Middle East & North Africa

Contact CPJ Middle East & North Africa

Twitter: @CPJMena
Facebook: لجنة حماية الصحفيين بالعربية
Interim Program Coordinator:
Yeganeh Rezaian

Tel: +1 212-300-9018, +1 212-300-9017
Fax: +1 212-214-0640

Knight Foundation Press Freedom Center
P.O. Box 2675
New York, NY 10108 USA

  
U.K. Foreign Minister David Lammy attends the G20 Foreign Minister Meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, on February 20, 2025. CPJ joined 24 organizations in writing a letter to Lammy, urging the U.K. government to lead on a joint statement to address Egypt’s human rights crisis. (Photo: AFP/Emmanuel Crosetafp)

CPJ: UK must lead joint statement on Egypt at UN Human Rights Council

The U.K. government must lead on a joint statement addressing Egypt’s human rights crisis, according to a February 19 letter sent by the Committee to Protect Journalists and 24 other press freedom and human rights organizations to U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy ahead of the 58th session of the U.N. Human Rights Council. The letter…

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Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi attends Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, November, 11, 2023. Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY

Egypt blocks independent media outlet Zawia3 over investigative reporting

Washington, D.C., February 21, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the blocking of Egyptian independent media outlet Zawia3, based in Brussels, and calls on Egyptian authorities to end the country’s systematic censorship of independent journalism. “The blocking of Zawia3 is yet another example of Egyptian authorities arbitrarily censoring media without legal justification, using technology to suppress journalism and restrict Egyptians’…

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Slemani News Network camera operator Sivar Baban struggles to breathe after being teargassed during a Kurdistan teachers’ protest on February 9.

Dozens of Iraqi Kurdistan journalists teargassed, arrested, raided over protest

Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, February 13, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by Kurdistan security forces’ assault on 12 news crews covering a February 9 protest by teachers and other public employees over unpaid salaries, which resulted in at least 22 journalists teargassed, two arrested, and a television station raided. “The aggressive treatment meted out to…

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A general view shows the Parliament building at the New Administrative Capital (NAC) in the east of Cairo, Egypt, March 24, 2024. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

CPJ, others call on Egypt to reform its draft Criminal Procedure Code

The Committee to Protect Journalists, along with 11 other press freedom and human rights organizations, calls on Egyptian authorities to reject the current draft of the Criminal Procedure Code so a new code be developed in line with international human rights standards. The joint statement highlights several problematic provisions in the draft—especially Articles 79, 80, and 116—that…

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Mohamed Boughalleb

CPJ urges Tunisia president to release journalist Mohamed Boughalleb

The Committee to Protect Journalists sent a letter to Tunisian President Kais Saied on February 12 asking him to secure the release of journalist Mohamed Boughalleb, whose health is gravely worsening, and to repeal the cybercrime law Decree 54. Boughalleb, a reporter with local independent channel Carthage Plus and local independent radio station Cap FM,…

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Tunisian journalist Chadha Hadj Mbarek sentenced to 5 years in prison 

New York, February 7, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for the immediate release of journalist Chadha Hadj Mbarek after a Tunisian court sentenced her to five years in prison on Wednesday. Another journalist, freelancer Chahrazad Akacha, was sentenced to 27 years in absentia. “The sentencing of journalists Chadha Hadj Mbarek and Chahrazad Akacha is a clear example of how the Tunisian…

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Journalist casualties in the Israel-Gaza war

The Israel-Gaza war has taken an unprecedented toll on Gazan journalists since Israel declared war on Hamas following its attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. As of February 28, 2025, CPJ’s preliminary investigations showed at least 170 journalists and media workers were among the more than tens of thousands killed in Gaza, the West Bank, Israel,…

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Attacks, arrests, threats, censorship: The high risks of reporting the Israel-Gaza war

Since the Israel-Gaza war began on October 7, 2023, journalists and media across the region have faced a hostile environment that has made reporting on the war exceptionally challenging.   In addition to documenting the growing tally of journalists killed and injured, CPJ’s research has found multiple kinds of incidents of journalists being targeted while carrying…

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Arrests of Palestinian journalists since start of Israel-Gaza war

Since the start of the Israel-Gaza war, an unprecedented number of journalists and media workers have been arrested — often without charge — in what they and their attorneys say is retaliation for their journalism and commentary. As of February 28, 2025, CPJ has documented a total of 75 arrests of journalists in the Palestinian…

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(Screenshot: SuhailChannel/YouTube)

Yemeni journalist handed 4-month prison sentence over social media post

Washington, D.C., February 3, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a January 21 ruling by the Ataq Primary Court in Shabwa province, southern Yemen, sentencing journalist Aziz Al-Ahmadi to four months in prison with a suspended sentence over a social media post questioning a solar energy project in the province. “The sentence against Al-Ahmadi is yet another…

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