News

October 29, 2025 - Senegal -  In the early hours of October 28 and 29, 2025, authorities in Dakar carried out coordinated raids on the private television station 7TV and broadcaster RFM, resulting in the arrest of five journalists, including the station owner Maimouna Ndour Faye and producer Bamba Touré. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported that as of the statement date, these two remained in custody and called for their immediate release. The raids reportedly came amid heightened tensions between independent media outlets and the Senegalese government. The detained journalists are accused of...

October 29, 2025 - Serbia -  According to the press-freedom organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF), at least 89 physical attacks against journalists were recorded in Serbia over the past year as they covered nationwide protests triggered by a fatal railway station collapse. The protests began after the canopy above a railway station platform in northern Serbia collapsed on November 1, 2024, resulting in the deaths of 16 people. Since then, media professionals documenting the unrest have faced an unprecedented wave of reports of assault, interference, and intimidation. RSF notes that nearly half of these attacks...

October 29, 2025 – Iran/Russia – Two men, Rafat Amirov (46) and Polad Omarov (41), are set to be sentenced in a federal court in Manhattan after being convicted earlier this year of plotting to kill Iranian American journalist and activist Masih Alinejad at her Brooklyn residence. Prosecutors are seeking prison terms of up to 55 years for both men, arguing the plot advanced to a perilously close stage of execution. They contend that both defendants, described as senior figures in a faction of the Russian mob known as the Gulici, were motivated by financial...

October 29, 2025 – Vietnam – A journalist working for the BBC has been prevented from leaving Vietnam and endured multiple days of questioning by state authorities following a trip to renew their passport and visit family. Since August, the reporter — a Vietnamese national based in Thailand — has been unable to depart the country due to the detention of both their renewed passport and identity card by Vietnamese officials. According to sources familiar with the case, Vietnamese security personnel interrogated the journalist for an extended period, probing the nature of their reporting work....

October 28, 2025 - Azerbaijan -  Exiled Azerbaijani journalist Parvana Gurbanli has delivered a stark warning about the state of media freedom in her home country, declaring that if she were still in Azerbaijan today, she would “probably be in prison.” Her remarks came in a recent in-depth interview with the European Center for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) and provide a rare, personal window into the mounting pressure on independent journalism under the rule of Ilham Aliyev. Gurbanli recounts a police raid on her apartment after she published investigative reporting that exposed corruption and...

October 29, 2025 - Mexico/USA -  Mario Guevara, a Salvadoran-born journalist based in Atlanta, was deported to El Salvador on 3 October 2025 after spending about 100 days in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), raising deep concerns among press-freedom and civil-rights advocates. Guevara had lived in the United States for more than two decades and built a prominent Spanish-language reporting presence focusing on immigration enforcement in Georgia. After covering an anti-Trump “No Kings Day” protest in June 2025, he was arrested by local police and subsequently handed over to ICE, despite...

October 28, 2025 - Ecuador - The Paris-based advocacy group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned the killing of community journalist Álex Fernando Álvarez Vera, 28, who was shot dead while playing football with friends in Salitre, a canton in Ecuador’s Guayas Province, on October 28. The incident occurred at a municipal sports ground when an assailant reportedly approached him near the goal area, fired a shot, and fled the scene. Alvarez Vera served as the administrator of a local Facebook news page and was recognised for his community-level reporting on regional issues. RSF’s statement...

October 28, 2025 - Senegal -  At a regional conference held in Dakar under the aegis of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the governments of Mauritania, Liberia, and The Gambia formally backed the RSF-initiated “Dakar Declaration on the Right to Information in the Sahel”. The declaration seeks to enshrine the right of citizens within the Sahel region to access reliable information and to enable a freer press environment—especially critical in the face of security challenges, conflict-driven instability, and threats to media independence. This marks a notable step for the three signatory states, signaling a willingness to...

October 28, 2025 - USA/Syria - American freelance journalist and former Marine officer Austin Tice disappeared in Syria in August 2012 while reporting on the country’s civil war. He entered the Damascus suburb of Darayya, intending to travel onward, but was stopped at a checkpoint and has not been seen in public since. Tice, a decorated veteran and Georgetown University alumnus, transitioned into journalism after his military service in Iraq and Afghanistan. He aimed to document stories from conflict zones, including Syria, where press freedoms were rapidly being eroded. Shortly after his disappearance, a brief...

