Detained

New York, February 9, 2026 —The Committee to Protect Journalists demands that Iranian authorities halt their ongoing attacks and harassment of journalists and media workers and roll back punitive measures used to silence reporting, including raids, equipment seizures, financial pressure, and restrictions on communications. Azadeh Mokhtari, a social affairs editor at the Rokna news website,…

New York, February 9, 2026 — Algerian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Omar Ferhat, director of the local independent news website Algerie Scoop, and drop all charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Monday. On Thursday, February 5, Algerian state security officers arrested Ferhat, also known as ‘Karim Kaki’, from…

Bangkok, February 6, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Cambodian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release journalist Hem Vanna, who was arrested after publishing a report about a suspected cyberscam compound. On February 3, Vanna, a journalist with the local independent HVNN TV Online, was summoned by military police in the western border town…

New York, February 6, 2026—Chinese authorities must immediately release independent journalists Liu Hu and Wu Yingjiao, who were detained days after publishing a report accusing a local official of corruption, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Friday. Liu, 50, and Wu, 34, were detained on February 1, news reports said. The following day police in the southwestern city of…

New York, February 5, 2026—Pakistani authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Sohrab Barkat and ensure that his employer Siasat can continue to report the news freely, the Committee to Protect Journalist said on Thursday. Barkat was detained on November 26 on his way to attend a United Nations conference and is facing three separate…

New York, February 2, 2026— The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Iranian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release journalists Mehdi Mahmoudian and Vida Rabbani and to end the ongoing crackdown on journalists. Mahmoudian and Rabbani were arrested after signing a statement, alongside other Iranian journalists and activists, expressing their support of the recent mass…

New York, January 30, 2026—Turkish authorities must immediately release exiled Iranian journalist Kaveh Taheri and halt all efforts to deport him to Iran, where he faces serious risks, including but not limited to imprisonment. Taheri, an independent and freelance journalist and human rights advocate recognized as a refugee by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees…

Washington, D.C., January 29, 2026 — The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Saudi authorities to disclose the reasons for the detention of Saudi television and YouTube program host Mohamed El-Sayed. According to the U.K.-based Arab Organization for Human Rights in the U.K. (AOHR) and the U.S.-based independent media outlet Watan, El-Sayed was taken into…

For Congolese journalist Prince Cikala Mihigo, the first day of 2026 brought a brutal reminder of the risks of reporting: rebel soldiers beat and kicked him while questioning him about his work, leaving his face swollen and raw.   Cikala was assaulted at a checkpoint in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s eastern city of Bukavu,…

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…