting, according to a…

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Israeli military destroys news equipment of Al-Araby TV crew covering Jenin operation

New York, July 6, 2023 — The Israel Defense Forces must investigate the July 3 attack that destroyed an Al-Araby TV crew’s equipment, make public its findings, and take immediate measures to ensure journalists’ safety, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On July 3, Al-Araby TV reporter Ameed Shehade and camera operator Rabie Al-Munir…

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Iranian journalist Hossein Yazdi held at Isfahan Central Prison

Washington, D.C., July 6, 2023 — Iranian authorities must release journalist Hossein Yazdi from prison immediately and cease jailing members of the press for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.  On Tuesday, July 4, Yazdi responded to a summons at a court in his hometown of Isfahan. When he arrived, authorities arrested…

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Two French journalists flee Yemeni island of Socotra after questioning, house arrest

On May 28, 2023, five armed soldiers and three police chiefs on the Yemeni island of Socotra arrested freelance journalist Quentin Müller and Sylvain Mercadier, co-founder and director of the independent Iraqi news website The Red Line, at their apartment, according to tweets by Müller and Mercadier, who communicated with CPJ via email. The authorities…

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

Tunisian authorities arrest journalist Zied el-Heni for allegedly insulting president

New York, June 21, 2023 – Tunisian authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalist Zied el-Heni, the Committee to Protect journalists said Wednesday. On Tuesday, June 20, plainclothes security officers arrested el-Heni, a prominent columnist and political commentator for the daily online radio show “Émission Impossible” on the independent radio station IFM, according to news…

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Algerian appeals court increases prison sentence of journalist Ihsane el-Kadi

New York, June 20, 2023 – Algerian authorities should immediately release journalist Ihsane el-Kadi and drop all charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On Sunday, June 18, an appeals court in Algiers increased from five to seven years a sentence for el-Kadi, editor-in-chief and director of local independent broadcaster Radio M…

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CPJ’s support to exiled journalists jumped 227% in 3 years, reflecting global press freedom crisis

Keep closely connected to your homeland and don’t despair: that is advice Syrian journalist Okba Mohammad said he would offer to Afghan journalists who fled after the August 2021 Taliban takeover. Mohammad knows firsthand the challenges of exile. In 2019, he made a new life in Spain after fleeing the Syrian civil war with CPJ’s…

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