Washington, D.C., January 11, 2023 – Iranian authorities must drop all charges filed against journalists in retaliation for their coverage of protests in the country and stop handing down harsh prison sentences to members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. Iranian authorities have arrested at least 88 journalists since September 2022,…
New York, December 27, 2022 – Algerian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Ihsane el-Kadi and allow the local independent broadcaster Radio M and news website Maghreb Emergent to work freely, the Committee to Protect journalists said Tuesday. On December 24, plainclothes police officers arrested el-Kadi, editor-in-chief of both outlets, from his home in…
On April 13, police in Russia’s Khakassiya republic arrested Mikhail Afanasyev and seized his digital devices. Afanasyev, chief editor of the online magazine Novy Fokus, was detained based on an article about riot police in southern Siberia refusing to serve in Ukraine. He faces a possible 10-year prison sentence for spreading “false” information. It’s not surprising for…
The number of journalists jailed around the world set yet another record in 2022. In a year marked by conflict and repression, authoritarian leaders doubled down on their criminalization of independent reporting, deploying increasing cruelty to stifle dissenting voices and undermine press freedom. Published December 14, 2022 By Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director Worst Offenders |…
In mid-September, an enterprising young Iranian reporter named Niloofar Hamedi went to Tehran’s Kasra Hospital to report on a woman arrested by the county’s morality police for not properly wearing her hijab. That woman, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, was in a coma after allegedly being beaten by police; she later died of her injuries. Hamedi, a…
Washington, D.C., November 22, 2022—Committee to Protect Journalists on Tuesday called on Turkish authorities to immediately conduct a full and transparent investigation into whether Hawar News Agency (ANHA) reporter Essam Abdullah and other civilians were targeted during Turkish airstrikes in northern Syria. Abdullah was killed and Mohammed Jarada, reporter of Sterk TV, was injured during…
New York, November 18, 2022 – In response to news reports that the Biden administration told a U.S. court late Thursday that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman should be immune in a civil lawsuit over the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, CPJ issued the following statement condemning the decision: “The Biden administration’s submission that…
New York, November 15, 2022—The Committee to Protect Journalists on Tuesday welcomed reports that the FBI plans to investigate the May 11 killing of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh as an important first step toward potentially achieving justice in her case. The U.S. Department of Justice notified the Israeli Ministry of Justice of the…
New York, November 14, 2022 – Egyptian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Ahmed Fayez and drop all charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On November 10, state security forces arrested Fayez, editor-in-chief of state-run newspaper Akhbar El-Barlman, from his home in Cairo, according to news reports and a local…
New York, November 9, 2022 – Egyptian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalists Mohamed Mostafa Moussa, Amr Shnin, and Mahmoud Saad Diab and cease detaining journalists for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On Monday, state security officers arrested Moussa, a freelance journalist who contributes to independent news websites Masr al-Arabia…