President Biden must tackle press freedom during Middle East trip
New York, July 12, 2022 – As President Joe Biden departs for a visit to the Middle East from July 13 to 16, the Committee to Protect Journalists urges Biden to mount a robust defense of press freedom with the leaders of Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, where journalists’ ability to report freely and safely…
Egyptian police arrest Mada Masr editor Lina Attalah outside of Tora prison
New York, May 17, 2020— Egyptian authorities must immediately release Mada Masr editor-in-chief Lina Attalah, who was arrested outside the prison where her colleague Alaa Abdelfattah is on hunger strike protesting his detention, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Egypt arrests 3 more journalists amid crackdown
Washington, D.C., September 30, 2019 — Egyptian authorities should immediately release journalists Alaa Abdelfattah, Nasser Abdelhafez, Engi Abdel Wahab, and all others who have been imprisoned for their reporting, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
In Egypt, ‘freedom’ ends daily at 6pm for Shawkan and Abdelfattah
Relief over the release of Egyptian journalists Mahmoud Abou Zeid, known as Shawkan, and Alaa Abdelfattah from prison last month has been clouded by the conditions of their freedom. “I am happy to see your joy over my release, but I am unfortunately not free,” Abdelfattah wrote to his large following on social media yesterday.…
CPJ’s Joel Simon speaks at Press Behind Bars panel
Committee to Protect Journalists Executive Director Joel Simon addressed a panel event at the 73rd session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on September 28, 2018. The event highlighted global press freedom violations and the jailing of journalists in countries around the world, with a specific focus on cases in Egypt, Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh,…
Live Stream – Press Behind Bars: Undermining Justice and Democracy
Event scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. EDT on Friday, September 28, 2018. Committee to Protect Journalists Executive Director Joel Simon, Reuters President and CPJ board member Stephen J. Adler, and human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, who represents the imprisoned Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, speak on a panel at the 73rd…
Journalists released from prison in Egypt, but others remain
New York, September 17, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release on bail of two journalists in Egypt and calls on authorities to free the 11 other journalists still behind bars. The move comes days before Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is set to address the United Nations General Assembly in New York, according…
Harsh sentence in Egypt daunting for the press
New York, June 11, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the 15-year jail sentence given today to Egyptian blogger Alaa Abd el-Fattah, and at least 24 other defendants, on charges of attacking a police officer and protesting the government’s ban on unsanctioned protests. Dozens of critical voices, including journalists and political and human…
In Egypt, crackdown against media reaches new lows
The government of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi continues to escalate its offensive against journalists. Details of the most recent case, in which an arrest warrant was issued for blogger Alaa Abdelfattah for inciting “aggression” against members of the Muslim Brotherhood, show how low the government is willing to go in order to silence its critics.
CPJ condemns siege at Cairo’s Media Production City
New York, March 25, 2013–The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by the violent siege on Sunday of the Media Production City, a complex housing numerous private news outlets in Cairo, an episode that followed a series of inflammatory anti-press comments by President Mohamed Morsi and members of the Muslim Brotherhood.