The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 22 other organizations in a joint letter calling for Al-Manassa cartoonist Ashraf Omar’s release a year after he was arrested July 22, 2024, and later accused of joining a terrorist group with knowledge of its purposes, spreading false news, and misusing social media. The statement also urged Egyptian authorities to…
Abuja, July 23, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Liberian authorities to ensure justice for journalist Alex Seryea Yormie, who was abducted for several hours and brutalized by members of a local traditional society in northeastern Nimba county. On June 30, the men abducted Yormie while he was on his way back to the community-based Lar-Wehyi…
Atlanta, July 22, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists and partners on Tuesday called on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to release Atlanta-based journalist Mario Guevara, who has been in jail since his June 14, 2025, arrest, despite the dropping of all charges against him and an immigration judge ordering his release on bail. An Emmy-winning, Spanish-language journalist, Guevara was arrested on First Amendment-related…
New York, July 22, 2025—Georgian authorities seized the financial accounts of independent news outlets Batumelebi and Netgazeti over tax arrears, days ahead of an expected verdict in the trial of the outlets’ director, Mzia Amaglobeli, who has been jailed since January on charges widely viewed as politically motivated. “The unwarranted seizure of Batumelebi and Netgazeti’s…
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 22, 2025—A media company linked to Egyptian authorities suspended three prominent television programs after their hosts criticized the government and road safety failures, raising concerns about media control by state-aligned entities, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On July 16, United Media Services (UMS), a company owned and closely linked to Egypt’s General Intelligence Service, terminated its contract with…
Mexico City, July 22, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by a gag order placed on reporter-editor Jorge Luis González Valdez and the newspaper Tribuna by a court in the southeastern Mexican state of Campeche. CPJ calls on Gov. Layda Sansores to immediately cease any judicial harassment of the journalist and the publication over…
Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, July 22, 2025—Journalists were killed, wounded, shot at, and blocked from entering the southern city of Sweida as sectarian violence spread across the region last week, according to multiple journalists who spoke to CPJ. An Israeli airstrike also damaged a media outlet in Damascus. “The violence against journalists in Sweida — including injuries, intimidation, and…
Bangkok, July 22, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Philippine authorities to launch a swift and credible investigation into Monday’s killing of Radio WOW FM journalist Erwin Labitad Segovia, who was shot by unidentified assailants while riding his motorcycle home after his morning broadcast. Segovia was pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital in…
Lusaka, July 21, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the Malawi Constitutional Court’s landmark July 16 ruling striking down Section 200 of the penal code criminalizing defamation. “Malawi’s Constitutional Court has taken a monumental step towards protecting press freedom and affirmed that criticism and dissent are essential to democracy by ruling criminal defamation to be unconstitutional,” said…
As Gaza faces a humanitarian catastrophe, Palestinian journalists are among those going hungry. Cut off from food, aid, and support from the international press, they continue to report, not only on the war, but on their own malnutrition. “Palestinian journalists are the last witnesses on the ground,” said CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah. “Their reporting…