Middle East & North Africa

Sulaymaniyah, October 16, 2025 — The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the killing of Saleh Aljafarawi, a 28-year-old freelance Palestinian journalist who gained prominence on social media for his war coverage. He was shot and killed on October 12, 2025, reportedly by members of an armed Palestinian group in Gaza City, just days…

Sulaymaniyah, October 14, 2025 —  Israeli authorities have released 14 journalists and others who had been detained, many of them for four days, after sailing aboard the Wijdan (Conscience), a vessel that was part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), one of several aid convoys that have attempted to break the blockade on Gaza.  The…

Washington, D.C., October 9, 2025 — The Committee to Protect Journalists is appalled by the five-year prison sentence handed down to Egyptian economic commentator Abdel Khaleq Farouk, convicted of joining a terrorist organization, spreading false information, and misusing social media over articles critical of Egypt’s economic policies. Lawyer Nabih Al-Janadi, a member of Farouk’s defense…

Washington, D.C., October 7, 2025 — The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in the United Arab Emirates to explain the detention of South Sudanese freelance commentator Samuel Peter Oyay, who was arrested at his home in Dubai on September 30, and to immediately disclose his whereabouts.  Oyay’s wife, Vivian Johnson, told the independent…

New York, October 7, 2025— The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Sudanese authorities to investigate the killing of journalist Alnor Suleiman Alnor, who died on Saturday from injuries sustained in an October 3 drone strike on his home in the besieged city of El-Fasher, capital of the North Darfur State. The strike was reportedly…

New York, October 2, 2025 – The Committee to Protect Journalists demands Israeli authorities immediately and unconditionally release the humanitarian crew of the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla, which includes at least 32 journalists, after the vessels were seized on October 1 and 2. “Detaining members of the press while reporting on a humanitarian mission is…

In Sudan’s vast western region of Darfur, journalists in El-Fasher are trapped under siege, enduring violence, hunger, and relentless bombardment alongside the people whose lives they report on.  The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a group that evolved from the notorious Janjaweed militias accused of atrocities in earlier Darfur conflicts, have been fighting the Sudanese…

On September 30, 2025, CPJ and 16 partner organizations wrote to leaders in Germany, Italy, and the Czech Republic to call for a full or partial suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement. The agreement sets out the EU’s legal and institutional framework for political dialogue and economic cooperation with Israel. The European Commission recently proposed suspending “certain…

Washington, D.C., September 29, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for the immediate release of Yemeni freelance journalist Majed Zayed, who press freedom and human rights groups say was abducted by Houthi authorities on September 23 amid a wave of detentions. Zayed, a contributor to independent Yemen-based media outlets Nafzet Al-Yemen, Almawqea Post, and Mda…

Tunisian lawyer and commentator Sonia Dahmani, known for her bold defense of human rights and civil liberties, has become a symbol of the country’s escalating crackdown on dissent. Arrested in May 2024, she has been subjected to five separate legal proceedings that could put her behind bars for decades under Decree 54 — a law…