News

October 27, 2024 - Palestine - Three more Palestinian journalists—Saed Radwan, Hamza Abu Salmiya, and Haneen Baroud—were killed in separate Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, pushing the confirmed death toll of journalists in the conflict to at least 180, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office. These media workers were affiliated with Al-Aqsa TV, Sanad News Agency, and the Al-Quds Foundation, respectively, and all were killed while reporting from active conflict zones. Their deaths are part of a devastating and ongoing pattern that has made Gaza the most lethal place in the world for journalists....

October 25, 2024 - General - Veteran journalist Chris Hedges—former New York Times bureau chief and seasoned war correspondent—has sharply condemned Israel’s conduct in Gaza, labeling it “a war on journalism.” In heated essays for ScheerPost, he argues that Israeli forces have deliberately targeted Palestinian reporters and suppressed independent foreign reporting, effectively silencing the truth. Hedges highlights alarming cases: Al Jazeera cameraman Fadi al‑Wahidi, shot in the neck by a sniper while wearing protective press gear, now lies comatose. His colleague, Shireen Abu Akleh, was also deliberately targeted. Despite visible press identifiers, both journalists became victims...

October 25, 2024 - Belarus - Belarusian authorities arrested two prominent journalists—Ihar Ilyash and Daniil Palianski—in a continuing crackdown on independent media. Their detentions, denounced by the International Press Institute (IPI) and Belarusian Journalists’ Association (BAJ), occurred within a week of each other and reflect intensifying repression under President Alexander Lukashenko. Ilyash, a veteran reporter and husband of imprisoned Katsiaryna Andreyeva (formerly of Belsat TV), was detained in late October. A video released by the KGB showed him confessing to “providing comments to independent media,” including interviews on his wife’s imprisonment and Belarus’s potential involvement...

October 25, 2024 - Lebanon - An Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanese town of Hasbaya killed three journalists and injured several others. The journalists were staying in a residential compound that housed members of the press covering the growing conflict along the Israel-Lebanon border. According to Lebanese officials and local media, the strike occurred around 3 a.m., hitting a building used by journalists and destroying vehicles marked with the word “PRESS.” The victims were identified as Ghassan Najjar, a cameraman for Al-Mayadeen TV; Mohammad Reda, a broadcast engineer for the same outlet; and Wissam...

October 25, 2024 - Ireland - Partners of the Council of Europe’s Platform for the Protection of Journalism concluded a fact-finding mission in Dublin, calling on Irish authorities to take concrete steps to better protect press freedom. Their recommendations focus on three key areas: defamation law reform, source protection, and public media funding. One of the primary concerns raised is Ireland’s outdated and restrictive defamation laws. Journalists in Ireland face the risk of costly and intimidating lawsuits from powerful individuals and institutions, tactics commonly used to suppress investigative reporting. The delegation urged the Irish government...

October 24, 2024 - Romania/Russia - The Lenin District Court of Kursk, acting on a petition from the regional FSB’s border guard department, issued an arrest warrant in absentia for Romanian journalist Mircea Barbu, a correspondent for HotNews.ro. He faces charges of “illegally crossing the Russian border” after reporting from the town of Sudzha, which fell under Ukrainian control during Kyiv’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in August 2024. Barbu traveled openly to Sudzha with a Ukrainian military convoy to document the conditions on the ground, filming interviews with residents about infrastructure outages and daily...

24 October 2024 - Palestine - The Israeli military publicly named six Palestinian journalists working with Al Jazeera as alleged members of militant groups, sparking international outrage and fears for their safety. The journalists—Anas al-Sharif, Hossam Shabat, Ismail Abu Omar, Talal Arrouki, Ashraf Saraj, and Alaa Salameh—have been accused by Israel of belonging to either Hamas or Islamic Jihad. Israeli officials claim these allegations are based on documents recovered during operations in Gaza, though they have provided no verifiable evidence to support the claims. Al Jazeera has categorically rejected the accusations, calling them fabricated and...

October 23, 2024 - Egypt - A coalition of 34 international and regional rights organizations has condemned Egypt’s latest wave of journalist arrests, calling for the immediate release of those detained and an end to the state’s ongoing repression of press freedom. In early September 2024, at least four independent Egyptian journalists—Ashraf Omar, Khaled Mamdouh, Ramadan Gouida, and Yasser Abu Al‑Ela—were arrested in a coordinated campaign that rights groups say constitutes enforced disappearance. The arrests, carried out without warrants or public charges, have reignited fears of a resurgence in Egypt’s crackdown on the independent press....

