Syria / Middle East & North Africa

  
Syrians protest the killing and torture of women by President Assad's regime in 2011. The blogger Tal al-Mallohi remains in jail in Syria despite a court ordering her release. (AP/Mohammad Hannon)

On International Women’s Day, CPJ recognizes nine female journalists jailed for their work

Coverage of protests and riots. Revelations of official corruption and graft. Major natural disasters. Investigations into deplorable living conditions. These are some of the important issues journalists cover in their role as the Fourth Estate.

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Syrian journalist killed while covering fighting in Daraya

New York, February 22, 2016 — Syrian freelance journalist Majid Dirani was killed on February 19 by Syrian military tank shells while covering fighting in a suburb of Damascus, one of his employers, Anadolu Agency, and other news outlets reported.

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Pictures of filmmaker Naji Jerf are held up at his funeral in Gaziantep in December. Syrian media activists based in Turkey say the murder of Jerf and two other journalists makes the country feels less secure. (STR/AFP)

For journalists fleeing Islamic State, Turkey ‘is as dangerous as Syria’

For the past two years, activists and journalists seeking refuge from Islamic State repression in Raqqa would take sanctuary across the border in southern Turkey, setting up safe houses and offices, and darting back to Syria regularly with camera equipment and other vital supplies. But that sanctuary is now under threat.

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From Charlie Hebdo in Paris to bloggers in Bangladesh, extremists target press

Thursday marks one year since two gunmen burst into the Paris offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and opened fire. Over the following year, CPJ documented the deaths of 28 journalists who were killed for their work by Islamic militant groups such as Islamic State and Al-Qaeda. This StoryMap charts the deadly attacks that took…

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Syria, France most deadly countries for the press

Of 69 journalists killed for their work in 2015, 40 percent died at the hands of Islamic militant groups such as Al-Qaeda and Islamic State. More than two-thirds of the total killed were singled out for murder. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

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A young Syrian journalist carries a camera and a gun on February 9, 2014, in Aleppo. (AFP/Aleppo Media Center/Mohammed Wesam)

The militarization of the press in Syria

Ahmed Abu al-Hamza, “Software” as he was known by his friends, stood behind the camera on November 6 as a gunman explained how rebel forces took Tel Sukayk, a strategic hilltop north of Hama, from government forces. Suddenly the camera’s sound recorder picked up the faint thud of a mortar shell firing in the distance.…

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Syrian journalist Naji Jerf shot dead in Gaziantep, Turkey

New York, December 27, 2015–Naji Jerf, editor-in-chief of the independent monthly Hentah and the maker of documentary films on the militant group Islamic State, was shot and killed in broad daylight today by unknown assailants with a silenced pistol in front of a building that houses Syrian opposition news outlets in downtown Gaziantep, Turkey, near…

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CPJ Newsletter: A year in review

Over the past year, CPJ has documented anti-press violations all over the world, cases of journalists killed, imprisoned, abducted, or threatened in relation to their work. You can see all of our coverage at our website, www.cpj.org. But here at CPJ Impact we also highlight those times when CPJ has stepped in and advocated for…

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CPJ condemns murder of Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently journalist

New York, December 16, 2015–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the murder of Ahmed Mohamed al-Mousa, a member of Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently. Al-Mousa was killed today by a group of masked men in Idlib, Syria, according to the citizen journalist group, which CPJ honored last month with its 2015 International Press Freedom Award.

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China, Egypt imprison record numbers of journalists

Egypt is second only to China as the world’s worst jailer of journalists in 2015. Worldwide, the number of journalists behind bars for their work declined moderately during the year, but a handful of countries continue to use systematic imprisonment to silence criticism. A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser

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