Detained

Update: After publication on August 14, George Atabong Lekeaka was released, according to his lawyer Emmanuel Aleambong Nkea. Dakar, August 14, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Cameroonian authorities to release George Atabong Lekeaka, who has been held incommunicado since Monday for publishing a photo of security officers on patrol during clashes with separatist…

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined eight local and international press freedom and human rights groups on Friday in expressing deep concern over escalating pressure on independent journalists in Kazakhstan ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for August 23. The groups’ joint statement details how, in the weeks leading up to the vote – the first…

New York, August 14, 2026—Five years on from the Taliban’s seizure of Afghanistan, the Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the group to halt its brutal repression of the press — particularly women journalists — and lift sweeping restrictions that have cut access to independent information and allowed a propaganda ecosystem to flourish. After capturing…

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined partner organizations on Wednesday to strongly condemn the arrest and enforced disappearance of at least 36 Shi’a Muslims in Egypt, including journalist Haidar Qandil, and called for their immediate release. Qandil was arrested on June 22, 2026, outside the offices of Al-Dostor newspaper in Giza, Greater Cairo, and taken…

Nairobi, August 6, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Ethiopian authorities to stop their relentless campaign to shutter the Addis Standard, whose editor-in-chief Yonas Kedir was detained and assaulted and its newsroom raided and equipment destroyed, while also receiving an eviction notice in the last week. “These attacks on the Addis Standard and Yonas…

New York, August 6, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Pakistani authorities to withdraw draconian new guidelines requiring journalists working for international media outlets to obtain authorization before reporting outside Islamabad, Karachi, or Lahore, in a move likely to censor coverage of unrest in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The guidelines, reviewed by CPJ, require international and…

New York, August 5, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for the immediate release of freelance journalist Alrayah Isam Gaksa, a contributor to local news website Hekaiyat and Baankhi Press, who was detained by the Sudan Shield Forces, an armed group allied with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), while returning from a work assignment in…

New York, August 5, 2026—Pakistani authorities must account for and immediately release journalists Razi Tahir and Muhammad Saif, who were taken by men in police uniform from their office in the capital city Islamabad, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Wednesday.   Tahir and Saif, independent journalists who publish through Tahir’s popular social media…

New Delhi, July 27, 2026—Bangladeshi authorities should immediately drop the charges of crimes against humanity against journalists Farzana Rupa and Mozammel Babu and release them without delay, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. Prosecutors at Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on Monday submitted a formal charge sheet naming the two journalists and 39 other…

The Committee to Protect Journalists, together with the Syrian Centre for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM), has submitted a report to the United Nations Human Rights Council documenting persistent threats to press freedom in Syria, ahead of the country’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The UPR, a UN mechanism that reviews each member state’s human…