Middle East & North Africa

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), along with 17 press freedom, human rights organizations and media outlets, is urging the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq to immediately and unconditionally release journalist Sherwan Sherwani, who remains unjustly imprisoned for his independent reporting and has been subjected to systematic judicial harassment. On August 20, 2025, the Erbil…

Washington, D.C., September 19, 2025—Israel’s targeted strikes on two newspaper offices in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, which killed 31 journalists and media support workers on September 10, signal that its deadly pattern of attacking reporters and newsrooms on the grounds that they publish “terrorist” propaganda has spread firmly across the Middle East.  Yemen’s September 26 newspaper…

CPJ joined 13 local and international organizations in urging the Lebanese Parliament to ensure the draft media law under consideration upholds free expression. The draft law, submitted to the parliamentary committee in May 2025, included significant advancements in protecting free expression in Lebanon, including abolishing pretrial detention and prison sentences for all speech-related violations. It…

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 22 other international and Egyptian rights organizations in urging United Nations member states not to vote for Egypt in October’s elections to the U.N. Human Rights Council. The letter highlights Egypt’s alarming human rights record, noting that the country regularly ranks among the world’s top 10 jailers of journalists,…

New York, September 10, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for the release of journalist El-Rashid Mohamed Haroun, who was taken by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) from the Ardeiba market in El-Geneina, West Darfur, in late July, and detained for unknown reasons, according to news reports and a journalist familiar with the case,…

Washington, D.C., September 10, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Houthi authorities, who control most of Yemen, to immediately restore access to independent media outlet Barran Press, which the rebels have blocked via two internet service providers that they control. On September 6, Barran Press, which is based in the government-controlled city of Marib,…

Washington, D.C., September 5, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Saudi authorities to justify their detention of freelance Yemeni journalist Mujahid Al-Haiqi at Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah airport last month, or immediately release him.  “By arresting Mujahid Al-Haiqi without explanation, Saudi authorities show once again that journalists face tremendous perils in the kingdom, even when…

Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, September 3, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Iraqi Kurdish authorities to swiftly investigate the motive behind the shooting of journalist Hemn Mamand in Sulaymaniyah on Tuesday. Mamand was shot while leaving a restaurant, hours after broadcasting his talk show “Sarinj – Comment” on Sterk TV, where he discusses human rights, including…

Iranian-American journalist Reza Valizadeh has spent more than a year imprisoned in Iran, enduring severe psychological torment and relentless interrogations for the simple fact that he is a journalist. Initially detained in Tehran’s Evin Prison, his already dire situation deteriorated significantly after a devastating Israeli attack on the facility. Valizadeh was transferred to the dangerously overcrowded and medically inadequate Fashafouyeh Prison, where extreme neglect and inhumane…

Paris, August 28, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the mayor of Tehran, Alireza Zakani, to respect the Tehran Journalists’ Association’s right to function without undue interference after the mayor’s office of the Iranian capital city ousted the organization, in what the group described as retaliatory action. “We strongly oppose the forced closure of…