News

November 03, 2025 - Colombia -  Colombia’s highest criminal court has upheld the prison sentences of two former intelligence officers linked to the psychological torture of investigative journalist Claudia Julieta Duque. The decision from the Supreme Court of Colombia’s Criminal Cassation Chamber confirms the earlier rulings against Emiro Rojas Granados, ex-deputy director of the former state intelligence agency, and Néstor Pachón Bermúdez, a former agent, for their roles in a harassment campaign targeting Duque for her reporting. As originally determined in the first and second instance courts, Rojas Granados was sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment...

November 03, 2025 - Iraq -  A newly published report by the Nexîl Center for Journalist Rights and Freedoms reveals that at least 100 journalists in Iraq have been killed over the last ten years, underscoring the extreme dangers that media workers confront in the country. The study notes that among those fatalities, 30 occurred during the mass protest movement known as the Tishrin protests, yet none of the perpetrators have been publicly held to account. The Tishrin protests, referenced in the report, saw hundreds of Iraqi citizens killed and thousands wounded. In that mix...

November 03, 2025 - Qatar -  On the occasion of the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, the Qatar Press Centre reaffirmed its commitment to press freedom and called on governments and international bodies to hold accountable those responsible for violence against media workers. The center emphasized that the day serves as a stark reminder that free expression remains under threat, and that many journalists around the world continue to be killed, detained, or abducted with impunity. In a statement, the center affirmed that protecting journalists is not optional but a moral...

November 03, 2025 - Ghana - On the annual International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists, press-freedom advocates have pointed out the glaring absence of accountability in the 2019 killing of Ghanaian investigative reporter Ahmed Hussein‑Suale Divela. Nearly seven years after Suale was shot dead in Accra, none of the persons who directed or carried out the crime have been definitively identified, charged, or convicted, raising serious concerns about systemic impunity in Ghana’s media landscape. Suale was a member of the investigative journalism outfit Tiger Eye PI. His work focused on exposing corruption-linked...

November 03, 2025 - USA/Palestine -  In the wake of a fragile ceasefire, officials in the United States Department of State have quietly renewed pressure on the Gaza Strip embargo policy, asking Israel to permit foreign press into the territory now that large-scale hostilities have paused. Two senior U.S. officials told The Times of Israel that Washington has pushed the issue repeatedly this year, and that Donald Trump expressed readiness in August for journalists to enter Gaza, though he acknowledged the hazardous conditions. U.S. officials stress that while the request is active, it is not...

November 03, 2025 - Sudan - The takeover of the North Darfur capital El Fasher by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has exposed a severe deterioration in press freedom and journalist safety in Sudan. The takeover followed an 18-month siege and was accompanied by a communications blackout that has left many journalists unaccounted for. Local rights groups reported that at least 13 journalists went missing during the RSF’s advance and capture of the city, with some female journalists reportedly subjected to rape. Survivors describe a broader pattern of violence against civilians, including the targeting...

November 02, 2025 - General -  The global campaign for press freedom gained fresh momentum as major organizations issued urgent calls ahead of the annual International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, marking 2 November. Leading the charge, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released a list of 34 “press-freedom predators” whose actions in 2025 epitomize the erosion of media rights worldwide. These individuals and entities span categories of political, security, legal, economic, and social suppression—from state actors like Vladimir Putin and Mohammed bin Salman, to private-sector manipulators such as Elon Musk. RSF emphasizes that...

November 02, 2025 - Brazil -  In the heart of the Pantanal wetlands, veteran local environmental correspondent Lucia Ferreira has spent weeks documenting an unprecedented outbreak of wildfires that threatens one of the world’s most biodiverse regions. Her accounts go beyond flame counts and satellite images to focus on firefighters on the front line, indigenous communities watching ancestral lands go up in smoke, and the urgent question of accountability in the face of climate change. According to recent reporting by the BBC, Ferreira’s work tracks the shifting conditions in the Pantanal, which have turned historically...

