News

August 5, 2025 – Iran – Journalist Meysam Rashidi was arrested in Ardabil following a complaint by the city’s mayor over his critical social media posts about municipal performance. Rashidi, who has worked with the news outlet Qaartaal, was detained by local police acting on a temporary detention order issued after the mayor filed the complaint. Rashidi’s arrest is part of a broader pattern of press restrictions in Iran, where journalists have been targeted for criticism of local authorities. Earlier this year, in March, Rashidi was reportedly assaulted by Ardabil municipality security personnel after publicly...

August 5, 2025 – Iran/International – Iran International, a Persian‑language broadcaster headquartered in London, has reported a chilling escalation in threats by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS). A total of 45 journalists employed by the outlet and over 300 of their family members in eight countries, including the UK, US, Canada, Sweden, Germany, Turkey, and Belgium, were issued explicit death threats in the past six weeks. The messages warned: “Stop reporting on Iran, or you and your immediate relatives will die.” This sudden escalation followed the Twelve-Day War between Iran and Israel in mid-June 2025. Iran International...

August 4, 2025 – Cuba – Enrique Pérez Fumero, a Cuban journalist, university professor, and Doctor of Science affiliated with the official CMKC radio station, was savagely assaulted in the early hours of Sunday in Santiago de Cuba. The attack, publicly denounced by fellow journalist Yosmany Mayeta Labrada, has sparked outrage and demands for justice, especially in light of official silence from the media and authorities. The assault occurred near Barnada and San Mateo streets in the heart of Santiago de Cuba, just blocks away from the symbolic Moncada Barracks. Pérez was left with a...

August 4, 2025 – Mexico – Journalist Esaú Zavaleta was arrested and jailed today in Playa Grande, a community of San Pedro Huamelula, Oaxaca, while covering a local citizen complaint concerning the potential removal of an endangered tree. The journalist had been invited by residents to attend a community meeting to document their concerns regarding the local authorities’ plan to cut down a tree located within the home of a young resident, Deysi Abigail. Zavaleta reported that he arrived at the meeting at approximately 8:00 a.m. to collect testimonies. Upon entering the gathering, he was...

August 3, 2025 - Bangladesh - Local journalist Habibur Rahman Selim has been arrested by the Bangladesh Army for allegedly inciting attacks on homes belonging to the Hindu minority community in Gangachara Upazila, Rangpur. Selim, a reporter for the regional daily Dainik Juger Alo, was detained from his residence in Gokulpur Chawpara around 3:30 a.m. on Sunday, according to police authorities. The arrest comes in the wake of communal unrest that began on July 26 after a Hindu teenager from Chhayani Balapara was accused of posting derogatory remarks about Prophet Muhammad on Facebook. Following the...

August 3, 2025 – Syria – Syrian journalist and activist Kindi Al‑Adai was found dead inside his home in the Al‑Jourah neighbourhood of Deir Ezzor on August 3, 2025. His body was discovered hanging, with visible signs of beating and torture, according to local sources. The circumstances surrounding his death have raised serious concerns about state involvement and the targeting of critical voices in Syria. Al‑Adai had recently returned to Syria from Germany, where he had been living in exile. He was widely known as a prominent voice since the early days of the Syrian...

August 2, 2025 – India – The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has strongly condemned the recent attack on a journalist during an official event attended by Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi in Pipli. The journalist, a reporter from Dharitri newspaper, was reportedly assaulted by individuals linked to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) while covering the Chief Minister’s public program. According to local media reports, the attack occurred during a cultural segment of the event when the journalist was attempting to perform his reporting duties. Eyewitnesses stated that BJP supporters physically confronted him, obstructed...

August 2, 2025 – United States – A South Carolina man has been sentenced to federal prison after threatening to kill a New York-based journalist in a disturbing case that highlights the increasing dangers faced by media professionals. Austin Suman, 28, from Myrtle Beach, received a two-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to transmitting interstate threats to a reporter who had written articles critical of him. According to court documents, Suman sent a series of threatening messages to the journalist in early 2023, including one stating he would “put a bullet” in the reporter’s head...

August 2, 2025 – Bangladesh – A case has been filed following a violent attack on at least five journalists in Muradnagar Upazila of Cumilla while they were covering a land dispute. The incident occurred in Bhayna village under the Bangra Bazar Police Station, where a group of men allegedly led by an individual named Delwar launched a physical assault on the media workers, injuring several of them and damaging their equipment. According to the complaint filed with the police, the journalists had arrived at the location in response to reports of a clash between...

