News

July 30, 2025 – Palestine – The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has strongly condemned the Israeli military for what it describes as a systematic and dangerous campaign to discredit journalists in Gaza. In a statement released on July 29, the IFJ accused the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) of repeatedly spreading false and unsubstantiated claims that media professionals, particularly those working with Al Jazeera, are affiliated with armed groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. These allegations, according to the IFJ, not only lack evidence but also serve to endanger journalists by portraying them...

July 30, 2025 - USA -  The Washington Post, historically considered America’s “paper of record,” is witnessing a notable exodus of Black journalists, many of whom are highly respected veterans and Pulitzer Prize winners (e.g., Eugene Robinson, Jonathan Capehart, Toluse Olorunnipa, Krissah Thompson). This represents a departure unprecedented even by the Post’s long-standing underrepresentation of Black staff. The newsroom is based in Washington, DC, a city with a roughly 43% Black population and close to a historic Black university, yet newsroom diversity remains low and has even worsened under recent leadership. The latest wave of exits...

July 29, 2025 – Russia - A court in Ufa, Bashkortostan, has sentenced Olga Komleva, a journalist and activist, to 12 years in prison. She was convicted on charges of participating in an “extremist organisation” and disseminating “false information” about the Russian military. The verdict comes after a closed trial, during which Komleva was found guilty under Article 282.1(2) of the Russian Criminal Code for her past volunteer work with the now-banned Anti‑Corruption Foundation founded by Alexei Navalny. She was also convicted under Article 207.3(2) for allegedly spreading misinformation regarding military operations. The judge in...

July 29, 2025 - Russia -  Russian occupation authorities have detained Ukrainian journalist Anastasiia Volkova in the city of Melitopol, located in the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia region of southeastern Ukraine. According to reports confirmed by Ukrainska Pravda and the Ukrainian Commissioner for Human Rights, Volkova was arrested on July 27, 2025, by Russian military personnel, with her current whereabouts and condition unknown. Volkova, a local journalist and editor who has been reporting on life under occupation and human rights abuses in southern Ukraine, had previously remained in Melitopol to cover events despite the risks. She was...

July 29, 2025 - USA/Spain -  Basque journalist Iban Gorriti was denied entry to the United States after arriving at Boise Airport to cover Jaialdi, one of the world’s largest Basque cultural festivals. Gorriti, a reporter and photographer for Spain’s Deia newspaper, landed in Idaho on July 25, 2025, but was detained and questioned by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers before being told he would not be allowed to enter the country. He was forced to return to Spain the following day. Gorriti had been invited to document Jaialdi, a major event that...

July 29, 2025 - Morocco -  Moroccan journalist Mohamed El Bakkali has returned to Morocco after being released from Israeli detention, where he was held for participating in the “Handala” humanitarian ship mission aimed at breaking the naval blockade on Gaza. El Bakkali, a veteran reporter for Morocco’s state news agency MAP and a board member of the Moroccan Journalists Union, arrived in Casablanca on July 28, 2025, where he was received by family, colleagues, and union members. The Handala ship, carrying activists, journalists, and humanitarian workers from various countries, set sail in mid-July with...

July 29, 2025 - Syria -  The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) arrested Syrian journalist Baraa Al-Shami on July 24, 2025, in the city of Raqqa, amid mounting concerns over press freedom violations in areas controlled by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), Al-Shami, who worked for a local news platform and was active on social media, was detained at his home without a clear explanation or warrant. Al-Shami’s arrest follows a growing pattern of journalist detentions by the SDF and affiliated internal security forces...

July 29, 2025 - Yemen - Yemeni authorities in the eastern governorate of Hadramout arrested journalist Abduljabar Bajabeer on July 16, 2025, marking the latest incident in a growing campaign of repression against independent voices in the region. Bajabeer, a well-known columnist and writer, was detained in the city of Mukalla by the Hadramout Intelligence Service. No official charges were announced at the time of his arrest, and his whereabouts and legal status remain undisclosed, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Bajabeer has worked as a freelance journalist and commentator, regularly contributing opinion...

July 29, 2025 - Russia -  A Russian court sentenced journalist Olga Komleva to six years in prison for allegedly participating in an “extremist organization” linked to the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Komleva, 33, was found guilty of being involved in the activities of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, which was outlawed as extremist by Russian authorities in 2021. Her arrest and trial mark yet another escalation in the Kremlin’s crackdown on dissent, particularly targeting individuals associated with Navalny’s movement. Komleva had previously contributed to media projects associated with Navalny’s team, and prosecutors accused her of...

