Middle East & North Africa

Update: Since publication of this alert, the Kurdistan Region Court of Appeals overturned Ahmed’s conviction on January 6, 2025, and ordered his immediate release. Following his release on January 20, Ahmed crossed the Iraqi Kurdistan border into Syria to see his family, according to his lawyers and family. In October 2024, United Nations experts sent…

New York, July 24, 2024—Sudanese authorities must immediately and unconditionally release freelance journalist Omar Mohamed Omar, who was arrested on July 17 by the General Intelligence Service of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and allow members of the press to work safely and freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. “We are alarmed by…

Sulaymaniyah, July 23, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed that the prominent Turkish Kurdish photojournalist Murat Yazar was held in an Iraqi Kurdish security forces prison for eight days before his release on Sunday evening and calls on Iraqi Kurdish authorities to stop arresting journalists. “Iraqi Kurdish authorities have made a habit out of…

The Committee to Protect Journalists and nine other rights groups sent a letter Monday calling on U.S. President Joe Biden to press Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on journalist killings and media access in Gaza.  The letter urged Biden to ensure that Netanyahu takes steps to facilitate press freedom and journalist safety in Israel and…

Washington, D.C., July 23, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Egyptian authorities to immediately release Ashraf Omar, a cartoonist for the independent news outlet Al-Manassa, and Khaled Mamdouh, a reporter for news website Arabic Post. “By arresting journalists Khaled Mamdouh and Ashraf Omar and subjecting them to enforced disappearance, the Egyptian regime has once…

The Israel-Gaza war has been devastating for civilians, including journalists covering the conflict. While a few conflicts have taken the lives of hundreds of journalists over a period of years, no other war has taken so many journalists’ lives in such a short time span, according to CPJ data that has been gathered since 1992. Here…

New York, July 12, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for the immediate and safe release of Libyan television host Ahmed al-Sanussi who was arrested in the capital Tripoli on Thursday. “CPJ strongly denounces the arrest of Libyan TV host Ahmed al-Sanussi. It is unacceptable that authorities have not disclosed where he is being held…

On July 10, the Committee to Protect Journalists joined four human rights organizations in urging Saudi authorities to immediately release various Saudi content creators and journalists, including Palestinian journalist and podcast presenter Hatem al-Najjar, who has been detained since January of this year. Al-Najjar is the host of the popular podcast “Muraba” (Square) on Thmanyah, a…

After serving a 14-month prison sentence on various charges, Algerian journalist Mustapha Bendjama assumed his life would return to normal as the editor-in-chief of Le Provincial, a local independent newspaper in the northeastern city of Annaba.  “I was wrong,” said Bendjama, who was released April 2024.  In a phone interview with CPJ, Bendjama revealed that his contract at…

UPDATE: Çira TV reporter Murad Mirza died on July 11 of injuries sustained in the drone strike. He was buried on July 12 in the Girê Gewir Cemetery, according to his outlet.  Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, July 10, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Turkish and Iraqi authorities to investigate after a suspected Turkish strike injured two Iraqi…