News

December 20, 2024 - Georgia - International press freedom organizations have united in a powerful show of solidarity with journalists across Georgia following an escalating wave of violence, intimidation, and legislative suppression against independent media. During mass protests sparked by the government’s decision to pause EU accession talks on November 28, 2024, at least eighty journalists were physically attacked, threatened, or interfered with by police and masked vigilantes. One prominent case involved photographer Aleksandre Keshelashvili being seized, beaten, and detained despite clearly identifying as press, and another saw Guram Rogava of Formula TV suffering facial fractures...

December 20, 2024 - Turkey - Kurdish journalists Nazim Daştan, 32, and Cîhan Bilgin, 29, were killed while covering the escalating conflict in northern Syria. Both were deployed near the Tishrin Dam, documenting clashes between Turkey-backed forces and Kurdish fighters when their car was struck by a drone attack, reportedly by a Turkish drone. Their driver, Aziz Haj Bozan, survived with injuries. The attack took place on December 19 near Kobani, around 100 km east of Aleppo. The Dicle Fırat Journalists Association (DFG) issued a stern condemnation late on that day, branding the strike a targeted...

December 20, 2024 - Bangladesh - The murder of photojournalist Abu Taher Md. Turab, commonly known as Turab, on July 19, 2024, amid Bangladesh’s student-led quota movement, has sparked a high-stakes legal battle centering on accountability and institutional transparency. Turab, a reporter for Daily Jalalabad and Daily Naya Diganta, was wearing a press vest when he was shot during a confrontation between police and protestors in Sylhet. The incident was one of several journalist deaths and injuries during the widespread protests that left four media workers dead and over 200 injured. Following the murder, Turab’s...

December 20, 2024 - Turkey - Kurdish journalists Nazim Daştan, aged 32, and Cîhan Bilgin, aged 29, working for Kurdish outlets including ANHA, Rojnews, and Firat News Agency, were killed near the Tishrin Dam east of Aleppo by an alleged Turkish drone strike. The two were traveling in a vehicle marked “Press” while reporting on armed clashes between Turkish-backed Syrian National Army forces and U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters when the drone attack struck their car, instantly killing both and injuring their driver, Aziz Haj Bozan. The Dicle Firat Journalists Association, alongside the Turkish Journalists Union, strongly condemned the attack as...

December 20, 2024 - Egypt - The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), alongside the Egyptian Journalists’ Syndicate (EJS), has made an urgent appeal to President Abdel Fattah El‑Sisi to immediately and unconditionally release twenty‑four journalists currently detained in Egypt. Their appeal followed the IFJ delegation’s attendance at the EJS’s sixth general conference in Cairo from December 14 to 16, 2024, where IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger emphasized the human and professional toll of prolonged imprisonments. He underlined the importance of solidarity and pledged cooperation on international advocacy, digital safety training, and press freedom reporting. The...

December 20, 2024 - India - Indian investigative journalist Anand Mangnale, the South Asia regional editor for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, has been subjected to a state-backed online smear campaign after exposing significant corruption. On December 5, 2024, Nishikant Dubey, a Member of Parliament from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, accused Mangnale in Parliament of trying to undermine the government by accessing foreign funds. He alleged that Mangnale was interfering with Indian politics through overseas financing. The official BJP account amplified these claims on X, accusing him of raising “Chinese money” for...

December 19, 2024 - Georgia - The streets of Tbilisi erupted into widespread protests after the government’s abrupt decision to delay EU accession talks in late November 2024, triggering fierce clashes between demonstrators and security forces. In this volatile environment, journalists covering the demonstrations found themselves exposed to graphic violence and legal intimidation, despite clearly identifying themselves as members of the press. Law enforcement repeatedly used tear gas, water cannons laced with chemical irritants, rubber bullets, and physical force to disperse not only protesters but also reporters on duty. Many journalists suffered beatings, concussions, broken...

December 19, 2024 - General - At the Internet Governance Forum 2024 held in Riyadh, the safety of journalists in the digital landscape took center stage as experts across the globe highlighted the escalating threats posed by online harassment, surveillance, and censorship. The open forum “Safety of Journalists Online” underscored that journalists universally face similar dangers, with female reporters and individuals from marginalized communities bearing the brunt of gender-based abuse. Participants stressed the urgent need to expand legal protections—both by reinforcing existing regulations and crafting new frameworks—to hold online platforms accountable for facilitating harassment and...

