Sport for Rights

New York, January 27, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Iranian authorities to immediately release journalists Hassan Abbasi, Artin Ghazanfari, and Hamed Araghi, as news of their detention emerged weeks after a nationwide internet shutdown began on January 8.  CPJ was unable to confirm the charges against the journalists or their current whereabouts. “The…

Pakistan’s government has stepped up the use of in absentia convictions and arrest warrants against Pakistani journalists living overseas since late 2025, highlighting an escalating crackdown by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government on critical reporting and commentary that extends beyond domestic borders. In early January, four foreign-based Pakistani journalists and commentators were convicted on the…

An estimated 268 Nicaraguan journalists have fled the Central American country for exile, many settling in the neighboring Costa Rica, to escape what CPJ’s research has documented to be a government-backed system of political repression and judicial harassment against media outlets that often prevents journalists, fearing for their families, from reporting the truth. Yet for…

Washington, D.C., December 22, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to recommit to independence after Chairman Brendan Carr said the agency is “not an independent agency, formally speaking” during a Senate oversight hearing on December 17. The word “independent” was also removed from the FCC’s official mission statement website during the hearing. “FCC Chair…

After a vain search of local hospitals and mortuaries, the family of journalist Maneno Selanyika concluded their mourning rites on November 8 with prayer, but without a body. He was one of three journalists among hundreds or more Tanzanians killed during protests over a disputed election. Selanyika was killed on the evening of October 29,…

Wanted Colombian rebel leader Aníbal Hernández Garavito was irate when he called into the local Es el Colmo (“It’s the last straw”) radio program at 5:48 a.m. on March 14, 2025. His voice raised, Hernández slammed the station’s critical coverage of his guerrilla group, but show host Gustavo Chicangana Álvarez refused to be bullied. Hernández, who had a  $13,000 bounty on…

Captured by Russian security services and sentenced on false charges, Ukrainian journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko spent over four years in a Russian prison, enduring torture while trying to maintain his sanity and physical strength.  Yesypenko, who covered Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Crimea for the U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), was released in June. He was first detained by Russian authorities…

Bangkok, November 20, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in Thailand to immediately drop criminal defamation charges against Australian journalist Murray Hunter, return his passport, and stop the country’s courts from serving as vehicles for transnational legal intimidation. Hunter, a Thailand-based journalist who has contributed to various international news publications, was indicted on…

Since the Israel-Gaza war began on October 7, 2023, the Committee to Protect Journalists has documented at least 174 cases of journalists injured and two cases of journalists missing. CPJ believes the true number of injured Palestinian journalists is likely higher and continues to investigate additional cases. CPJ counts the journalists’ cases it has been…

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…