July 29, 2025 – Palestine – Awdah Hathaleen, a 31-year-old Palestinian activist, English teacher, journalist, and contributor to the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, was shot dead in the village of Umm al-Khair in Masafer Yatta, located in the occupied West Bank. Witnesses say the incident occurred when an Israeli settler, identified as Yinon Levi, who had previously been sanctioned by the EU, UK, and US, fired into a crowd during a confrontation, striking Hathaleen in the chest. He died from the fatal wound. Footage shared by filmmakers and rights groups shows Levi brandishing a...

July 29, 2025 - UK/Palestine -  A British journalist, Steve Sweeney, claims he was forced into exile after being detained and interrogated by UK Counter Terrorism police upon returning from Lebanon, due to his critical reporting on Israel’s actions in the region. Published on July 29, 2025, Sweeney shared that the interrogation followed his critical reporting on Israel while in Lebanon. Although he wasn’t formally arrested, he felt compelled to leave the UK because of the perceived pressure from authorities. Sweeney described the experience as a form of coercive suppression, adding that he no longer...

July 29, 2025 - Ukraine -  Two investigative journalists in Khmelnytskyi were subjected to a coordinated SMS bombing attack following their work covering protests against legislation perceived as threatening the independence of Ukraine’s anti‑corruption institutions, NABU (National Anti-Corruption Bureau) and SAPO (Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office) The journalists, among them Kateryna Vovk, received hundreds of authentication codes via SMS over five hours (approximately 07:30 to 12:30 local time). The messages were linked to repeated attempted logins across multiple platforms, indicating that attackers fed her phone number into various sites to generate code messages. Simultaneously, repeated calls...

July 28, 2025 – Palestine – Abdalhadi Farahat, a field correspondent for Yemen Today TV, was injured on July 27 while reporting near the northern edge of the Gaza Strip in the Al‑Sudaniya area. He was hit by live fire from the Israeli army during a volatile reporting assignment along the border. The full extent of his injuries has not been disclosed, though the incident underscores the extreme danger journalists face when covering border zones during active conflict. Farinat’s experience comes amid rising documentation of journalists being wounded and sometimes killed by Israeli fire in...

July 28, 2025 – Palestine – Veteran Palestinian journalist Nasser al-Laham, editor-in-chief of Ma’an News Agency, has come forward with harrowing details of abuse during a recent detention by Israeli forces. Arrested on July 7 in the West Bank on unsubstantiated accusations of “incitement” and alleged affiliation with a banned organisation, al-Laham was held for nine days at Ofer Prison before being released without charges on July 16. In a statement published following his release, al-Laham revealed that Israeli prison guards beat him, blindfolded him, and filmed him naked during interrogations. He described the abuse...

July 28, 2025 - Iraq -  Iraqi authorities have confirmed the death of photojournalist Wissam al-Ghanmi, who was found dead on July 28, 2025, several days after disappearing in Maysan Governorate, southeastern Iraq. Al-Ghanmi, who worked for multiple media outlets and was known for covering political unrest and social issues, had gone missing while reportedly on assignment. His disappearance triggered concern from local journalist unions and human rights groups, who feared for his safety amid a deteriorating environment for press freedom in Iraq. The Maysan Police Directorate stated that al-Ghanmi's body was discovered in a...

July 28, 2025 – Nigeria – The body of slain photojournalist Ayobami "Ayo" Aiyepeku was recovered on the evening of July 27 near the WAEC office in Zone 8, Lokoja, Nigeria. Kogi State Police confirmed that Ayobami was likely murdered on the night of July 22 in an office near Government House, allegedly by his colleague, Oluwapelumi Adebayo, who is employed by the Nigerian Correctional Service. The body was found decomposing in a bush after residents reported a foul odour. His remains were deposited at Kogi State Specialist Hospital as authorities launched an investigation into...

July 28, 2025 – Paraguay/Brazil – The widow of revered Brazilian journalist Léo Veras, who was murdered during a home invasion in Pedro Juan Caballero, Paraguay, has publicly accused a Paraguayan congressman of attempting to bribe her in exchange for halting calls for justice. Veras, a 52-year‑old investigative reporter for Porã News, was shot inside his home on February 12, 2020. He had documented corruption, organized crime, and cross-border drug trafficking in a lawless region straddling the Brazil–Paraguay border, a job that earned him repeated death threats before his assassination. According to the LatAm Journalism Review report,...