December 19, 2024 - Sudan - Emmanuel Monychol Akop, editor-in-chief of The Dawn newspaper, was arrested on November 28, 2024, by agents of South Sudan’s National Security Service after responding to a summons to their headquarters in Juba. Detained without any formal charges or access to legal counsel, his arrest marks yet another instance of the oppressive use of intelligence services against independent journalism in the country. His family was informed that neither visits nor updates would be permitted until the so-called investigation was complete, while colleagues voiced deep concern for his well-being and access...

December 19, 2024 - Greece - A court in Athens made a landmark ruling concluding that veteran Greek crime reporter Giorgos Karaivaz was assassinated in April 2021 because of his journalistic work. The Mixed Jury Court determined that his murder was a contract killing directly linked to his reporting, rejecting any alternative motives and declaring that the only plausible explanation was Karaivaz’s professional role as a journalist. Giorgos Karaivaz, age 52, was a prominent investigator of organized crime and corruption in Greece. He had a distinguished career with Star Channel and ran the independent news website Bloko. On April 9, 2021,...

December 19, 2024 - Belarus - Yauhen Nikalayevich, a former video reporter for the independent outlet Media Polesye, was sentenced on October 3, 2024, by a court in Pinsk to one and a half years in prison for allegedly “organizing or participating in gross violations of public order.” The verdict, which was connected to his coverage of the 2020 Minsk protests demanding President Lukashenko’s resignation, was upheld in December after his appeal was rejected. The sentence remained concealed until December 19, when it became public following a court’s decision to reject his appeal, triggering widespread criticism...

December 18, 2024 - Colombia - Stanford Daily reporter Dilan Gohill was arrested while covering a pro-Palestinian student occupation of the university president’s office. Wearing his press credentials and hoodie, Gohill entered the building to chronicle the unfolding protest alongside student demonstrators. Despite clarifying to law enforcement that he was acting in his capacity as a journalist, he was arrested on suspicion of felony burglary, vandalism, and conspiracy, and held in the Santa Clara County jail for several hours. His arrest sparked immediate concern from legal watchdogs and free-press advocates, who rushed to his defense...

December 18, 2024 - Serbia - Recent investigations by Article 19 and Amnesty International have revealed a disturbing escalation in Serbia’s surveillance of journalists, sources, and activists. According to their reports, the Serbian Intelligence Agency (BIA) and police have used advanced spyware and forensic tools to hack into the mobile devices of media professionals. Investigations uncovered forensic traces of Cellebrite’s Universal Forensic Extraction Device (UFED), enabling authorities to unlock and extract data from smartphones. The spyware infection, often during routine detentions or interviews, utilized both foreign and domestically developed tools such as “NoviSpy,” allowing remote...

December 18, 2024 - General - IPI, alongside other leading press freedom groups, has urgently called for a thorough investigation into the Serbian government’s intrusive surveillance tactics targeting journalists and their sources. This appeal comes in response to alarming evidence that both intelligence agencies and police have exploited invasive spyware, such as Cellebrite’s forensic tools and a domestic implant known as “NoviSpy,” without any legal oversight. Investigative journalists working with outlets like BIRN received malicious links via messaging apps; forensic analysis confirmed that the resulting spyware was used to extract contacts, screenshots, and potentially activate...

December 18, 2024 - Russia - Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, now serving as deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council, triggered international condemnation after threatening senior staff at The Times newspaper. The warning came in response to an editorial that described the killing of Russian General Igor Kirillov in Ukraine as a legitimate act of defense. Medvedev accused the paper’s editors of justifying terrorism and declared them “legitimate military targets” in a post shared on his Telegram account. The remarks quickly drew comparisons to mafia-style threats, prompting immediate backlash from UK officials and press freedom...

18 December 2024 - General - The year 2024 marked a devastating turning point for global press freedom, with journalist deaths reaching their highest level in over three decades. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 124 journalists and media workers were killed worldwide, a staggering escalation largely driven by the war in Gaza. Of those killed, 85 were covering the Israel-Gaza conflict, making it by far the deadliest single theater for journalists in modern history. The majority of these were Palestinian reporters, many of them freelancers working under dire conditions and without institutional...