August 2, 2025 – Palestine -  Palestinian journalist Marwa Muslim, a broadcaster at Al‑Shabab Radio in Gaza City, has been found dead at her home in the Al‑Shuja’iya district. The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate announced the discovery of her body on Friday. Muslim hosted the morning program Bashaer al‑Sabah (Morning Tidings) and the social affairs show That (Self), marking her as one of Gaza’s prominent female radio voices. Her death raises the confirmed total of journalists and media personnel killed in Gaza since the outbreak of war on October 7, 2023, to 232. The previous fatality...

August 1, 2025 - India - Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy is facing strong criticism from media professionals and civil society after making a series of aggressive and dismissive statements targeting journalists. During a recent public event, Reddy remarked that he sometimes feels like “slapping young journalists,” citing dissatisfaction with their reporting. The statement, widely condemned by press freedom advocates, has been viewed as not only unprofessional but also threatening, especially in a country where journalists already face harassment and violence. In follow-up comments, Reddy attempted to distinguish between “genuine journalists” and those he referred...

July 31, 2025 – Australia/Palestine – The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has issued a strong public statement urging the Israeli government to allow foreign journalists to enter Gaza and report independently on the humanitarian situation. Since October 7, 2023, Israel has barred international media from accessing Gaza, forcing global news outlets to rely on local freelancers who operate under extreme danger and hardship. ABC News Director Justin Stevens emphasised the risks faced by these freelancers, many of whom are Palestinian journalists reporting under conditions of intense bombardment, famine, and siege. Stevens reiterated that some of...

July 31, 2025 - Palestine -  Awdah Hathaleen, a 31-year-old Palestinian activist and educator, was shot and killed by an Israeli settler on July 28, 2025, in the village of Umm al-Khair in the occupied West Bank. Hathaleen was a key figure in the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, which highlighted the experiences of Palestinians facing displacement and settler violence in Masafer Yatta. His death has sparked outrage across the Palestinian territories and international human rights circles. According to eyewitnesses and footage, the settler—identified as Yinon Levi, a figure previously sanctioned by the United States,...

July 30, 2025 – Ghana – The Ghanaian government has launched an official investigation after JoyNews journalist Carlos Carlony was assaulted and briefly detained by military personnel while reporting live from a demolition site in Spintex, Accra. Carlony was covering the demolition of a warehouse reportedly linked to businessman Daniel McKorley when he was attacked by soldiers despite clearly identifying himself as a journalist. According to Carlony, he and his cameraman were interviewing an eyewitness when a group of soldiers approached. One soldier struck him twice in the neck from behind, and both he and...

July 30, 2025 – Nigeria – Francess Olisa Ogbonnaya, a Nigerian journalist and political analyst, has been detained after refusing to produce a jingle aimed at discrediting Senator Natasha Akpoti‑Uduaghan. The request came from Sandra Chidinma Duru, known as “Prof Mgbeke,” who is politically connected to Senate President Godswill Akpabio. Ogbonnaya was asked to create a campaign jingle portraying the senator negatively, which she fulfilled professionally. Duru later demanded a revised, more defamatory version and a refund after declaring the initial work insufficiently damaging. Despite a restraining order issued by a High Court in Abia State...

July 30, 2025 – Syria – Sari Majid Al‑Shoufi, a photojournalist for Suwayda 24, was killed while reporting on armed clashes in the countryside around the southern Syrian city of Sweida. He disappeared in the early hours of July 14 during confrontations between Druze militias, Bedouin armed groups, and Syrian military forces. After several days of community‑led searching, his death was confirmed on July 24, prompting urgent calls by the Committee to Protect Journalists for accountability and inquiry. Al‑Shoufi’s last known location was near a makeshift checkpoint in his home village of Taara, where he had informed colleagues...

July 30, 2025 - Iraq -  Freelance journalist Omed Baroshky, founder and director of Rast Media in Iraqi Kurdistan’s Duhok province, will remain imprisoned for an additional six months after a regional court reactivated a previously suspended sentence. The extension, announced on July 30, 2025, means he will now serve both the original sentence and the new term. Baroshky had been serving a six-month term following a defamation conviction issued in January 2024 over a Facebook post alleging the kidnapping of a detainee from Zirka prison. His initial release was scheduled for July 31, 2025—but the sentencing...

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...