Journalist Dil Bhusan Pathak could face up to five years in prison for alleging on his YouTube channel that Jaiveer Singh Deuba, the son of two powerful Nepalese politicians, was linked to questionable deals involving the new Hilton Kathmandu. His case illustrates a disturbing trend in Nepal, where journalists reporting on alleged corruption by high-profile individuals and state institutions…
New York, August 25, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Israeli strikes that killed five journalists in Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza and calls for the international community to hold Israel accountable for its continued unlawful attacks on the press. Journalist Hussam Al-Masri, a Reuters contractor; Al Jazeera camera operator Mohammed Salama; Mariam Abu…
The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 71 other press freedom and human rights organizations in an August 21 joint letter calling on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to secure UK citizen and publisher Jimmy Lai’s release on medical grounds. Lai, the 77-year-old founder of the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, has suffered deteriorating health, including heart palpitations…
Washington, D.C., August 21, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists filed a declaration of support on August 20, 2025, in the case of reporter Mario Guevara, as part of the American Civil Liberties Union’s habeas petition that demands U.S. federal authorities provide justification for Guevara’s ongoing detention. In the declaration, CPJ expressed alarm that Guevara remains in…
Editor’s note: Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu signed the Maldives Media & Broadcasting Bill into law on September 18, 2025. New Delhi, August 21, 2025—Maldives president Mohamed Muizzu should reject a bill that was recently introduced in the country’s parliament that would dismantle press freedom and place the media under government control, the second such bill…
New Delhi, August 20, 2025—Two police branches in northeastern Indian state of Assam opened separate criminal investigations into Siddharth Varadarajan, editor for independent news website The Wire, its entire editorial team, including Hindi language editor Ashutosh Bhardwaj and contributor Karan Thapar, and the outlet’s parent company, the Foundation for Independent Journalism (FIJ). The investigations are…
Nairobi, August 20, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply alarmed by the abduction of Ethiopian newspaper editor Yonas Amare, the arbitrary detention of journalist Khadar Mohamed Ismael, and the incommunicado detention of radio host Abdulsemed Mohammed. On August 13, masked men reportedly wearing military uniforms abducted Yonas, who works with the privately owned Reporter newspaper, from…
Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, August 20, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Kurdish authorities to immediately release freelance Iraqi Kurdish journalist Sherwan Sherwani after an Erbil court handed him an additional four years and five months in prison. “Sentencing Sherwani for a third time on dubious charges and imposing the maximum penalty shows the authorities’ determination to silence his critical voice and keep him behind…
New York, August 19, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in Guinea-Bissau to rescind an August 15 order effectively suspending the work of the Portuguese state-owned news outlets LUSA and RTP and expelling Portuguese journalists working with them. Authorities ordered the immediate and indefinite closure of the LUSA and RTP offices and the discontinuation of…
Nairobi, August 19, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Malagasy authorities to retract threats of criminal prosecution directed at Gaëlle Borgia, a freelancer who contributes to TV5 Monde, and Radio France Internationale (RFI) correspondent Pauline Le Troquier, and to ensure that the press can cover matters of public interest without interference. According to the…