News

December 04, 2025 - Russia -  A Moscow court has rejected the appeal of four journalists convicted earlier this year for alleged ties to the anti-corruption group founded by opposition figure Alexei Navalny — a move that intensifies concerns over media suppression in Russia. The journalists — Antonina Favorskaya, Konstantin Gabov, Sergey Karelin, and Artyom Kriger — were convicted in April 2025 of “extremism” for allegedly cooperating with Navalny’s banned anti-corruption foundation, a group outlawed by Russian authorities in 2021. Each received a 5½-year sentence in a closed-door trial. Their appeal, which challenged both the...

December 04, 2025 - USA - The New York Times has filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense, challenging sweeping new media rules that journalists say threaten the core of press freedom and undermine the public’s right to scrutinize military power. The complaint, submitted in the District Court for Washington, D.C., argues that the Pentagon’s revised credentialing policy violates both the First and Fifth Amendments by imposing vague, restrictive conditions on reporters seeking access to the building. The dispute centers on a policy introduced in October 2025 requiring journalists to pledge they...

December 04, 2025 - China -  Veteran Chinese photojournalist and filmmaker Du Bin — long known for documenting human-rights abuses — was detained on October 15, 2025, marking his third arrest in 12 years. He remains held at the Shunyi Detention Center in Beijing, accused of the broadly defined crime of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” Du, 53, had planned to travel abroad when police reportedly came to his home a day before his flight. Since then, his family has not been given access to official detention papers, and authorities have refused to explain the...

December 04, 2025 - Vietnam -  Vietnam is facing renewed criticism from global press-freedom groups after journalist Do Van Nga was detained on arrival in Ho Chi Minh City and later charged with disseminating “anti-state propaganda,” a sweeping accusation widely used to silence independent reporting. His arrest marks yet another escalation in Hanoi’s longstanding campaign against dissident journalists, bloggers, and digital media workers. Nga, who had been living abroad for several years, disappeared shortly after landing at Tan Son Nhat International Airport on 8 November 2025. Family members and colleagues raised alarms when he failed...

December 04, 2025 - Ukraine/Russia -  As international discussions around a future peace plan for Ukraine accelerate, leading press-freedom organizations are warning that any agreement reached will be incomplete — and morally compromised — unless it includes concrete guarantees for journalist safety and accountability for crimes committed against the press throughout the war. The International Press Institute (IPI) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) released strong statements urging negotiators not to sideline media rights in the pursuit of political compromise. According to both organizations, Ukraine has endured hundreds of documented violations against journalists since...

December 03, 2025 - Palestine - Palestinian photojournalist working to document life and suffering in Gaza was killed in an Israeli drone strike in Khan Younis. The strike took place in a zone that, under the terms of a ceasefire brokered in October, was supposed to be outside active combat areas. The fatal attack was swiftly condemned by the Gaza Government Media Office (GMO), which announced that Wadi’s death raised the documented number of journalists killed in Gaza to 257 since the war began. According to the GMO, the casualty count reflects what amounts to...

December 03, 2025 - Colombia -  An assassination attempt on veteran Colombian journalist Edmundo “Pepo” Cruz has reignited fears about threats against the press — while also triggering defiance and calls for protection among media and human-rights groups. Cruz, a respected labour-rights reporter and outspoken critic of corruption, was shot at point-blank range outside his home in Bogota on the evening of December 2, 2025. The bullet narrowly missed vital arteries, but left him wounded. He was quickly hospitalised and underwent emergency surgery. Details remain incomplete, as neither police nor prosecutors have named a suspect,...

December 03, 2025 - Greece -  A disturbing new video has emerged showing two journalists from Mali’s state broadcaster ORTM — director Daouda Koné and cameraman Salif Sangaré — pleading for rescue after being abducted by the jihadist group JNIM. The pair were kidnapped on 14 October while travelling between Sévaré and Konna, in Mali’s volatile central Mopti region — an area beset by jihadist violence and chaos. Over six weeks later, snippets of a hostage video surfaced showing them dressed in traditional boubous, sitting in front of a draped backdrop. Their tone is somber...