November 02, 2025 - USA/Palestine -  The prominent South African journalist Debora Patta has been dismissed from CBS News following fallout from a highly contested interview with former US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, which aired during coverage of the conflict in Gaza. The termination was announced shortly after Huckabee publicly accused the network of selectively editing his remarks to misrepresent his position on the humanitarian situation. According to multiple reports, Patta’s departure comes amid widespread layoffs that eliminated roughly 100 positions at CBS, a move reportedly connected to staffing changes under newly appointed editor-in-chief...

November 02, 2025 - Pakistan -  A comprehensive review from the Pakistan Press Foundation indicates that 2025 has been a particularly dangerous year for journalists in Pakistan, with at least 137 documented incidents targeting media professionals between January and October. The cases span a wide spectrum of intimidation tactics, including physical assaults, detentions, legal harassment, and organized raids. In the course of its findings, the PPF noted 35 instances of physical violence or ill-treatment, alongside at least five journalists being held in custody and two recorded abductions. Legal pressures are mounting as well: authorities have...

November 02, 2025 - France - A French correspondent says he was expelled from Russia after his reporting triggered hostile responses from authorities. According to the journalist, who has asked to remain unnamed for the moment, his investigations into military operations and sensitive issues related to the war in Ukraine drew heightened scrutiny. He claims that Russian officials pressured his media outlet and ultimately revoked his accreditation, effectively forcing his departure. His experience illustrates an increasingly harsh climate for foreign media operating in Russia. He recounted how the costs of reporting in Russia became unsustainable...

November 02, 2025 - General - On the occasion of the 2025 International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists (IDEI), the global press-freedom organization Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has issued a forceful appeal for a structural overhaul of how killings and attacks on journalists are investigated and prosecuted. The group’s statement, issued on 30 October 2025, points out that despite mounting evidence of targeted violence against media workers, the rate of accountability remains unacceptably low. The CPJ emphasizes that the arbitrary killing of journalists is not just a tragedy for individuals and...

November 01, 2025 - UK/USA -  The wife of British journalist and commentator Sami Hamdi has spoken out after her husband was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at San Francisco International Airport during a U.S. speaking tour. His visa was revoked, and he was held without a clear explanation, drawing sharp concerns about press freedom and due process. Soumaya Hamdi said she had only one thirty-second phone call with her husband, during which he told her he was being held at an ICE detention center in McFarland, California, and had a court...

November 01, 2025 - Afghanistan -  Afghan freelance journalist Sayed Rashid Kashifi has been released after nearly seven months in detention under Taliban authorities. His release on November 1 follows mounting calls from media rights groups demanding an end to the ongoing detention of journalists in Afghanistan. Kashifi had been arrested in April 2025 by agents of the General Directorate of Intelligence on accusations of collaborating with international media outlets. His arrest, carried out without a warrant, led to his transfer between multiple detention facilities, including the notorious Directorate 40 and Kabul’s Pul-e-Charkhi Prison. The...

November 01, 2025 - Belarus - In a poignant turn of events, journalist Katsiaryna Andreyeva—who has become a symbol of press freedom under assault in Belarus—continues to serve an eight-year prison sentence, while her partner, Ihar Ilyash, has now also been jailed after remaining in the country to support her. According to the reporting, Andreyeva was arrested in late 2020 following a livestream from Minsk and subsequently convicted on charges of treason and extremism. Ilyash chose not to leave Belarus during the protests and his wife’s detention, and his arrest marks a wider crackdown on...

November 01, 2025 - Palestine/USA - An American journalist who participated in the aid mission organized by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) has revealed harrowing accounts of torture while held in an Israeli detention facility. Noa Avishag Schnall, a Jewish-American reporter aboard a Gaza-bound vessel intercepted by Israeli forces, said she witnessed and personally endured physical and psychological abuse alongside Palestinian detainees. Her testimony is captured in a video shared on social media, where she described the ordeal in stark detail. According to her account, Schnall and fellow detainees were subjected to intimidation, threats, and...

November 01, 2025 - Bangladesh -  Journalists across Bangladesh mobilized for nationwide rallies on Saturday, united under the call “No Wage Board, No Media,” and presented a 39-point charter of demands. The demonstrations, organized by the Bangladesh Federal Union of Journalists (BFUJ), convened in major cities including Dhaka, Chattogram, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Barishal, Khulna, Gazipur, Mymensingh, and Narayanganj. At the rally in front of the Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka, BFUJ Secretary-General Kader Gani Chowdhury formally submitted the demands, while Dhaka Union of Journalists President Shahidul Islam and Jatiya Press Club President Hasan Hafiz addressed the...

