In Focus

On March 5, 2025, in a crowded Dhaka courtroom, journalist Farzana Rupa stood without a lawyer as a judge moved to register yet another murder case against her. Already in jail, she quietly asked for bail. The judge said the hearing was only procedural. “There are already a dozen cases piling up against me,” she said. “I’m a journalist….

New York, July 24, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is gravely worried about the safety of Al Jazeera Arabic’s Gaza correspondent Anas al-Sharif, who is being targeted by an Israeli military smear campaign, which he believes is a precursor to his assassination. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee has stepped up his…

New York, July 23, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists added its voice to Wednesday’s urgent appeal from more than 100 aid agencies to end to Israel’s starvation of journalists and other civilians in Gaza, as they called on states to “save lives before there are none left to save.” “Israel is starving Gazan journalists into…

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…

Nazareth, Israel, July 9, 2025—Israel’s 12-day war with Iran provided Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government with an opportunity to step up its assault on the press — a trend that has since continued apace. “Media freedom is often a casualty of war, and Israel’s recent war with Iran is no exception. We have seen Israeli…

New York, July 2, 2025—The dead have been buried and most journalists detained during Iran’s 12-day war with Israel have been freed, but the media are still reeling, as authorities crack down on critical voices and disrupt internet access. The state news agency has announced a “season of traitor-killing,” with hundreds of people arrested and…

When British investigative journalist Will Neal was turned back at Georgia’s border with Armenia in May, he became the fifth of at least six European journalists in recent months to be denied entry into a country once seen as a regional leader for press freedom. Neal, who had lived in Georgia since 2022, was expelled just weeks…

New York, June 23, 2025— Eight Azerbaijani journalists have received prison sentences ranging from 7 ½ to 15 years, as part of an ongoing series of media trials likely to obliterate independent reporting in the Caucasus nation. In a closed-door trial on Monday, columnist and peace activist Bahruz Samadov was sentenced by a court in…

Paris, June 17, 2025—Iran’s conflict with Israel has intensified media censorship in the Islamic Republic, with Iranian journalists warned not to comment online and a task force set up to prosecute those sharing “fake” news, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday, calling for press freedom to be respected. Two Iranian journalists, who spoke to…

Nazareth, June 17, 2025—Palestinian journalists in Israel covering the conflict with Iran that began June 13 have been accused of “working for the enemy,” barred from reporting sites, physically assaulted, and subjected to racial slurs. The attacks and restrictions against the Palestinian journalists are part of a broader pattern of obstruction and hostility toward the…