December 02, 2025 - Pakistan -  Journalist Sohrab Barkat — an Islamabad-based correspondent for the online outlet Siasat and host of a YouTube news channel — was detained at Islamabad International Airport on November 26, 2025, while en route to a United Nations conference. The arrest stems from a case filed by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), which accuses him of publishing an interview containing “derogatory remarks” about state institutions. The source of the alleged insult was not Barkat himself, but a guest on his show — a member of the main opposition...

December 02, 2025 - Colombia - Colombia is facing mounting scrutiny as two parallel crises expose the country’s fragile security landscape: the killing of child rebel recruits during recent military operations and escalating threats against journalists investigating armed groups. The controversy began after airstrikes ordered by the government of President Gustavo Petro resulted in the deaths of several minors forcibly recruited by dissident rebel factions. In early November, a bombing in Guaviare killed at least seven underage recruits, followed days later by the death of another teenager in a separate operation in Arauca. Human rights...

December 02, 2025 - Sudan - The killing of Sudanese journalist Taj al-Sir Ahmed Suleiman has sent shockwaves through Sudan’s media community, marking one of the most chilling attacks on press freedom since the war began. Suleiman, the El-Fasher bureau chief for the state-run Sudan News Agency (SUNA), was executed alongside his brother after Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fighters stormed their family home in late October, following the militia’s takeover of the besieged city. For months, El-Fasher had been encircled by RSF forces, its residents trapped under an intensifying campaign of violence. When the city...

December 02, 2025 - Palestine/France -  Journalist unions in France have filed a formal complaint against Israel’s authorities, alleging systematic obstruction of press activity in Gaza and the West Bank — a move underscoring mounting global concern about press freedom in the conflict. On November 26, 2025, the National Union of Journalists (SNJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) submitted a complaint to France’s national anti-terror prosecutor’s office (PNAT), accusing Israeli authorities of orchestrating “an organised, systematic and prolonged” campaign to prevent foreign media — including French reporters — from entering Gaza freely. According...

December 09, 2025 - Palestine -  Journalism in the Occupied Palestinian Territory has taken on dual — and deadly — roles in the ongoing war, according to United Nations officials and media observers who highlighted the perilous conditions facing reporters from Gaza, the West Bank, and beyond. At a major forum on media and the Middle East held at U.N. headquarters in New York, speakers underscored that reporting from the territory is “both a battleground and a lifeline,” capturing the immense risks journalists endure while providing information the world urgently needs. The discussion came against...

December 01, 2025 - Palestine -  A Palestinian journalist, speaking under the pseudonym “Yahya” to protect his identity, has come forward with shocking allegations of sexual assault and torture while held in custody by Israeli authorities. According to a report dated 30 November 2025, the journalist told the Palestinian Journalists Protection Center (PJPC) that he and seven other detainees were taken to an isolated area inside a detention centre and subjected to collective sexual violence. Yahya claims that during detention at the Sde Teiman detention camp, he was blindfolded, bound, and held in degrading conditions...

December 01, 2025 - South Sudan - A journalist from South Sudan Media, identified as Santo Jal Dut, was arrested late Monday while livestreaming a massive fire that consumed part of Juba’s Custom Market — an incident that has renewed alarm over media suppression in South Sudan. The blaze erupted near the premises of the state-owned broadcaster, engulfing traders’ shops and leaving many without livelihoods. As flames raged, Dut used his phone to broadcast critical footage of the unfolding disaster. He publicly questioned why emergency services had yet to arrive, suggested the fire might have...

December 01, 2025 - Russia - Journalist Nika Novak, previously sentenced to four years in a Siberian prison for her work with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), has vanished from her penal colony — prompting urgent calls from press-freedom groups for authorities to reveal her whereabouts. Novak was detained on December 25, 2023, after a raid by Russia’s security agents at her home in Chita. She was convicted in a closed-door trial under the country’s expanded “foreign cooperation” law, Article 275.1, which penalizes confidential contact with foreign organisations. On November 26, 2024, a court in...

December 01, 2025 - Niger - In Niger State, Nigeria, journalists warn that the administration of Governor Mohammed Umaru Bago has launched a concerted campaign of harassment and intimidation against reporters who cover insecurity and bandit violence — driving many to self-censor or abandon critical coverage altogether. The crackdown gained widespread attention after a prominent incident in early May 2024, when freelance journalist Ibrahim Ndamitso — then working for BBC and Channels TV — asked Bago at a public event what his government was doing to rescue a kidnapped family. The governor reacted by accusing...

