Middle East & North Africa

Sulaymaniyah, July 30, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is appalled that Kurdish journalist Omed Baroshky will remain in prison for an additional six months following a decision by Iraq’s Duhok misdemeanor court. CPJ reiterates its call for Baroshky’s immediate release. On June 28, 2025, Baroshky’s lawyer, Reving Yaseen, informed CPJ that the court had reactivated a previously suspended…

Washington, D.C., July 29, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for the immediate release of journalist Abduljabar Bajabeer, general director of the TV3ad channel, after his July 28 arrest in Yemen’s conflict-torn Hadramout governorate. He was detained on unspecified charges and transferred to the Criminal Investigation prison in the city of Al-Mukalla. His arrest follows…

CPJ joined 35 members of the International News Safety Institute in a July 25 letter calling for Israel to respect the freedom of movement of journalists.  The joint letter called for Israeli authorities to allow Gazan journalists and their families – many of whom, like the rest of the population, are starving and facing extraordinary…

New York, July 24, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely worried about the safety of Al Jazeera Arabic’s Gaza correspondent Anas al-Sharif, who is being targeted by an Israeli military smear campaign, which he believes is a precursor to his assassination. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee has stepped up his…

New York, July 23, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists added its voice to Wednesday’s urgent appeal from more than 100 aid agencies to end to Israel’s starvation of journalists and other civilians in Gaza, as they called on states to “save lives before there are none left to save.” “Israel is starving Gazan journalists into…

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 22 other organizations in a joint letter calling for Al-Manassa cartoonist Ashraf Omar’s release a year after he was arrested July 22, 2024, and later accused of joining a terrorist group with knowledge of its purposes, spreading false news, and misusing social media. The statement also urged Egyptian authorities to…

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 22, 2025—A  media company linked to Egyptian authorities suspended three prominent television programs after their hosts criticized the government and road safety failures, raising concerns about media control by state-aligned entities, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On July 16, United Media Services (UMS), a company owned and closely linked to Egypt’s General Intelligence Service, terminated its contract with…

Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, July 22, 2025—Journalists were killed, wounded, shot at, and blocked from entering the southern city of Sweida as sectarian violence spread across the region last week, according to multiple journalists who spoke to CPJ. An Israeli airstrike also damaged a media outlet in Damascus. “The violence against journalists in Sweida — including injuries, intimidation, and…

As Gaza faces a humanitarian catastrophe, Palestinian journalists are among those going hungry. Cut off from food, aid, and support from the international press, they continue to report, not only on the war, but on their own malnutrition. “Palestinian journalists are the last witnesses on the ground,” said CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah. “Their reporting…

Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, July 16, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Iraqi authorities to investigate and hold to account the officers who arrested and severely assaulted four journalists in Iraq’s Kurdish region over the past week. “The arrest, abuse, and intimidation of journalists in Iraq’s Kurdish region are deeply concerning and reflect a broader pattern of hostility…