July 28, 2025 – Afghanistan – The Taliban’s escalating repression of the Afghan press has intensified with the detention of at least seven journalists in recent days, according to reports from the Afghanistan Journalists Center. These arrests form part of a broader campaign to silence dissent and eliminate independent reporting under the group’s authoritarian rule. Journalists were taken into custody in Kabul, Baghlan, and Balkh provinces, many without formal charges or explanation. Those detained include reporters affiliated with local outlets and freelancers who had covered protests or written critically about Taliban policies. Some were held...

July 28, 2025 – Congo -  In a disturbing incident highlighting press suppression in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, three journalists were assaulted and briefly detained while attempting to question a provincial minister about corruption allegations. The incident unfolded on July 28 in the province of Haut-Uélé, where the reporters tried to interview Minister Pascal Saveza regarding a series of complaints related to public contract mismanagement. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), when Saveza arrived at a public event in Watsa, the three journalists approached him to pose questions. Security personnel immediately...

July 28, 2025 – Mexico – Multiple journalists in both Mexico City and Sinaloa state have reported threats, intimidation, and physical assaults at the hands of police officers, according to press freedom organisations. The incidents occurred during recent coverage of protests and criminal investigations, exposing ongoing risks for media professionals working in high-risk areas. In Mexico City, a police officer reportedly pushed and grabbed a journalist attempting to photograph a protest in the city’s central plaza. The officer allegedly confiscated the reporter’s phone and deleted footage capturing police misconduct during an arrest. The journalist was...

July 28, 2025 – Kosovo – The Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AGK) issued a strong condemnation following verbal assaults and disparaging remarks made by MP Fitore Pacolli against journalist Blerta Foniqi Kabashi. The incidents occurred after Foniqi Kabashi published investigative reporting that covered controversial local infrastructure projects, including allegations of financial irregularities involving public figures. According to AGK, Fitore Pacolli accused the journalist of defamation and dishonesty in a public posting on social media. Pacolli also questioned Foniqi Kabashi’s integrity and professionalism, implying she benefited personally from political opposition narratives. These actions, AGK leaders say,...

July 28, 2025 – India - Asianet News, a leading Malayalam-language news outlet based in Kerala, India, has filed a formal complaint with cybercrime authorities after several of its women journalists were subjected to a coordinated online harassment campaign. The complaint, submitted on July 28, alleges that the journalists were targeted with doctored images, explicit abuse, and defamatory content circulated widely on social media and anonymous messaging platforms. The attacks appear to have intensified following recent news coverage by Asianet News on politically sensitive issues. According to the complaint, the harassment included digitally altered photos,...

July 28, 2025 – Australia – Former SBS World News anchor and commentator Mary Kostakidis, a prominent Australian journalist, is defending a racial discrimination lawsuit filed by the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA). The case centers on social media posts from January 2024 in which she shared a speech by the late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, adding commentary that described Israeli actions as “genocide.” The ZFA alleges these posts violate Section 18C of Australia’s Racial Discrimination Act by targeting people of Israeli origin or Jewish identity. In federal court in Adelaide, Kostakidis’ legal team filed a...

July 28, 2025 - USA -  Former CBS Evening News co-anchor Connie Chung has voiced deep alarm over the $8 billion merger of Paramount Global with Skydance Media, recently approved by the FCC and set to finalize on August 7. Chung argued this shift could mark “the end of CBS as I knew it” and a serious blow to independent, fact‑based journalism once personified by icons like Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite. On CNN, Chung criticized CBS's transformation under the new ownership, stressing that the news division was formerly “autonomous… unencumbered by pressures from politicians…...

July 28, 2025 - Mozambique -  Mozambican journalist Selma Inocência Marivate has publicly denounced an alleged assassination attempt involving poisoning with heavy metals, following a visit to Maputo in March 2025. While residing in Germany, where she currently lives and works, she experienced intense symptoms. Medical tests revealed elevated levels of mercury, uranium, thallium, and cadmium—industrial toxins, she says are often used in covert operations to eliminate critics. In a video message on Facebook, Selma described the experience as near-fatal. “I was poisoned. I almost lost my life. Today I live with pain and physical limitations,”...