Middle East & North Africa

  
Sonia Dahmani

Jailed Tunisian commentator Sonia Dahmani given further 2-year sentence

New York, October 25, 2024 – Tunisian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release political commentator Sonia Dahmani, who was sentenced on Thursday to two years in prison for spreading false news, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. “Sonia Dahmani is already serving an eight-month prison term in Tunisia and sentencing her to two more…

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Relatives and colleagues of three journalists killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon on October 25, 2024, gather around a Red Cross ambulance as their bodies arrive at a hospital in Beirut. (Photo: AFP/Fadel Itani)

3 killed, 3 hurt in Israeli strike on journalists’ compound in Lebanon

Beirut, October 25, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists is appalled by Friday’s Israeli attack that killed two journalists and a media worker and injured at least three others, and calls for an independent investigation to determine whether the journalists’ compound was deliberately targeted. At about 3 a.m. on October 25, an airstrike hit a compound…

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Abdel Khaleq Farouk was arrested on October 20 over his commentary on Egypt’s economy. (Screenshot: BBC Arabic/YouTube)

Egyptian authorities arrest economic commentator Abdel Khaleq Farouk

Washington, D.C., October 23, 2024 — The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Egyptian authorities to immediately release economic commentator and analyst Abdel Khaleq Farouk, who was arrested October 20 on charges of joining a terrorist organization and spreading false and inciting news for allegedly criticizing President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi’s economic policies in more than 40 articles.  “The arrest of…

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Fighters of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) drive an armoured vehicle in Khartoum in 2023.

RSF paramilitary group seizes Sudanese journalist’s home in South Darfur

New York, October 23, 2024—The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) must immediately return the home of journalist Ashraf Omer Ibrahim — a South Darfur Radio and Television correspondent and a local Al-Zarqa satellite channel presenter — after the paramilitary group seized it last week in Nyala, South Darfur, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. “The…

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Morocco’s pardoned journalists face smears, threats after prison

When Moroccan authorities released three prominent journalists in July as part of a mass pardon marking King Mohamed VI’s 25 years on the throne, their friends and families celebrated. But the excitement was short-lived. Taoufik Bouachrine, Soulaiman Raissouni, and Omar Radi have been shamed in the media, stalked, and harassed since their release as they…

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Journalists in Gaza

CPJ, partners support US Congress call to let international media access Gaza independently

The Committee to Protect Journalists and 18 other press freedom and human rights organizations issued a statement supporting a call from members of the U.S. Congress, led by Rep. Jim McGovern, asking the Biden-Harris administration to urge Israel to allow independent access to Gaza for U.S. and international journalists, in the interest of transparency, accountability,…

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CPJ, partners call for transparency as exiled Syrian journalist applies for UK citizenship

CPJ joined three other international press freedom and human rights organizations in an October 18 letter to U.K. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper expressing concerns over delays in the citizen application of Zaina Erhaim, an award-winning exiled Syrian journalist who has lived in the U.K. since 2017 and has been targeted by Syrian authorities due to…

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Saudi, Qatar leaders

Saudi Arabia sentences cartoonist Mohammed al-Ghamdi to 23 years

Washington, D.C., October 18, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Saudi authorities to release Mohammed al-Ghamdi, a Saudi cartoonist for the Qatar-based Lusail newspaper, who was sentenced on an undisclosed date in 2024 to 23 years in prison on charges that his cartoons were sympathetic to Qatar and insulted the Saudi government. “By sentencing…

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Iranian-American journalist detained in Evin prison without access to lawyer

Washington D.C., October 17, 2024—CPJ is alarmed by reports that Iranian authorities arrested Iranian-American journalist Reza Valizadeh in September in the capital, Tehran, and have since detained him in Evin prison without access to a lawyer, according to a former colleague, who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of government reprisal….

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CPJ joined Free Press Unlimited and Reporters without Borders in calling on Israeli authorities to authorize the evacuation of Fadi Al Wahidi (left) and Ali Al-Attar, both camera operators for Al Jazeera, who were critically injured while reporting in Gaza.

Press freedom groups demand Israel authorizes medical evacuation of 2 Al Jazeera journalists

Three leading press freedom organizations, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Free Press Unlimited (FPU), and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), on Tuesday, October 15, urgently called on the Israeli military office responsible for humanitarian coordination, known as COGAT, to authorize the evacuation of two critically wounded journalists who require immediate, lifesaving medical treatment. The letter,…

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