Middle East & North Africa

  
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and members of the Lebanese government attend a parliament session in Beirut.

CPJ, partners call on Lebanese Parliament to ensure media law protects press freedom

CPJ joined 13 local and international organizations in urging the Lebanese Parliament to ensure the draft media law under consideration upholds free expression. The draft law, submitted to the parliamentary committee in May 2025, included significant advancements in protecting free expression in Lebanon, including abolishing pretrial detention and prison sentences for all speech-related violations. It…

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Rewarding the Egyptian government with a seat on the Human Rights Council, seen here, would only embolden authorities to continue widespread violations, CPJ and partners argue.

CPJ, partners urge UN not to elect Egypt to Human Rights Council 

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 22 other international and Egyptian rights organizations in urging United Nations member states not to vote for Egypt in October’s elections to the U.N. Human Rights Council. The letter highlights Egypt’s alarming human rights record, noting that the country regularly ranks among the world’s top 10 jailers of journalists,…

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Mohammad Hamdan Daglo Mousa, the leader of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces, at a 2017 press conference.

Sudanese journalist detained by paramilitary group since July

New York, September 10, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for the release of journalist El-Rashid Mohamed Haroun, who was taken by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) from the Ardeiba market in El-Geneina, West Darfur, in late July, and detained for unknown reasons, according to news reports and a journalist familiar with the case,…

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Deputy Prime Minister of Yemen's Houthi-led government Muhammad Ahmed Miftah, who has taken over as the caretaker Prime Minister of the Houthi-led government, addresses the people during the funeral procession of Houthi government officials killed in an Israeli strike, in Sanaa, Yemen September 1, 2025.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels block access to independent news platform

Washington, D.C., September 10, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Houthi authorities, who control most of Yemen, to immediately restore access to independent media outlet Barran Press, which the rebels have blocked via two internet service providers that they control. On September 6, Barran Press, which is based in the government-controlled city of Marib,…

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Saudi authorities arrested freelance Yemeni journalist Mujahid Al-Haiqi at Jeddah airport on August 12, 2025, and took him to an undisclosed location.

Saudi Arabia arrests Yemeni journalist Mujahid Al-Haiqi after pilgrimage

Washington, D.C., September 5, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Saudi authorities to justify their detention of freelance Yemeni journalist Mujahid Al-Haiqi at Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah airport last month, or immediately release him.  “By arresting Mujahid Al-Haiqi without explanation, Saudi authorities show once again that journalists face tremendous perils in the kingdom, even when…

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Hemn Mamand hosting his talk show on Sterk TV on September 2, hours before he was shot.

Iraqi Kurdish TV host Hemn Mamand shot after broadcast

Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, September 3, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Iraqi Kurdish authorities to swiftly investigate the motive behind the shooting of journalist Hemn Mamand in Sulaymaniyah on Tuesday. Mamand was shot while leaving a restaurant, hours after broadcasting his talk show “Sarinj – Comment” on Sterk TV, where he discusses human rights, including…

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A rare image of Reza Valizadeh, inside Fashafouyeh Prison, where he was held in overcrowded halls alongside inmates convicted of general crimes. (Photo: Courtesy of Valizadeh family)

Imprisoned for telling the truth: A Q&A with Iranian-American journalist Reza Valizadeh’s brother 

Iranian-American journalist Reza Valizadeh has spent more than a year imprisoned in Iran, enduring severe psychological torment and relentless interrogations for the simple fact that he is a journalist. Initially detained in Tehran’s Evin Prison, his already dire situation deteriorated significantly after a devastating Israeli attack on the facility. Valizadeh was transferred to the dangerously overcrowded and medically inadequate Fashafouyeh Prison, where extreme neglect and inhumane…

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The entrance of the Tehran Journalists’ Association in the Iranian capital in 2022.

Iranian city authorities evict journalists’ association from its offices

Paris, August 28, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the mayor of Tehran, Alireza Zakani, to respect the Tehran Journalists’ Association’s right to function without undue interference after the mayor’s office of the Iranian capital city ousted the organization, in what the group described as retaliatory action. “We strongly oppose the forced closure of…

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A man holds the equipment used by Palestinian camera operator Hussam Al-Masri, a contractor for Reuters, at the site where he was killed along with other journalists and people in Israeli strikes on Nasser hospital, in Khan Yunis on, August 25, 2025. (Photo: Reuters/Hatem Khaled)

CPJ demands a complete investigation into Israel’s killing of 5 journalists at Nasser Hospital

New York, August 28, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for an independent investigation into Monday’s killing of five journalists by multiple Israeli strikes on Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, Gaza. A preliminary Israeli military report said “it appears” that a Hamas camera was the target of the attack and named six “terrorists who were…

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Mourners carry the body of Palestinian camera operator Hussam Al-Masri, who was a contractor for Reuters, after he was killed along with other journalists and people in Israeli strikes on Nasser hospital, in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, August 25, 2025. (Photo: Reuters/Stringer)

At least 5 Gazan journalists killed in Israeli strikes on Nasser Hospital

New York, August 25, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Israeli strikes that killed five journalists in Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza and calls for the international community to hold Israel accountable for its continued unlawful attacks on the press. Journalist Hussam Al-Masri, a Reuters contractor; Al Jazeera camera operator Mohammed Salama; Mariam Abu…

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