November 01, 2025 - USA -  The White House Correspondents' Association and other press‐freedom groups are raising serious concerns after the White House issued a memo restricting accredited journalists from freely entering Room 140 (the “Upper Press” area) in the West Wing without a scheduled appointment. The space houses senior communications officials—including Karoline Leavitt, press secretary—and the new policy, attributed to structural changes in the National Security Council (NSC), holds that the communications staff now routinely handles sensitive material. The NSC memo states the change is needed “to protect such material, and maintain coordination between...

November 01, 2025 - General -  In a new call to action, the United Nations has spotlighted the growing dangers faced by journalists covering conflict zones and critical societal issues, emphasizing that the majority of assaults remain unpunished. The report highlights how reporters are often caught between lethal hazards and digital threats, yet perpetrators continue to act with impunity. The insight emerged during the UN’s annual observance of the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists. Across battlefields, documentation crews are deliberately targeted; some are even abducted or killed while striving to document...

October 31, 2025 - General - In a strongly worded statement dated 30 October 2025, the Committee to Protect Journalists emphasizes that the dramatic rise in violence against media workers demands radical structural reforms, not just symbolic observances. The organization notes that the number of journalists killed, abducted, or subject to enforced disappearance is reaching unprecedented levels, yet accountability mechanisms remain fragmented and weak. CPJ highlights that many countries routinely fail to launch meaningful investigations into attacks on journalists, fostering a climate of impunity that emboldens perpetrators and chills press freedom. The statement underscores how...

October 31, 2025 - Pakistan - In a serious assault on press freedom in Pakistan, authorities in Rawalpindi intercepted a contract killing plot targeting journalist Tahir Naseer of DawnNewsTV. A police investigation revealed three suspects had been hired for Rs 200,000 (approximately USD 500) to assassinate him. They had observed his residence for three days, and one procured a weapon, and the group had already received Rs 99,000 in their bank account. The plot came to light when the investigating officer, Sub-Inspector Nabeel Haider, confirmed the contracted nature of the crime. The suspects were arrested...

October 31, 2025 - General -  The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) reaffirmed on 31 October 2025 that ending impunity for crimes against journalists is a collective global duty. The statement, issued ahead of the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists (IDEI) on 2 November, denounced ongoing violence and intimidation against media workers and reiterated the demand for a binding international treaty guaranteeing journalists’ safety. The IFJ’s communiqué pointed out that despite the IDEI having been observed for more than a decade, attacks on journalists continue to rise. It highlighted that reporters...

October 30, 2025 - Philippines - Following the powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake that struck Cebu on September 30, 2025, local journalists who had rushed to document the disaster are now confronting a different kind of aftershock—the emotional trauma of covering widespread destruction, loss, and fear. A recent report by Rappler reveals how those tasked with informing the public during the crisis have been left grappling with their own mental scars. In the hours after the quake, journalists from Cebu-based newsrooms and local stations were among the first to arrive at collapsed structures and makeshift evacuation centers....

October 30, 2025 - South Africa -  At Rhodes University’s campus in Makhanda, South Africa, journalism students and faculty held a dedicated month-long memorial to honor the journalists killed while reporting on the conflict in Gaza. The initiative concluded on 23 October 2025 with a candlelight service and a visual tribute of over 270 CDs suspended from campus trees—each representing a journalist lost in the war zone. The tribute was organized by the university’s School of Journalism and Media Studies and included a documentary screening, student-led vox-pop interviews, and a silent walk alongside the photographs...

October 30, 2025 - Syria/USA -  Thirteen years after American journalist Austin Tice vanished in Syria, new testimony uncovered by CNN’s Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward has reignited questions about his fate and the extent of Syrian government involvement in his disappearance. The report, released on October 28, 2025, takes viewers deep into Lebanon and the edges of war-torn Syria, where Ward confronts two men who claim to hold knowledge of what happened to Tice—one a former Syrian general, the other a regime insider. Austin Tice, a freelance journalist and former U.S. Marine, disappeared near...