News

December 27, 2023 - Azerbaijan - Azerbaijan is undergoing a severe assault on press freedom, with a wave of arrests, prosecutions, and media shutdowns targeting independent journalists and outlets. Since late 2023, authorities have arrested more than 25 journalists, accusing many of “currency smuggling” and other economic crimes widely denounced as politically motivated. One of the central targets is Abzas Media, an independent investigative outlet known for reporting on government corruption. Its director, Ulvi Hasanli, along with several editors and reporters, was arrested and charged with smuggling. Offices were raided, equipment seized, and the team...

December 20, 2023 – Palestine - Veteran Al Jazeera cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa was killed and correspondent Wael Al‑Dahdouh was injured during their final reporting assignment in Khan Younis, Gaza—a mission now documented by Forbidden Stories and ARIJ as part of the Gaza Project. Abu Daqqa, aged 45, and Al‑Dahdouh, both wearing marked press vests, accompanied Civil Defense rescue crews to the devastated Farhana girls’ school courtyard. Their goal: film the retrieval of an excavator stranded amid rubble. While packing up, they came under Israeli drone fire. Witnesses and first responders report Abu Daqqa was struck by at least two separate strikes,...

December 18, 2023 - Mozambique -  João Fernando Chamusse — a prominent Mozambican journalist, co-owner and editor of the independent outlet Ponto por Ponto, and frequent commentator on TV Sucesso — was found dead in the backyard of his home in KaTembe, just outside Maputo. Neighbors recounted hearing his cries for help before discovering him with a severe head wound, a machete, and a gardening hoe nearby, and two mobile phones and a laptop missing. Chamusse had earned a reputation as a courageous voice against local corruption and government mismanagement. He previously co-founded the respected...

December 13, 2023 - Palestine - As the war in Gaza continues to take a devastating toll, the Coalition for Women in Journalism has reported the deaths of eleven Palestinian women journalists, killed by Israeli airstrikes since the conflict began on October 7, 2023. Among the most recent victims are Nermin Qawwas and Hanan Ayyad, both young reporters who died in December while trying to live, work, and document the destruction around them. Nermin Qawwas, 28, a trainee journalist for Russia Today, was killed when an Israeli airstrike hit her family’s home in Gaza City....