Middle East & North Africa

  

Canadian-Palestinian journalist disappears in Gaza; reports allege eyewitnesses saw IDF arrest

Update: On Tuesday, February 6, Mansour Shouman posted a new video from southern Gaza, saying he had been on the run for two weeks to avoid Israeli tanks and sniper fire.  Washington, D.C., January 30, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists expresses deep concerns over the reports that Canadian-Palestinian citizen journalist Mansour Shouman went missing on his way…

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CPJ, partners, call on EU to help journalists in Israel-Gaza war

The Committee to Protect Journalists on Wednesday joined 17 other partner organizations in sending a letter to Josep Borrell, the High Representative for the European Union on Foreign and Security Policy, urging him to call for press freedom and journalists’ rights to be respected during the Israel-Gaza war. The unprecedented killing of so many journalists…

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A man walks by a house hit by fighting in Khartoum, Sudan, on April 25, 2023.

CPJ calls for immediate release of Sudanese journalist Haitham Dafallah and his brother

New York, January 22, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists is shocked by reports that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a Sudanese paramilitary group, arrested journalist Haitham Dafallah and his brother Omar Dafallah, and calls for their immediate release. On Friday, RSF soldiers arrested Dafallah, editor-in-chief of local independent news website al-Maidan, and his brother from their…

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CPJ calls for immediate release of Sudanese journalist Ogail Ahmed Naime

New York, January 19, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a Sudanese paramilitary group, arrested journalist Ogail Ahmed Naime and calls for his immediate release. On Thursday, January 18, RSF soldiers arrested Naime, a freelance journalist, from his home in Khartoum, according to news reports. As…

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Palestinian journalists are being imprisoned by Israel in record numbers

In October, when the Israel-Gaza war began, Alaa al-Rimawi snapped into action, covering developments on J-Media, the West Bank-based news agency he directs, as well as on TikTok and Facebook. But his conflict coverage would be short-lived. Less than two weeks after the start of the war, Israel banned J-Media on security grounds and quickly…

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A man reads a newspaper with a picture of Mahsa Amini, who died after being arrested by morality police, in Tehran, Iran, on September 18, 2022.

CPJ calls for release of all jailed Iranian journalists after bail granted to Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi

Washington, D.C., January 17, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes Iran’s decision to grant bail to journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi while they await the outcome of appeals against their lengthy jail sentences, but calls on Iranian authorities to drop all charges and release all journalists still being held in connection with their work….

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CPJ and partners call on President Biden to protect journalists in the Israel-Gaza war

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) joined five other press freedom and human rights organizations on Wednesday in calling on U.S. President Joe Biden to act immediately and decisively to promote the conditions for safe and unrestricted reporting amid hostilities between Israeli forces and Palestinian and Lebanese armed groups. The Israel-Gaza war has taken a severe toll on journalists…

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Al-Jazeera journalist Wael Al Dahdouh holds the hand of his son Hamza, who also worked for Al-Jazeera and who was killed in an Israeli strike in southern Gaza on January 7, 2024.

CPJ calls for probe into whether Hamza Al Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya were targeted in strike

New York, January 7, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists has called for an independent investigation into an Israeli drone strike that killed Al-Jazeera journalist Hamza Al Dahdouh, who is the son of Al-Jazeera Gaza bureau chief Wael Al Dahdouh, and freelance journalist Mustafa Thuraya on Sunday as they drove their car to an assignment in…

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Iranian journalist Hassan Abbasi rearrested and held incommunicado

Washington, D.C., January 4, 2024—Iranian authorities should immediately release journalist Hassan Abbasi, whose whereabouts are unknown since his arrest, and drop any charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On Tuesday, security forces arrested Abbasi, a freelance investigative reporter, in a public location in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas in…

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Al-Jazeera journalist Samir Sassi arrested on undisclosed charges in Tunisia

New York, January 4, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that Tunisian authorities arrested journalist Samir Sassi and calls for his immediate and unconditional release. On Wednesday, January 3, police raided and searched the home of Sassi, a reporter at Qatari broadcaster Al-Jazeera, in the capital Tunis and arrested him, according to…

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