October 23, 2024 - Palestine - The International Press Institute (IPI) has issued an urgent call to the international community to pressure Israel to uphold its obligations under international law and protect journalists covering the war in Gaza. As the death toll among media workers continues to rise, IPI warns that without immediate intervention, journalism itself is at risk of being extinguished in one of the world’s deadliest conflicts for the press. Since October 7, 2023, more than 170 journalists—almost all Palestinian—have been killed in Gaza and southern Lebanon. Many were identified as press and...

October 23, 2024 - Iran - U.S. authorities have uncovered a chilling assassination plot targeting Iranian-American journalist and activist Masih Alinejad, allegedly orchestrated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). On October 25, 2024, federal prosecutors unsealed charges against Brigadier General Ruhollah Bazghandi, a high-ranking IRGC intelligence official, and six co-conspirators for attempting to hire Russian-speaking criminals to murder Alinejad on U.S. soil. According to the indictment, the plot began in mid-2022 and involved attempts to recruit organized crime networks to carry out the killing. Surveillance footage showed one of the suspects, Khalid Mehdiyev, loitering...

October 23, 2024 - Palestine - Al Jazeera has strongly condemned recent allegations by the Israeli military accusing six of its Gaza-based journalists of being members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad. The named journalists—Anas al-Sharif, Hossam Shabat, Ismail Abu Omar, Talal Arrouki, Ashraf Saraj, and Alaa Salameh—were accused without trial or independent verification, with Israel claiming to have recovered documents linking them to militant factions. These claims, Al Jazeera stated, are “baseless” and a dangerous attempt to justify targeting media workers. In an official press release, Al Jazeera denounced the accusations as “fabricated” and warned...

October 22, 2024 - India - The Mullaitivu Press Club in northern Sri Lanka called for an international, “judicially empowered” investigation into the killings and enforced disappearances of journalists—especially Tamil journalists—spanning decades of conflict. Their appeal marks the 24th anniversary of journalist Mylvaganam Nimalarajan’s assassination and underscores a persistent culture of impunity that allows perpetrators to act without fear of consequences. Between 2004 and 2009, over 48 journalists and media workers were killed in Sri Lanka, 41 of them Tamil. More recent cases include the high‑profile disappearance of journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda in 2010, as well as...

October 22, 2024 - Iran - Iran’s Revolutionary Courts have intensified efforts to silence journalists reporting on human rights and protests, notably those covering the Mahsa Amini uprising and socio-political issues. Armed with expansive “propaganda” and “national security” laws, the courts have handed down harsh sentences to several women journalists. Two leading journalists—Elaha Mohammadi and Niloofar Hamidi—took part in covering the Mahsa Amini protests in 2022. Initially sentenced to lengthy prison terms—six years (Mohammadi) and seven years (Hamidi) plus additional charges—their sentences were revised on appeal in October 2024. Although acquitted of “collaborating with a hostile foreign...

October 21, 2024 - India/Sri Lanka - Tamil journalist Selvakumar Nilanthan was arrested by Sri Lankan police in what rights groups have condemned as a targeted attempt to suppress press freedom. Nilanthan, known for exposing local corruption and human rights abuses in the eastern Batticaloa region, was detained on October 21 by Eravur police without prior legal notice. His arrest followed renewed legal action stemming from a 2019 report he published about alleged misconduct by the Chenkalady Divisional Secretary. Alongside two civilians, he was accused of obstructing government duties and defamation. During his detention, Nilanthan...

October 21, 2024 - Guatemala - After enduring more than 800 days behind bars, veteran Guatemalan investigative journalist José Rubén Zamora—founder of El Periódico—was transferred to house arrest on October 18, 2024. Judges ruled that his prolonged pre-trial detention had exceeded legal limits, prompting a shift to a restricted residence-based sentence pending retrial. A judge explicitly barred Zamora from leaving Guatemala and mandated his appearance before authorities every eight days, while worldwide pressure from press freedom advocates heightened the spotlight on his case. Zamora, a staunch voice in exposing corruption through his investigative journalism, had...

October 21, 2024 - Egypt - Egyptian security forces arrested eminent economist and commentator Abdel Khaleq Farouk, 67, from his Cairo home over critical posts on Facebook targeting President Abdel-Fattah el‑Sisi’s economic agenda, including the New Administrative Capital project and the Gaza war stance. He was formally charged with “joining a terrorist organization,” “spreading false news,” and “misusing social media,” marking a stark escalation in Egypt’s crackdown on economic and political discourse. Farouk appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution on October 21, initiating a cycle of pretrial detentions renewed repeatedly, most recently for an...

