Press Freedom
CPJ Updates
- Alarm bells: Trump’s first 100 days ramp up fear for the press, democracy
- 2024 is deadliest year for journalists in CPJ history; almost 70% killed by Israel
- In record year, China, Israel, and Myanmar are world’s leading jailers of journalists
- Haiti, Israel most likely to let journalists’ murders go unpunished, CPJ 2024 impunity index shows
- No justice for journalists targeted by Israel despite strong evidence of war crime
- On Edge: What the US election could mean for journalists and global press freedom
- Forced to flee: Exiled journalists face unsafe passage and transnational repression
- Israel-Gaza war brings 2023 journalist killings to devastating high
- 2023 prison census: Jailed journalist numbers near record high; Israel imprisonments spike
Reporter Without Borders
OPC Calls for Release of 4 Journalists in Egypt
The detention in Cairo of four journalists working for Al Jazeera English is a deplorable development and further evidence that Egypt’s military leader, General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, is determined to crack down on the free press.
The Overseas Press Club of America demands the immediate release of correspondent Peter Greste, producers Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed and cameramen Mohamed Fawzy. The accusations lodged against them—including the supposed broadcasting of “false news” that “damaged national security”—appear to be part of a campaign to intimidate journalists covering Egypt politics. That work necessarily includes reporting on the activities of the once-again outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Reporters are in increasing jeopardy in Egypt—as documented by our friends at the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Al Jazeera’s team should be freed immediately and Egypt’s Ministry of the Interior and the el-Sisi regime must ensure their safety and well-being.
Michael Serrill
President
Overseas Press Club of America