CPJ calls on Zambian president to champion the media as World Press Freedom Day host
The Committee to Protect Journalists wrote to Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema expressing concern over recent attacks on journalists and legislation that negatively impacts the media, as the country prepares to host the United Nations’ World Press Freedom Day 2026 Global Conference on May 3. The letter also calls on Hichilema to create a safe and…
Journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin safe following detention in Kuwait
New York, April 25, 2026—Journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin has been reunited with his family and is in a place of safety, a legal team acting for his sisters said on Saturday. The award-winning U.S.-Kuwaiti journalist was detained on March 3 in Kuwait, where he was visiting family. “We are delighted that Ahmed Shihab-Eldin has been released…
US-Kuwaiti journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin acquitted of all charges
Update: In an April 29, 2026, statement, Ahmed Shihab-Eldin’s attorneys clarified that the journalist was acquitted on only one of three charges. Washington, D.C., April 23, 2026 — The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes a Kuwaiti court’s acquittal of U.S.-Kuwaiti journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin on all charges following nearly two months of detention. “We are relieved…
CPJ shares statement from international legal counsel acting in case of US-Kuwaiti journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin
On April 22, the international legal counsel acting for the sisters of U.S.-Kuwaiti journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin issued an urgent statement, saying they were “extremely concerned for Ahmed’s safety and wellbeing” in Kuwaiti detention, and demanding his release. The international legal team has filed urgent appeals with United Nations experts, and they are engaging with U.S.,…
CPJ submission to UN documents series of journalist jailings, secretive trials, torture claims in Tajikistan
New York, April 17, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists has submitted a report on the state of press freedom in Tajikistan to the United Nations Human Rights Council ahead of November’s 53rd Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session. The submission details a significant deterioration of media freedom — in what was already one of the world’s most restrictive environments…
CPJ urges press freedom support in El Salvador in statement to Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Thursday submitted a statement to the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, a bipartisan body of the U.S. House of Representatives, calling attention to the systematic erosion of press freedom in El Salvador under the ongoing state of exception. The statement, filed during the “The State of Exception in El Salvador: Year…
Courts in Turkey sentence four journalists for critical commentary
Istanbul, April 15, 2026—Turkish authorities must stop harassing critical journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. Zafer Arapkirli (of the leftist daily BirGün and BirGün TV), Barış Pehlivan (of the pro-opposition daily Cumhuriyet, and the Onlar TV YouTube channel), Timur Soykan (BirGün, Onlar TV), and Murat Ağırel (Cumhuriyet, Onlar TV) were sentenced to prison by two Istanbul courts in…
CPJ, partners urge decisive U.S. action to end Sudan war on third anniversary
New York, April 15, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 28 other civil society organizations in a joint letter urging the United States to take decisive action to help end the war in Sudan, as it marks its third anniversary. The letter highlights escalating atrocities by both the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese…
Sudan’s 3 years of war, impunity, and the silencing of the press
As Sudan’s war marks its third anniversary, on April 15, 2026, fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has turned the country into one of the world’s most dangerous and deadliest environments for the press, where reporting the truth comes with the constant risk of imprisonment, disappearance, or death….
China moves journalist Dong Yuyu further from family with prison transfer
New York, April 15, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns China’s decision to transfer veteran journalist Dong Yuyu from a prison in Beijing to another facility in Tianjin, a move that takes the 63-year-old, who is serving a seven-year sentence for espionage, further from home and makes it more difficult for his family to visit….