Iranian journalist Negar Ostad Agha detained reporting on girl’s funeral
Washington, D.C., November 6, 2023—Iranian authorities must immediately release female journalist Negar Ostad Agha and cease jailing members of the press for reporting the news, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On October 29, Ostad Agha, a journalist and senior editor at Etemad Online, was arrested in a cemetery in Iran’s capital, Tehran, while…
CPJ condemns Russia’s extended detention of RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva
New York, October 23, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a Russian court’s decision on Monday to detain U.S.-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva until December 5 on charges of failing to register herself as a foreign agent. In a closed-door hearing on Monday, a court in the western Russian city of Kazan ordered Kurmasheva, an editor…
Russian authorities detain RFE/RL journalist Alsu Kurmasheva
New York, October 18, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by Wednesday’s detention of journalist Alsu Kurmasheva in the western Russian city of Kazan and calls on Russian authorities to release her immediately. “CPJ is deeply concerned by the detention of U.S-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva on spurious criminal charges and calls on Russian…
CPJ joins call for Saudi Arabia not to host 2024 Internet Governance Forum
The Committee to Protect Journalists and more than 70 digital and human rights organizations on Thursday called on United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to reverse the decision for Saudi Arabia to host the 2024 annual Internet Governance Forum as the physical and digital security risks would severely undermine civil society’s participation. The joint letter highlights…
Morocco denies jailed journalist Omar Radi post-surgical care in hospital
New York, October 17, 2023—Moroccan authorities must immediately release journalist Omar Radi, and transfer him to a hospital to recover from surgery on a broken arm, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On Wednesday, Radi—who is serving a six-year jail term—broke his right arm in prison in Tiflet and was transferred to a hospital…
Tipping the scales: Journalists’ lawyers face retaliation around the globe
The smears began the day Christian Ulate began representing jailed Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora: tweets accusing the lawyer of being a leftist or questioning his legal credentials. He began to fear he was being surveilled. Ulate had taken over the case in August 2022 from two other lawyers, Romeo Montoya García and Mario Castañeda,…
Taliban intelligence agents detain 3 Radio Nasim journalists
New York, October 9, 2023—Taliban authorities should immediately and unconditionally release journalists Sultan Ali Jawadi, Saifullah Rezaei, and Mojtaba Qasemi and cease harassing the press in Afghanistan, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. On Saturday, three Taliban intelligence operatives took the independent Radio Nasim’s director, Jawadi, and two of its journalists, Rezaei and Qasemi,…
Three journalists detained in Ethiopia, transferred to military camp
Nairobi, October 5, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists on Thursday called on Ethiopian authorities to immediately release three journalists detained in late August and early September, and expressed grave concern about a pattern of detaining journalists amid an ongoing state of emergency. On August 26, 2023, police arrested Tewodros Zerfu, a presenter and program host…
Turkey indicts 2 Kurdish journalists on terrorism charges
Istanbul, October 5, 2023—The Committee to Protect Journalists urged Turkish authorities on Thursday to immediately release journalists Dicle Müftüoğlu and Sedat Yılmaz, who have been held in pretrial detention for more than five months, and to stop using terrorism legislation to criminalize journalists. Müftüoğlu and Yılmaz, both editors at the pro-Kurdish Mezopotamya News Agency, were…
On fifth anniversary of Khashoggi murder, CPJ joins call for Biden administration to prioritize human rights in Saudi Arabia
Five years have passed since the heinous murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the country’s consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, in an operation that US intelligence found to have been approved by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).