Middle East & North Africa

Contact CPJ Middle East & North Africa

Twitter: @CPJMena
Facebook: لجنة حماية الصحفيين بالعربية
Interim Program Coordinator:
Yeganeh Rezaian

Tel: +1 212-300-9018, +1 212-300-9017
Fax: +1 212-214-0640

Knight Foundation Press Freedom Center
P.O. Box 2675
New York, NY 10108 USA

  
(Screenshot: TNN TunisiaNews/YouTube)

Tunisian journalist’s health rapidly deteriorates in prison hunger strike

New York, May 16, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Tunisian authorities to immediately grant medical care to jailed journalist Chadha Hadj Mbarek, who went on hunger strike Wednesday after she was repeatedly denied emergency medical attention for various ailments. “Denying medical care to journalist Chadha Hadj Mbarek, whose health is deteriorating in prison, is inhumane and risks…

Read More ›

A Palestinian youth takes pictures with his phone during an anti-Hamas protest, calling for an end to the war with Israel, in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza on March 26, 2025.

Gaza journalists speak out about Hamas intimidation, threats, assaults

New York, May 15, 2025—When Gazan journalist Tawfiq Abu Jarad received a phone call from a Hamas security agent warning him not to cover a protest, he readily complied, having been assaulted by Hamas-affiliated forces once before.     The April 27 women’s anti-war demonstration in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahia was small but significant — one of…

Read More ›

In this 2017 photo, U.S. President Donald Trump (right) shakes hands with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

CPJ, partners condemn Saudi Arabia’s press freedom record ahead of Trump’s visit

Ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia on May 13, the Committee to Protect Journalists and 16 other human rights organizations condemned the kingdom’s deteriorating press freedom, including journalists’ arrests, travel bans, surveillance, and disinformation aimed at silencing the media. The groups called on Saudi authorities to release all detained journalists, lift…

Read More ›

A mural of slain of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh on a wall in Gaza City in 2022.

Documentary names soldier it says killed Shireen Abu Akleh in 2022

New York, May 8, 2025—As the third anniversary of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh’s murder nears, a documentary offering new evidence about her killing highlights the failure of American and international authorities in investigating the case and securing justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. The documentary “Who Killed Shireen?”, produced by U.S.-based media…

Read More ›

CPJ submit a joint report to UN ahead of Kuwait’s human rights review

The Committee to Protect Journalists, in partnership with the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)—an independent, nonprofit civil society organization—has submitted a report on the state of human rights in Kuwait to the United Nations Human Rights Council ahead of Kuwait’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session on May 7, 2025. The UPR, a United Nations…

Read More ›

Musab al-Hattami

CPJ, others condemn systematic repression of the press in Yemen

The Committee to Protect Journalists and 40 other press freedom and human rights organizations have condemned the worsening repression of journalists in Yemen. Journalists continue to face grave threats in areas controlled by both the Houthis and the internationally recognized government. Violations — ranging from arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance to unfair trials — are…

Read More ›

Sudanese journalist Hassan Fadl Al-Mawla Mousa

Sudanese journalist Hassan Fadl Al-Mawla Mousa killed as RSF seize town

New York, May 6, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for an investigation into the May 2 killing of Sudanese journalist Hassan Fadl Al-Mawla Mousa, who was shot dead as the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took control of the desert town of Al-Nuhud in the south-central province of West Kordofan. Fadl Al-Mawla was a…

Read More ›

Shargh Daily logo

6 media executives convicted in Iran amid crackdown on journalists

Paris, May 6, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the intensifying crackdown on press freedom in Iran, including the recent conviction of six media directors and founders, and urges the Iranian authorities to immediately cease their systematic persecution of journalists and media organizations. “These systematic attacks are clear examples of censorship, media repression, and obstruction…

Read More ›

Iraqi authorities suspend political talk show Al-Haq Yuqal, order past episodes removed

Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, May 5, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by the suspension of the Iraqi political talk show Al-Haq Yuqal (The Truth Be Told), hosted by journalist Adnan Al-Taie on UTV, and urges Iraqi authorities to reverse the decision and ensure that media outlets can freely and independently operate. “The suspension of Al-Haq Yuqal talk show without citing…

Read More ›

A Sahrawi woman walks near Moroccan police in Laayounne in the disputed territory of Western Sahara in 2005.

Morocco deports 2 journalists trying to enter Western Sahara

New York, May 2, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Moroccan authorities to stop suppressing independent reporting from the occupied Western Sahara, after two Italian freelance journalists became the latest to be deported from the disputed territory. “The deportation of Italian journalist Matteo Garavoglia and photographer Giovanni Colmoni is yet another sign of Morocco’s…

Read More ›