false news

Dakar, February 12, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Senegalese authorities to release Modou Fall, news commentator at the privately owned channel Sen TV, after he was arrested Wednesday in Dakar, the Senegalese capital, on false news accusations for remarks he made about a crackdown on student protests. “Senegalese authorities continue to criminalize news…

Istanbul, September 23, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Turkish authorities to stop prosecuting broadcasters for commentary after five journalists were charged and three were placed under investigation, accused of either spreading false information or insulting the president in three political debate shows.  “These cases against broadcast journalists are only the most recent in…

New York, July 15, 2025—President Sadyr Japarov signed amendments to the Kyrgyz Code of Offenses on July 8, introducing administrative penalties for spreading “false or unreliable” information via mass media or the internet — another in a series of ongoing moves toward cracking down on the country’s independent press. The law, whose signing was announced July 11, will go…

New York, July 9, 2025—CPJ urges Tunisian authorities to cease the prosecution of family members of journalists advocating for their release after a Tunis court on July 1 sentenced in absentia Ramla Dahmani, the sister of imprisoned lawyer and political commentator Sonia Dahmani, to two years in prison on false news charges.  “Tunisian authorities are…

Dakar, July 7, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Senegalese authorities to immediately release news commentator Bachir Fofana, after a judge ordered on July 2 that Fofana remain in detention until July 9, pending the continuation of his trial. Fofana was charged with publishing false news about the recipient of a vehicle purchase contract for the…

New York, January 28, 2025—Pakistan’s Senate on Tuesday passed controversial amendments to the country’s cybercrime laws, which would criminalize the “intentional” spread of “false news” with prison terms of up to three years, a fine of up to 2 million rupees (US$7,100), or both.  The amendments to the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) were…

New York, October 25, 2024 – Tunisian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release political commentator Sonia Dahmani, who was sentenced on Thursday to two years in prison for spreading false news, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. “Sonia Dahmani is already serving an eight-month prison term in Tunisia and sentencing her to two more…

Washington, D.C., September 24, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Egyptian authorities to release Alaa Abdelfattah, a prominent Egyptian-British blogger and writer, upon completion of his five-year prison sentence this Sunday, September 29. Abdelfattah was arrested on September 28, 2019, and in December 2021, he was sentenced to five years in prison, starting from…

New York, October 31, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Egypt’s Supreme Council for Media Regulation (SCMR) to revoke its six-month ban on the  independent news website Mada Masr over its reporting on the Israel-Gaza war and to reverse its decision to refer the outlet for prosecution. On Sunday, the SCMR announced that, after…

On October 5, 2023, Moroccan police arrested journalist Abdelmjid Amyay, director of local independent news website Chams Post, at a coffee shop in the northeastern city of Oujda and detained him for one night for sharing articles about corruption in the city on his personal Facebook page, according to news reports. The following day, authorities…