December 18, 2024 - USA/Mexico - Mexico has renewed its pursuit of justice in the 2017 killing of renowned investigative journalist Javier Valdez by formally requesting the extradition of Dámaso López Serrano, also known as “Mini Lic,” from the United States. Valdez, a veteran reporter who covered drug cartels and corruption, was shot dead near his newspaper office in Culiacán, Sinaloa. Mexican authorities have long identified López Serrano as the suspected mastermind of the murder, allegedly ordering the hit in retaliation for Valdez’s reporting on internal cartel disputes involving the Sinaloa drug trafficking organization. Mini...

December 18, 2024 - Krygyzstan - In a major blow to press freedom, a court in Kyrgyzstan has upheld the convictions of four journalists from the investigative media outlet Temirov Live, a team known for its hard-hitting reports on corruption within the government and security services. The Bishkek City Court ruled in December 2024 to maintain prison sentences for Makhabat Tazhibek kyzy, who received six years, and Azamat Ishenbekov, sentenced to five years. Two other journalists, Aike Beishekeyeva and Aktilek Kaparov, were handed three-year suspended sentences. The ruling was later confirmed by the country’s Supreme...

December 17, 2024 - UK - The UK’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) has found that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the Metropolitan Police unlawfully surveilled investigative journalists Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney in a series of covert operations aimed at uncovering their confidential sources. The ruling, delivered in December 2024, marks a significant victory for press freedom and journalistic integrity in the UK. The case centers around the 2017 documentary No Stone Unturned, which examined the unsolved 1994 Loughinisland massacre in Northern Ireland. Following its release, the PSNI launched an investigation to...

December 17, 2024 - Romania/UK - British authorities have arrested two Romanian nationals in connection with the March 2024 stabbing of British-Iranian journalist Pouria Zeraati, a prominent presenter with Iran International. The suspects, identified as 19-year-old Nandito Badea and 23-year-old George Stana, were apprehended in Romania and are currently facing extradition to the United Kingdom. The charges relate to a targeted attack in Wimbledon, where Zeraati was stabbed in the leg near his home. The incident left him hospitalized but did not result in life-threatening injuries. A third man, a 40-year-old suspect, was arrested in...

December 17, 2024 - UK - A tribunal in Northern Ireland has found that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) unlawfully used covert surveillance to identify a journalist’s confidential source and to monitor political figures, including former Secretary of State David Davis. The Investigatory Powers Tribunal determined that the PSNI bypassed legal authorization by launching secret operations—known as “directed surveillance” and “covert intrusion”—without meeting the required thresholds under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 or the Investigatory Powers Act 2016. This represented a serious violation of the journalist's right to protect sources and...

December 17, 2024 - Palestine/Israel - Since the outbreak of hostilities in October 2023, over 86 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been detained by Israeli authorities—a scale of repression unprecedented in recent history. Many arrests occurred without charge, particularly through the administration’s broad use of administrative detention. Initial waves in October 2023 saw noted journalists such as Abdel Nasser al‑Laham, Moath Amarneh, Mustafa al‑Khawaja, and Sabri Jibril taken into custody. Their arrests were carried out in pre-dawn raids, often involving broken doors, confiscation of electronic devices, and allegations that their social media commentary or...

December 17, 2024 - Syria - With the collapse of the Assad regime after over a decade of authoritarian rule and civil war, Syria now stands before a rare opportunity to build an independent, inclusive media landscape. For the first time in thirteen years, journalists are no longer restricted by state censorship or the constant threat of violence from government forces. Free Press Unlimited, which has worked alongside Syrian media since 2011, views this transitional moment as critical for establishing press freedom as a cornerstone of the country’s recovery. Throughout the conflict, Syrian independent journalists,...

December 17, 2024 - Jamaica - The Jamaican media landscape was rocked in December 2024 by the brutal murder of Barbara Gayle, a celebrated veteran court reporter whose career at The Gleaner spanned over four decades. Found dead in her Caymanas Estate home in St. Catherine on the morning of December 17, Gayle had been struck in the head and her throat slashed, likely days after speaking to a visitor outside her residence. Authorities report that her vehicle and mobile phone were stolen, prompting homicide investigations and public appeals for justice from senior government figures,...

December 16, 2024 - Palestine - Ahmed al-Louh, a 39-year-old Palestinian photojournalist working for Al Jazeera, was killed on December 15, 2024, in an Israeli airstrike that struck a Palestinian Civil Defence center in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. Al-Louh, who was wearing marked press gear at the time of the attack, was filming rescue operations when the strike occurred. Five Civil Defence workers were also killed in the same incident. He was transported to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah, where he was pronounced dead. Al Jazeera issued a strong condemnation, describing...