November 30, 2025 - Palestine/Italy -  A special session convened at the Italian Parliament in Rome on 28 November 2025 spotlighted a powerful investigative report by Al Jazeera that retraces the killing of Palestinian child Hind Rajab. The investigation — part of the programme Ma Khafi A‘zam (What Is Hidden Is Greater) — was presented by journalist Tamer al‑Mishal before members of parliament, human rights advocates, media professionals, and campaigners. The session served as the first time the case of Hind Rajab has been formally documented at a European legislative venue, signalling international attention to...

November 30, 2025 - USA -  In recent weeks, a growing chorus of opinion voices has pointed to what many consider a dangerous pattern of public abuse against women journalists by powerful political figures — most notably Donald J. Trump — hiring their remarks as part of a broader campaign undermining trust in and safety for the free press. According to a commentary in one major outlet, when a president openly ridicules women journalists, it does more than demean a person. It shifts focus from their questions — questions that often demand accountability — to...

November 29, 2025 - Canada/Iraq/Kurdistan - A reporter with New Canadian Media has been awarded a prestigious prize by PEN Canada, highlighting international solidarity with persecuted media and reaffirming the global importance of press freedom. The honour comes amid growing concern for journalists worldwide who face threats to their safety simply for practicing their profession. In a separate but related move, Iraqi Kurdish activist and writer Diary Marif was named the recipient of the 2025 Marie‑Ange Garrigue Prize after his committed efforts to defend imprisoned Kurdish reporters — among them Sherwan Sherwani — in the...

November 28, 2025 - Crimea/Russia -  A Russian military court has sentenced Vilen Temeryanov — a Crimean-Tatar journalist and citizen reporter — to 14 years in prison, in what press-freedom advocates call yet another act of repression against independent journalism in occupied Crimea. On November 26, 2025, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don found Temeryanov guilty of alleged involvement with the banned group Hizb ut‑Tahrir, accusing him of participating in its activities and preparing a violent seizure of power.  Prosecutors claim the deeply contested verdict reflects supposed “terrorist activity,” yet journalists who worked with...

November 28, 2025 - General -  New reporting from UK outlets has resurfaced the final moments of American journalist James Foley, whose 2014 beheading by the Islamic State remains one of the most haunting tragedies in modern journalism. Foley, who disappeared while reporting on the Syrian conflict, was held captive for nearly two years before ISIS released a brutal video documenting his execution. Recent articles in the Irish Mirror and the Express revisit his ordeal, drawing renewed attention to the six devastating words he reportedly spoke just before he was killed. Those words reflected the...

November 28, 2025 - Ukraine - The Operation Midas has taken a troubling turn as concerns mount over alleged surveillance and intimidation of journalists. On 28 November 2025, Yaroslav Yurchyshyn — chair of the parliamentary Committee on Freedom of Speech — formally called on Ukraine’s human-rights commissioner, police, prosecutor’s office, and state investigators to launch an inquiry into reported unlawful gathering and distribution of sensitive information about media workers by suspects linked to the probe. Yurchyshyn warned that the gathering of dossiers on journalists harkens back to the 1990s and early 2010s, when political actors...

November 28, 2025 - Algeria -  Veteran Algerian journalist Saâd Bouakba, aged 79, was placed under provisional detention on 27 November 2025 after a court accepted a defamation complaint filed by the daughter of Ahmed Ben Bella, the country’s first president. The complaint accuses Bouakba of disseminating false information and insulting state symbols and independence-war figures — charges stemming from a recent interview broadcast on the YouTube channel Vision TV News. In that interview, Bouakba reportedly discussed allegations of irregular distribution of funds by the FLN during the independence struggle. According to the public prosecutor’s...

November 28, 2025 - Turkey -  A court in Istanbul has acquitted four journalists who had faced trial for covering mass protests earlier this year. This decision marks a significant moment for press freedom in Turkey. The defendants include photographer Yasin Akgul from Agence France-Presse (AFP) and journalists Ali Onur Tosun (NOW Haber) and freelancers Bulent Kilic and Zeynep Kuray. They had been arrested in March during dawn raids amid a sweeping wave of demonstrations triggered by the detention of opposition political figures. The charges against them centered on alleged violations of Turkey’s laws regulating...