The Torch

In Saudi Arabia, journalist Zuhair Kutbi was arrested on unknown charges, and Eman Al Nafjan and Hatoon al-Fassi, two of the four female journalists critical of the ban on women driving whom Saudi authorities arrested last year, were tried. They appeared in court Wednesday on charges under the cybercrime law, including supporting “hostile elements.” In…

Egyptian photojournalist and CPJ’s 2016 International Press Freedom Award winner Mahmoud Abou Zeid, known as Shawkan, was released from prison on Monday after spending over five years in detention on anti-state charges. The conditions of his release, however, are arduous: he will be under “police observation” for five years, meaning he will have to appear…

Venezuela’s political crisis continues to unfold, and the country’s press crackdown intensified over the past week. On Monday, a Univision news crew headed by reporter and anchor Jorge Ramos was detained for over two hours at the presidential palace in Caracas because Nicolás Maduro allegedly did not like the questions asked by Ramos. The crew’s…

New York Times correspondent David D. Kirkpatrick was denied entry into Egypt on Monday. His phone was confiscated and he was held in the airport for seven hours without food or water before authorities forced him onto a flight back to London without explanation. The move against Kirkpatrick comes after authorities detained a local journalist,…

The Philippine government’s legal harassment of the news website Rappler and Maria Ressa, its founder and executive editor, took an alarming turn Wednesday when officers from the National Bureau of Investigation arrested Ressa at Rappler‘s bureau in Manila and held her overnight over a cyber libel case filed against her by the Justice Department. Ressa’s…

CPJ hosted a press conference Thursday morning in front of the White House as the culmination of its #JusticeForJamal campaign to demand the Trump administration provide answers and accountability in the case of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Two radio journalists were shot and killed in northern Afghanistan during a live program on Tuesday evening….

CPJ expressed concern that at least four journalists were surveilled under Project Raven, a United Arab Emirates cybersurveillance and hacking operation, according to a Reuters report. CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour called the involvement of U.S. intelligence officials in the operation “disturbing.” CPJ North America Research Assistant Stephanie Sugars took…

Freelancer Mohamed Ben Khalifa was killed during clashes south of Tripoli, Libya, on Saturday. Mexican reporter Rafael Murúa Manríquez was found killed in Baja California Sur on Sunday despite being enrolled in a federal protection program for human rights defenders and journalists. On Monday, Sudanese authorities revoked the credentials of at least six journalists working…

A Myanmar court upholds the conviction of Reuters news agency reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo. Investigative journalist Ahmed Divela shot dead in Ghana. In Romania, the EU GDPR privacy law is being used to try to muzzle investigative outlet, Rise Project. Global press freedom updates: CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator…

On Monday, Gabon’s government shut down the nation’s internet and broadcasting services following an attempted coup against President Ali Bongo Ondimba. Sudan detained several critical columnists amid protests. In Canada, police blocked media from covering the breakup of an anti-pipeline protest led by indigenous activists. Global press freedom updates Mozambican police arrested a radio journalist…