October 28, 2025 – Yemen – The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called on the Houthis to immediately release Yemeni journalist Majed Zayed and writer Oras Al‑Iryani, both of whom have been missing since late September following their arrests in the capital, Sana’a. According to the IFJ, Zayed—a freelance contributor to several independent outlets in Yemen—was seized on September 23 while leaving a medical center in Sana’a. Al-Iryani was abducted the day before, apparently in connection with his public commentary mocking social and political conditions under Houthi rule. Both detentions occurred amid a broader...

October 28, 2025 – Palestine – The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has renewed its call for a thorough, independent, and transparent investigation by the U.S. into the killing of veteran journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American reporter for Al Jazeera, who was shot dead while covering a military operation on May 11, 2022, in the occupied West Bank. The call comes after a former U.S. military official alleging that a U.S.-led inquiry was softened to favor Israeli military narratives. That official, Steve Gabavics, claimed he and others concluded the killing was intentional, but that...

October 28, 2025 – Botswana – A dramatic incident unfolded at the Mmegi–reported hearing inside the Broadhurst Magistrates’ Court, Botswana, when photojournalist Moreri Sejakgomo was physically attacked by an accused person moments after the hearing had adjourned. According to eyewitnesses cited by Mmegi, the accused, whose matter the court had just heard, charged at Sejakgomo in a rage, assaulted him, damaged his camera equipment, and uttered death threats. The episode occurred within a courtroom after proceedings ended, exposing glaring security deficiencies in a space expected to uphold fairness and safety. Mmegi’s editorial board condemned the...

October 28, 2025 – Sudan – Sudanese freelance journalist Muammar Ibrahim, a regular contributor to Al Jazeera Mubasher, has been detained by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in El Fasher, North Darfur, amid the group’s takeover of the city. Ibrahim was among the few reporters still inside El Fasher during the RSF-sustained siege, capturing the worsening humanitarian conditions under heavy bombardment, communications blackouts, and lack of access to essentials for more than 200,000 civilians. Video footage first shared on RSF-linked social media shows Ibrahim surrounded by RSF fighters shortly after the group announced it...

October 28, 2025 - Egypt -  On 24 September, the Egyptian freelance investigative journalist and social science researcher Ismail Alexandrani (alternatively spelled Al-Iskandarani) was apprehended by state security agents while passing through a checkpoint between Marsa Matruh and Cairo, and immediately taken blindfolded—a detail his lawyer interprets as evidence that his prior reporting on the Sinai region was targeted. He is currently being held in pre-trial detention at the Tenth of Ramadan Prison, on the outskirts of Cairo. Prosecutors charged Alexandrani with allegedly “spreading false news,” “belonging to a terrorist organization,” and operating a website...

October 28, 2025 - Palestine/USA -  In a fresh and sharply contested turn in the case of Shireen Abu Akleh—the Palestinian-American reporter for Al Jazeera who was killed on May 11, 2022, while covering a raid by the Israel Defense Forces in the West Bank town of Jenin refugee camp—a retired US military officer who led a US investigation now publicly claims the shooting was intentional. Colonel Steve Gabavics, a veteran of the US military police and former Guantánamo commander, told the New York Times his team concluded that the Israeli sniper who fired the...

October 27, 2025 - Mexico -  Mexican journalist Miguel Ángel Beltrán was discovered murdered along a highway in the state of Durango on October 26, 2025. His body was wrapped in a blanket and left at the side of the road between Durango and Mazatlán, accompanied by a cardboard message accusing him of “spreading false accusations against the people of Durango.” Beltrán had recently shifted from print to social-media journalism, posting under the TikTok handle “Capodgo7” and via his Facebook page La Gazzetta Durango. His final posts included coverage of the arrest of a gang...

October 27, 2025 – Pakistan – Pakistani authorities are moving to indict veteran journalist Matiullah Jan in Islamabad on October 31 under the 1997 Anti-Terrorism Act and narcotics possession allegations, according to the human-rights monitoring group Human Rights Watch (HRW). Jan has long reported on police abuse in Pakistan, and his coverage has increasingly made him a target of state action. The HRW contends that the case is part of a broader pattern of silencing dissent and curbing press freedom. Authorities claim that on November 27, 2024, Jan was stopped at a checkpoint in Islamabad’s...

