French journalist Olivier Dubois was freed nearly two years after he was abducted by a militant group in Mali.
“It’s amazing for me to be here, to be free,” Dubois said while thanking Nigerien authorities for their role in his release. He is now reunited with his family in France.
Dubois, a freelancer, went missing on April 8, 2021, in the Malian region of Gao while seeking an interview with the local leader of the Al-Qaeda affiliated group Jamaa Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin. His abduction was made public in a video posted online that May.
Global press freedom updates
- New Ukrainian army regulations limit reporters’ access to frontlines
- Israeli authorities shutter Voice of Palestine radio’s Israel operations, question 5 journalists
- Turkish authorities harass Greek journalists covering earthquake, smash cameras and phones
- At least 28 journalists harassed, beaten, denied access while covering Nigerian state elections
- Bosnia and Herzegovina journalists attacked after covering LGBTQ event
- Bombs mailed to at least 5 journalists in Ecuador
- Bangladeshi journalist Mamunur Rashid Nomani faces hearing over Digital Security Act charges
- Turkey regulator forces closure of German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle’s office
- Ethiopian authorities detain Gurage Media Network founder Beyene Wolde
- CPJ welcomes US court ruling that Haitian mayor was responsible for 2008 radio station attack
Spotlight
CPJ staff met with Sofia Liluashvili, wife of jailed Georgian journalist Nika Gvaramia, this week at our headquarters in New York City.
Gvaramia, founder and general director of pro-opposition broadcaster Mtavari Arkhi (Main Channel), has been serving a prison sentence of three and a half years in Georgia since May 2022 on charges of abuse of office while serving as director of the opposition broadcaster Rustavi 2.
CPJ calls on authorities in Georgia to immediately free Gvaramia and allow him and other journalists in the country to work freely.
What we are reading:
- The killing of Shireen Abu Akleh: What one morning in the West Bank reveals about the occupation – Kaamil Ahmed, Lydia McMullan, Elena Morresi, Garry Blight, and Harry Fischer, The Guardian
- Forced to flee: How exiled journalists hold the powerful to account – Celeste Katz Marston, Nieman Reports
- How freelance journalists worked together to recover from the 2020 protests – James Stout, Study Hall
- 2022 country reports on human rights practices – U.S. State Department
So far in 2023…
At least four journalists have been killed in relation to their work. Explore our database of attacks on the press and apply filters to examine trends.