“We are deeply concerned about the arrest of Awad Kashmeem in Yemen. His latest detention is a stark reminder of the alarming decline in press freedom in Hadramout and the systematic targeting of journalists by local authorities,” said Sara Qudah, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa regional director. “We urge the internationally recognized Yemeni government to immediately release Kashmeem, hold to account those responsible for this arbitrary detention, and guarantee his safety from any further retaliation.”

A security force affiliated with the Security Administration of Huraidha District arrested Kashmeem on the street after days of surveillance, a raid on his home, and the intimidation of his family—acts which appear to be in retaliation for his journalistic work and opinions he expressed on social media.

This is not the first time Kashmeem has been targeted. In February 2018, he was detained by Yemen’s elite security forces on the orders of Faraj al-Bahsani, then the governor of Hadramout. At the time, these forces operated under the influence of the United Arab Emirates. He was released after one month of detention.

Hadramout, Yemen’s largest governorate, is increasingly fragmented politically. While the coastal areas are effectively controlled by the secessionist Southern Transitional Council (STC), the current governor, Mabkhout bin Madhi, maintains ties to the internationally recognized government. His predecessor, Faraj al-Bahsani, who still wields significant influence, officially joined the STC after being replaced in July 2022. The growing divergence between Saudi and Emirati interests in Hadramout has further deepened the region’s political divisions.

CPJ reached out to the Ministry of Human Rights of the internationally recognized government for comment but did not immediately receive any response.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

The airstrike on the tent housing journalists in the grounds of Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis killed Hilmi al-Faqaawi, a social media manager for pro-Palestinian Islamic Jihad broadcaster Palestine Today TV, and injured the following journalists:

• Ahmed Mansour, Palestine Today news agency editor
• Ahmed Al-Agha, BBC Arabic contributor
• Mohammed Fayeq, freelance photojournalist and drone operator
• Abdullah Al-Attar, freelance photographer for Anadolu Agency
• Ihab Al-Bardini, camera operator contributing to U.S. channel ABC
• Mahmoud Awad, Al Jazeera camera operator
• Majed Qudaih, Radio Algerie correspondent
• Ali Eslayeh, photographer for West Bank-based site Alam24

The Israel Defense Forces said the strike targeted Hassan Eslayeh, a freelance photographer who was with Hamas on October 7, 2023. The IDF said Eslayeh, who was injured on April 7, 2025, was a “terrorist” who “participated in the bloody massacre.”

In 2023, the pro-Israeli watchdog HonestReporting published a photo of Eslayeh being kissed by then-Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, after which CNN, the Associated Press and Reuters news agencies cut ties with the journalist.

“This is not the first time Israel has targeted a tent sheltering journalists in Gaza. The international community’s failure to act has allowed these attacks on the press to continue with impunity, undermining efforts to hold perpetrators accountable,” said CPJ Middle East and North Africa  Director Sara Qudah. “CPJ calls on authorities to allow the injured, some of whom have sustained severe burns, to be evacuated immediately for treatment and to stop attacking Gaza’s already devastated press corps.”

Footage verified by Reuters news agency showed people trying to douse flames in the tent while other images of someone trying to rescue a journalist in flames were widely shared online.

CPJ’s email to the IDF’s North America Media Desk to request comment did not receive an immediate response.

More than 170 journalists and media workers have been killed in the Israel-Gaza war.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

Israeli forces fired at Ameed Shehade, a reporter with Qatari-funded broadcaster Al-Araby TV, and camera operator Rabih Al-Monayar while they were covering an Israeli raid on Deir al-Ghusun village in the West Bank city of Tulkarm, according to reports by the outlet, news reports, Shehade, and Wafa Awad, a photographer for the Palestinian Authority owned Wafa news agency, who was among the journalists covering the raid. Neither journalist was injured in the attack.

“On the hill where we were standing was about 15 other journalists,” Shehade told CPJ, adding that “a soldier opened fire from a vehicle 20 meters away from us.  They could see us clearly.” Shehade said the team “had to drop on the ground to escape the bullets and needed to crawl for a long distance to escape the shooting.”

Al-Araby TV aired footage of the journalists, wearing blue vests labeled “PRESS,” ducking near their car. After Al-Monayar retrieved the camera, it was found to be damaged by several bullet holes.

“CPJ is alarmed by the Israeli soldiers’ shooting at two Al-Araby TV journalists, which hit their camera, while they were reporting in the West Bank,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna. “CPJ is relieved that the journalists survived the attack and calls for a swift investigation into whether they were targeted, especially considering this is the second time these reporters were attacked by the IDF while reporting.”

Awad told CPJ that IDF soldiers fired tear gas towards the group of journalists before firing on the Al-Araby TV crew.

“The journalists covering the operation were targeted by IDF soldiers even though they were all wearing press vests, were reporting for hours,…and they can be clearly identified as journalists,” Awad told CPJ.

According to the Guardian, Israeli forces killed five Palestinians in the overnight raid; Hamas confirmed that four of the men killed were from its al-Qassam armed wing.