October 27, 2025 – Turkey – A Turkish court has issued a fresh arrest warrant and expanded espionage allegations against former İstanbul mayor and opposition figure Ekrem İmamoğlu, marking a significant intensification of legal action against him and associated figures. The court’s move follows an investigation into the 2019 mayoral campaign of İmamoğlu, prompted by correspondence between a detained cybersecurity consultant and campaign staff. Prosecutors say the correspondence suggests efforts to collect and exploit personal data of Istanbul residents, ostensibly to secure foreign funding and intelligence support ahead of a potential presidential bid. In addition...

October 27, 2025 – Palestine – A retired U.S. Army Colonel, Steve Gabavics, who took part in the investigation into the killing of the veteran Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh, claims that the U.S. government softened the language and conclusions of the final report. According to the New York Times account referenced by the network report, U.S. officials involved in the review believed there was evidence the journalist was intentionally shot by an Israeli soldier. Gabavics asserts that within the investigative team, there was a strong view that the bullet that struck Abu Akleh—who...

October 27, 2025 - USA/Malaysia - During a press event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, at the 47th ASEAN Summit, President Donald Trump visibly showed impatience with reporters, brushing aside questions and admonishing journalists by name. According to media coverage, Trump interrupted a reporter with “Who’s that shouting?” when she attempted to ask a question, and later said in a tone of frustration, “Don’t shout,” before shifting to praising Brazil and its president. During the same encounter, Trump met with Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on the summit sidelines and handled questions about their...

October 27, 2025 - Rwanda -  A prominent Rwandan journalist has come under intense scrutiny from the country’s political leadership after publishing a series of investigative pieces that challenged the conduct of senior officials. According to wartime records and recent commentary, the government accused the journalist of undermining national unity and tarnishing the reputation of top-level political actors. As a result of this coverage, the journalist was summoned by the authorities and ordered to remove online posts that were deemed “inflammatory.” The case highlights the shrinking space for independent journalism in Rwanda, where the ruling...

October 27, 2025 - General -  The organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) shines a spotlight on thirty journalists worldwide who, over the past year, have suffered harassment, imprisonment, violence, or even exile simply for investigating environmental destruction — illegal mining, deforestation, land-grabbing, pollution, and the exploitation of natural resources. RSF underscores that reporters covering natural-resource issues operate under extreme constraints. Their findings show that from Cambodia to Brazil, from Ghana to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, journalists who highlight ecological crimes are routinely blocked from accessing sites, threatened by authorities, attacked by elements of...

October 27, 2025 - USA -  In a widely discussed press conference on 24 October 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump was confronted by a question from a French correspondent speaking English with a discernible French accent. The exchange quickly drew attention when Trump told the journalist he “could not understand a word she’s saying,” while simultaneously describing her accent as “beautiful." Social-media users and media observers responded sharply, pointing out the incongruity of Trump’s comment given that his spouse, Melania Trump, speaks English with a European accent. One social post asked: “How does he talk...

October 27, 2025 - Kurdistan/Iraq-  Shwan Adel, the director of NRT Channel, was released on bail in Erbil following a wave of appeals and public pressure directed at the Kurdistan Region’s leadership. His detention earlier in the day had sparked swift reactions from media rights groups, journalists, and civil society, who urged authorities to respect legal protections for press freedom. Adel’s arrest stemmed from a 15-day detention order issued by a court in Shaqlawa, although no official explanation for the decision was made public. Calls for his immediate release intensified after the Metro Center for...

October 26, 2025 - UK/USA -  A British journalist and political commentator, Sami Hamdi, was detained by U.S. federal authorities upon arrival at San Francisco airport, where officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed his visa revocation and ongoing custody. Hamdi, known for his outspoken criticism of both U.S. and Israeli policies regarding Gaza, was en route to speak at an event and was held amid what his supporters describe as coordinated pressure from far-right, pro-Israeli lobby groups. The Council on American‑Islamic Relations (CAIR) condemned the detention as a “blatant affront to free...