Legal Action

New York, September 16, 2026—Tunisian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release and drop all charges against journalist Zied el-Heni, who is serving a one-year prison sentence and faces two separate other criminal cases, including a new case where he is facing four terrorism-related charges that his family says could expose him to life imprisonment, the…

Istanbul, September 15, 2026—Turkish authorities must release arrested journalist Selahattin Günday without delay and stop abusing the country’s laws to harass journalists and prevent them from doing their jobs, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday.  Günday, a former broadcast reporter for the now closed Doğan News Agency (DHA), was taken into custody by Istanbul…

The Committee to Protect Journalists, together with eight other press freedom and human rights organizations, on Friday urged Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to take immediate action to address the country’s rapidly deteriorating press freedom environment.  In a joint letter, the groups expressed concern about new restrictions on reporting in parts of Pakistan, recurring internet…

Istanbul, September 8, 2026—Turkish authorities must immediately release arrested journalist Oya Lale Özan Arslan and stop weaponizing the law against independent media, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Tuesday.  Arslan, a freelance journalist with over 118,000 followers on X and 151,000 on YouTube where she posts under the name Lale Özan Arslan, was detained…

In Tunisia, at least four journalists and commentators sentenced to prison over the last year remain free, trying to work and carry on with their daily lives while knowing they could be arrested and taken into custody. Two others are in exile, unable to return home without risking imprisonment. Whether they will eventually be forced…

Valletta, September 3, 2026—Almost nine years after investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated in a car bomb, Malta has still not convicted the person or people who orchestrated her horrific murder, setting a terrible precedent that will resonate across Europe.  On Wednesday, following an emotional trial that lasted 55 days and gripped the nation,…

Bogotá, Colombia, September 3, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on judicial authorities in Peru to drop defamation charges filed against journalists César Hildebrandt and Eloy Marchán by a businessman with ties to Peru’s president.  On Aug. 27, Damián Valenzuela, an Argentine lawyer and businessman, sued Hildebrandt, founder and editor of the newsweekly Hildebrandt en sus…

Istanbul, September 2, 2026—Turkish authorities should immediately release journalist İrem Delice, who was arrested on August 28 on suspicion of “spreading disinformation,” and repeal the disinformation law, which is being used all too often to criminalise journalism and silence reporting in Turkey, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. Delice and three other staff members from…

The Committee to Protect Journalists has urged Beninese President Romuald Wadagni to take decisive measures to protect press freedom, in a letter marking his first 100 days in office. The letter highlights Benin’s deteriorating press freedom record in recent years, including the July 2025 arrest of Comlan Hugues Sossoukpè, publishing director of the privately owned…

New York, August 31, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Tunisian authorities to immediately release journalists Zied el-Heni, Mourad Zghidi, and Borhen Bsaies, as reports of prisoner deaths amid an extreme heatwave raise grave concerns about life-threatening conditions in the country’s overcrowded prisons. At least 10 prisoners have died in recent weeks, as temperatures…