Middle East & North Africa

Washington, D.C., October 22, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the decision to sentence journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi to 13 and 12 years in jail respectively, and reiterates its call for their immediate release. Hamedi, a reporter with the state-run Shargh Daily, and Mohammadi, head of the social issues desk at the state-run…

New York, October 20, 2023—Algerian authorities must immediately and unconditionally drop the charges against journalists Saad Bouakba, Zoubir Fadel, Salim Salhi, and Adel Lazizi, and ensure the media can work freely without fear of imprisonment, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On October 18, the Dar el-Beida court in the capital, Algiers, convicted freelance…

The Committee to Protect Journalists on Wednesday joined over 200 organizations in urging the U.N. Security Council, the U.N. Secretary General, and all world leaders to ensure an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories to prevent further harm to civilians. At least 19 journalists, who are civilians under international law, have been…

New York, October 18, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists urgently calls on Israel not to close the local bureau of Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera and to allow the media to report freely on news events in Israel and Gaza during the current conflict. “We are deeply concerned by Israeli officials’ threats to censor media coverage…

The Committee to Protect Journalists and more than 70 digital and human rights organizations on Thursday called on United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to reverse the decision for Saudi Arabia to host the 2024 annual Internet Governance Forum as the physical and digital security risks would severely undermine civil society’s participation. The joint letter highlights…

New York, October 17, 2023—Moroccan authorities must immediately release journalist Omar Radi, and transfer him to a hospital to recover from surgery on a broken arm, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On Wednesday, Radi—who is serving a six-year jail term—broke his right arm in prison in Tiflet and was transferred to a hospital…

New York, October 13, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Friday shelling in southern Lebanon from the direction of Israel that killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and injured six other journalists. Those wounded include two other Reuters journalists, Thaer Al-Sudani and Maher Nazeh, two Al-Jazeera TV staffers, Elie Brakhya and reporter Carmen Joukhadar, and Agence France-Press journalists Christina Assi…

New York, October 12, 2023—Algerian authorities must drop all charges against journalist Saad Bouakba and refrain from prosecuting members of the press over their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. At a court hearing in Algiers on Wednesday, the state prosecutor requested a five-year prison sentence and a fine of 500,000 Algerian dinars…

The smears began the day Christian Ulate began representing jailed Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora: tweets accusing the lawyer of being a leftist or questioning his legal credentials. He began to fear he was being surveilled.  Ulate had taken over the case in August 2022 from two other lawyers, Romeo Montoya García and Mario Castañeda,…

New York, October 12, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Sudanese authorities to investigate and hold to account those responsible for the Tuesday, October 10 killing of Sudanese journalist Halima Idris Salim, and urges all parties to the ongoing armed conflict in the country to respect the press and guarantee journalists’ safety. “We are…