Middle East & North Africa

CPJ joined civil society organizations in a letter to the U.S. Senate on September 23, urging senators to co-sponsor and vote “yes” on Sen. Chris Van Hollen’s Section 502B(c) privileged resolution requiring the U.S. State Department to report to Congress on escalating human rights violations in the West Bank, including the killings of U.S. citizens….

New York, September 24, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists on Thursday demanded that Tunisian authorities hold accountable those responsible for detaining and allegedly mistreating three local journalists from the independent news website Nawaat.  “Tunisian security forces’ alleged use of deception to lure journalists into detention, attempts to access their phones without a judicial warrant, and threats…

New York, September 24, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) published today the findings of a comprehensive review of its documentation of journalists and media workers killed in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory between October 2023 and August 2026.  As a result of new information obtained through the review, CPJ removed 22 individuals previously…

The Committee to Protect Journalists and 10 international press freedom organizations are calling on Israeli authorities to protect the safety and fundamental rights of Israeli investigative journalists and filmmakers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor following threats by senior officials and escalating intimidation targeting the journalists, their families, and media outlets that publish their work. In…

Amman September 17, 2026 — The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Israeli authorities to immediately release Palestinian-American journalist Naqaa Hamed, arrested on Tuesday at a temporary Israeli army checkpoint in the village of Tuqu, near Bethlehem.  Hamed, a freelancer with the local 4D Media production company, was returning from a work assignment for Turkish…

Paris, September 17, 2026 — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement that his government will seek legislation to revoke the citizenship of Israelis who “defame” Israeli soldiers abroad, explicitly citing the documentary “NAZA” and its filmmakers, investigative journalist Yuval Abraham and filmmaker Rachel Szor, is a dangerous escalation in official efforts to intimidate and punish…

New York, September 16, 2026—Tunisian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release and drop all charges against journalist Zied el-Heni, who is serving a one-year prison sentence and faces two separate other criminal cases, including a new case where he is facing four terrorism-related charges that his family says could expose him to life imprisonment, the…

The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Israeli authorities to immediately end threats of legal action against Israeli journalist and filmmaker Yuval Abraham and filmmaker Rachel Szor over their documentary “NAZA,” which accuses the Israeli military of using AI-powered targeting systems in the mass killing of civilians in Gaza. Israeli Culture Minister Miki Zohar has…

Washington, D.C., September 11, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Egyptian authorities to immediately disclose the whereabouts of prominent Sudanese journalist Ataf Mohamed Mokhtar and the reasons for his arrest. Ataf was arrested Tuesday, September 8, 2026, from his home in Cairo, with no official announcement from Egyptian authorities on the legal basis for…

Palestinian freelance journalist Salman al-Khatib and his colleagues were filming Israeli demolitions of homes in the occupied West Bank late last month when a young settler approached them, blocked their cameras, shoved the journalists, and kicked Al-Khatib. After another settler arrived on the scene, located between the towns of Birzeit and Atara, north of Ramallah,…