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Washington, D.C., August 8, 2025—Qatari authorities should reconsider the implications of an amendment to the country’s cybercrime law, which could be used to prosecute journalists, photojournalists, and bloggers for doing their jobs, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On August 4, Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani approved an amendment to a 2014 cybercrime law that adds a new provision that criminalizes publishing…

August 5, 2025—Press freedom organizations Free Press Unlimited (FPU), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) welcome the corruption conviction of former Palawan governor Joel T. Reyes – the alleged mastermind behind the 2011 murder of journalist Gerry Ortega – handed down last week by the Sandiganbayan, the Philippines’ anti-graft court in Quezon City.  Reyes…

Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, August 5, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Iraqi authorities to free Al-Baghdadia TV’s director and presenter Ali Al-Dhabhawi, who was given a three-year jail sentence on Monday, and to reopen the satellite channel’s office in the capital Baghdad. On July 31, security forces raided the Iraqi-owned station and Al-Dhabhawi’s home, a…

Paris, July 31, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Iranian authorities to explain the grounds on which they have summoned and arrested 98 “so-called citizen-journalists” for having contact with a London-based Persian-language television channel. “Iranian authorities must immediately clarify the legal basis for this mass detention of its citizens and cease treating those who…

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…

Kinshasa, July 28, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to immediately drop legal proceedings against three journalists who were beaten and detained overnight while seeking to interview a provincial minister in the north-eastern city of Kisangani. On July 23, KIS24 Info’s Steves Paluku, ElectionNet’s Paul Beyokobana,…

New York, July 24, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Kyrgyz authorities to conduct a thorough, independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding journalist Azimjon Askarov’s death, ahead of the fifth anniversary of his passing on Friday.    Authorities have stated that Askarov died in prison on July 25, 2020, from complications related to COVID-19. But they have failed…

Abuja, July 24, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Ghanaian authorities to ensure the safety of journalists reporting on elections, after three incidents during a local election on the outskirts of the capital, Accra.  On July 11, a group of men overran a polling station in Ablekuma North constituency and assaulted a candidate, forcing voting to be temporarily…

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…

Kinshasa, July 23, 2025—Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo must ensure the safety of journalist Sadam Kapanda wa Kapanda, who has received death threats from at least two local officials and two unidentified callers for his reporting, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday.  Kapanda, a reporter with the privately owned broadcaster Notre…