October 19, 2024 - Somalia - Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) executed a pre-dawn operation in Mogadishu's Boondheere district, forcibly abducting investigative journalist Abduqadir Mohamed Nur—also known as “Jakarta”—from his home at around 3 a.m. Security agents confiscated his phone and laptop before transporting him to the notorious Godka Jila’aow detention center, a facility long associated with torture and abuse. Nur, a senior reporter and editor with Risaala Media Corporation—producers of Radio Risaala and Risaala TV—had been openly critical of Somalia’s security services under President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. His abduction represents a brazen attempt to...

October 19, 2024 - Afghanistan - Afghanistan’s Taliban have escalated a brutal crackdown on journalists through the actions of their General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI). On October 5, reporter Mahdi Ansary, 27, working with Afghan News Agency, was arrested in Kabul’s Dasht-e-Barchi district by GDI agents. He was detained without formal charges, and even his family was left to search police stations before confirming his custody. A Taliban court later accused him of anti-regime “propaganda” based on his journalistic reports and Facebook posts, handing him an 18-month prison sentence effective from the arrest date. Ansary’s trial,...

October 18, 2024 - Zambia - Investigative journalist Thomas Allan Zgambo was arrested at a Lusaka mall and detained at Ridgeway Police Station without formal charges—his third arrest in a year, highlighting systematic judicial harassment. Zgambo, known for his writing on the Zambia Whistleblower website, was targeted after publishing an article seen as critical of senior government figures. Authorities alleged criminal libel and cybercrime, though CPJ noted he remained uncharged when first detained. Amnesty International swiftly demanded Zgambo's immediate and unconditional release, reaffirming that "journalism is not a crime" and reminding Zambia of its constitutional...

October 18, 2024 - UK - British counterterrorism police raided the North London home of Asa Winstanley, associate editor of The Electronic Intifada, seizing his electronic devices under suspicion of “encouraging terrorism.” Officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command arrived at dawn and confiscated seven items, including laptops, phones, and hard drives, without arresting or formally charging Winstanley. The warrant cited Sections 1 and 2 of the Terrorism Act 2006 and referenced Winstanley’s social media commentary, though he was not accused of any violent activity. The raid provoked outrage among press freedom advocates. The...

October 16, 2024 - General - Governments worldwide have begun weaponizing financial legislation—tax audits, anti‑money‑laundering rules, and defamation statutes—to intimidate and control independent media. A forthcoming UNESCO report, along with research by WAN‑IFRA and the Inter American Press Association, spotlights this emerging tactic used to suppress investigative journalism through economic coercion. These financial pressures often manifest as sudden, unexplained tax investigations, hefty fines following critical reporting, forced dissolution of nonprofit media, or freezing of bank accounts. Such actions drive newsrooms into defensive modes: reassigning editorial budgets to legal teams, culling investigative staff, or abandoning coverage...

October 16, 2024 - USA - Former Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles received a severe sentence for the 2022 murder of investigative journalist Jeff German, ending a case that shocked both Las Vegas and the broader journalism community. On October 16, Judge Michelle Leavitt sentenced Telles to life in prison, enforcing a minimum term of 28 years before parole eligibility. The sentence builds upon a jury’s earlier recommendation of a 20-year minimum for first-degree murder, with an additional eight years added due to sentencing enhancements including use of a deadly weapon, premeditation (lying in...

October 17, 2024 - Belarus - Freelance journalist Danil Palianski, a 53-year-old reporter from Brest, disappeared shortly after returning from Russia. His detention was confirmed by the Belarusian Association of Journalists, marking the start of a harsh judicial assault. Palianski now stands accused of “high treason” — a charge punishable by up to 20 years in prison — as part of a sweeping crackdown on independent media. He is one of at least 34 journalists currently detained in Belarus, a country now regarded as the most dangerous in Europe for press freedom. Andrei Bastunets, head of...

October 16, 2024 - Sudan - Halima Idriss Salim—30, a reporter for the online news outlet Sudan Bukra, was tragically killed in Omdurman when a vehicle belonging to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) struck her as she reported on escalating conflict between the RSF and Sudanese Armed Forces. Despite the gravity of the incident, no formal investigation has been launched into her death nearly a year later. The International Press Institute (IPI) has called for a transparent, independent inquiry into her killing, emphasizing this demand ahead of the first anniversary of the fatal incident. IPI...

October 16, 2024 - Turkey - In a chilling escalation of press intimidation, on August 15, 2024, the mayor of Tatvan in eastern Turkey publicly threatened local journalist Sinan Aygül, stating, “Sinan will know his place” and promising, “We will teach him his lesson” during a press conference, though Aygül was not present. Aygül, who serves as chief editor of the independent Bitlis News website and chairs the Bitlis Journalists Society, had previously been physically attacked in June 2023 by bodyguards of the former mayor in response to his investigative reporting into municipal spending. The current mayor...