Press Freedom
CPJ Updates
- Deadly year for journalists as killings rose sharply in 2022
- Number of jailed journalists spikes to new global record
- Killing with impunity: Vast majority of journalists’ murderers go free
- Special report: When spyware turns phones into weapons
- Afghanistan’s media crisis
- Attacks on the press: The deadliest countries in 2021
- ‘Night and day’: The Biden administration and the press
- Number of journalists behind bars reaches global high
- Killers of journalists still get away with murder
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