Legal Action

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Nigerian YouTube-based journalist Mathew Ojoduma

Nigerian journalist Matthew Ojoduma cleared, released after 9+ month detention in Benin

Editor’s note: The case against Matthew Ojoduma was dropped, and he was released on November 25, 2025, after evidence did not support the allegations against him, according to court documents reviewed by CPJ. The headline of this alert has been updated to reflect his release. Abuja, November 12, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on…

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Press freedom has suffered since President Kais Saied’s consolidation of power in 2021.

The law powering Tunisia’s crackdown on the press

New York City, December 19, 2025 – Since President Kais Saied’s consolidation of power in 2021, Tunisia’s press freedom landscape has narrowed sharply. A single piece of legislation—Decree-Law No. 2022-54 on combating “crimes related to information and communication systems”—has become the legal hammer used to silence critics, criminalize routine reporting, and imprison at least five…

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Members of the Florida National Guard and law enforcement officers monitor a protest at an entrance road of a temporary migrant detention center nicknamed "Alligator Alcatraz" on the day of a visit by U.S. President Donald Trump in Ochopee, Florida, U.S., July 1, 2025. REUTERS/Octavio Jones

Florida authorities drop charges against photojournalist following joint statement by CPJ, partners

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 22 press freedom and media partner organizations in a December 12 letter calling on Miami-Dade State Attorney Fernandez Rundle to drop charges against photojournalist Dave Decker. On December 16, all charges were dismissed. Decker was arrested on November 22 while covering a protest near the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Krome North…

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A woman waits at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE) check-in office at the U.S. immigration court in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., December 18, 2025. REUTERS/David 'Dee' Delgado

Chinese citizen journalist seeking asylum in US faces deportation

Update: Following the DHS’s decision to drop its proposal to deport the journalist to Uganda, CPJ calls on the agency to ensure that the journalist can stay in the U.S. while continuing the process of applying for asylum. Washington, D.C., December 18, 2025—The Trump administration’s plan to deport a Chinese citizen journalist — who fled…

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Burundian journalist Sandra Muhoza

127 African women journalists write to jailed Burundian Sandra Muhoza as she returns to court

Nairobi, December 18, 2025—On the first anniversary of the conviction of ailing Burundian journalist Sandra Muhoza, 127 African women journalists have written her a joint letter expressing solidarity, calling for her unconditional release, and decrying her imprisonment as robbing the public of “an important voice.” Muhoza is expected in court on December 19, a family…

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Trump’s legal team filed the suit in the U.S. Southern District of Florida on Monday, seeking $10 billion in damages in connection with the editing of a speech Trump gave January 6, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Nathan Howard)

CPJ: Trump’s BBC lawsuit is yet another attack on US media freedom 

Washington, D.C., December 17, 2025— The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns President Donald Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against British public broadcaster, the BBC, and calls on the president to stop engaging the media in lawsuits that appear to challenge the fundamentals of the First Amendment. “The president’s lawsuits against the BBC and other news outlets undercut…

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Cameroon President Paul Biya (center) gestures as he celebrates his inauguration at the National Assembly in Yaounde on November 6, 2025.

Post-election Cameroon: ‘The regime considers the press to be its last enemy’

In his campaign to win an eighth term, Cameroonian President Paul Biya pledged to “strengthen measures to protect freedom of expression and journalists” in one of Africa’s most dangerous countries for the press. But six journalists who spoke to CPJ after October’s contested election — which opposition leader Issa Tchiroma Bakary claimed to have won,…

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Publisher Jimmy Lai poses during an interview at the Next Digital offices in Hong Kong on June 16, 2020. (Photo: AFP/Anthony Wallace)

CPJ condemns Hong Kong’s conviction of Jimmy Lai in national security case

New York, December 14, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a Hong Kong court’s conviction of Jimmy Lai, founder of the defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, in a landmark national security trial and calls on authorities to immediately free the 78-year-old British citizen. “This sham conviction is a disgraceful act of persecution,” said CPJ Asia-Pacific…

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If convicted, the journalists face up to 12 years in prison on a raft of financial crime charges linked to alleged receipt of Western donor funding, including currency smuggling, money laundering, and tax evasion.

Trial of 12 journalists begins in Azerbaijan’s case against Meydan TV

New York, December 12, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Azerbaijan to drop all charges and release 12 journalists as the trial against Germany-based Meydan TV began Friday in the capital, Baku. “The sorry sight of 11 journalists and a respected journalism teacher on trial in the case against award-winning Meydan TV only underscores the vast…

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Jimmy Lai

Hong Kong court set to rule in Jimmy Lai trial on Monday

New York, December 12, 2025—Ahead of Monday’s expected verdict in the national security trial of Jimmy Lai, founder of the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, the Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Hong Kong authorities to drop all charges against the 78-year-old publisher and release him immediately and unconditionally. Lai, whose health has worsened after spending…

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