On July 3, 2023, Al-Monayar and Shehade were covering an Israeli operation against militants in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank when IDF forces in a vehicle shot at their equipment, destroying a transmitter and knocking a camera off a tripod. CPJ called for an investigation into the attack.

The IDF’s North America Desk responded to CPJ’s email seeking comment on the morning of May 6, requesting further information on the shooting. CPJ responded but did not receive an update by the time of publication.  

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

The post There Must be Another Way: Inspired from Singers Noa and Mira Awad appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Ibrahim Quraishi.

On the night of March 18, Abdisalan was riding in a car with freelance journalist Ali Mahdi Jibril and privately owned Saab TV reporter Shafic Mohamed Ibrahim in the capital, Hargeisa, when five men allegedly dragged them out of the car and beat Abdisalan and Ali, according to Ali, who spoke with CPJ via messaging app; media reports that quoted Abdisalan and Shafic; and separate statements by the Human Rights Center (HRC), an advocacy group, as well as the Somaliland Journalists Association and the Somali Journalists Syndicate, two press rights organization. Ali said that he and Abdisalan recognized the men as intelligence officers; the HRC statement said the attackers were members of the Somaliland Intelligence Agency. The men fired several shots during the attack, Ali and Shafic said.

The men focused their assault on Abdisalan, who they accused of writing critically about Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi on Facebook, warning the journalist to “leave our president alone,” according to Ali; Shafic, who also spoke to CPJ via messaging app; and the media reports.

Ali told CPJ that on the evening of April 3, intelligence officers in Hargeisa arrested Abdisalan shortly after he broke his fast for Ramadan at a local restaurant. Ali told CPJ he learned of the April 3 arrest after speaking to an eyewitness. Abdisalan remained detained at an undisclosed location, according to Ali and an April 9 joint statement from the Somali Journalists Syndicate and the Somali Media Association, both based in Mogadishu, which cited an unnamed local human rights defender. Abdisalan is believed to have been detained in retaliation for speaking out about the March 18 attack, according to these same sources and another journalist familiar with the case, who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. CPJ was not able to independently verify the details of Abdisalan’s April 3 arrest at the restaurant, or his current whereabouts in detention.

“It is shocking that security agents in Hargeisa are shooting at and beating up journalists whose Facebook posts they do not like. Authorities should be spending their time investigating this attack, and ensuring justice, rather than throwing a journalist behind bars,” said CPJ sub-Saharan Africa representative Muthoki Mumo. “Authorities in Somaliland should unconditionally release Abdisalan Ahmed Awad and investigate the March 18 attack in which intelligence officers shot at three journalists.”

Abdisalan, who is also known by his nickname “Germany,” publishes original reporting, commentary, and shares news from other outlets on his Facebook page, where he has over 220,000 followers. In the days leading up to the March 18 attack, Abdisalan published several posts of his own and shared other outlets’ reports about President Muse Bihi’s recent visit to the United States and the implications of the visit amid Somaliland’s bid for international recognition of its self-declared sovereignty, according to CPJ’s review of this page.

He also published footage of people allegedly protesting the president’s visit and holding the flag of Somalia, of which Mogadishu is the capital and from which Somaliland broke away in 1991, and alleged that a woman seen in a picture with the president, said to be a U.S. government official, was in fact a hotel IT manager. Several reports have been published on the Facebook page since Abdisalan’s arrest; Ali told CPJ that the page had more than one administrator.  

Ali and Abdisalan were outspoken about the March 18 attack, including in media interviews, Facebook posts, and by speaking to local civil society and press rights groups.  

Ali, who worked as a reporter for a local broadcaster until about a month ago, publishes reporting and commentary on his Facebook page where he has over 76,000 followers, but he told CPJ that he does not believe any of his work precipitated the March 18 attack. However, he added that he is concerned for his safety since Abdisalan’s arrest.

On the night of March 18 in Hargeisa, Abdisalan was riding in a car with Ali and Shafic when two other vehicles ambushed them, according to Ali and those media reports and statements. Ali was driving and told CPJ that the assailants blocked their car from moving forward or backwards.

One shot fired by the assailants went into the vehicle the journalists were driving. Several of the five assailants were kicking and punching Abdisalan all over his body when a second shot went off.

One of the officers also hit Ali on the head with the butt of a pistol and when he ran away, one of the men shot at him. Ali said that the men left the scene of the attack shortly after he escaped. Both Ali and Abdisalan received treatment at a local hospital for minor injuries to their arms and heads.

CPJ’s emails and messages sent via Facebook and Twitter to the office of the Somaliland president, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Information were either unanswered or returned error messages. Phone calls to these ministries either rang without answer or did not connect.

An individual who identified himself as Ministry of Interior official Mohamed Ismail, and who said he was returning one of CPJ’s phone calls, said he would review queries sent via WhatsApp. When CPJ sent those queries on April 7, this individual said he would review the communication as soon as he was at home, but had not responded by publication time.

CPJ phone calls to Somaliland Police Commissioner General Mohamed Adan Saqadhi did not connect, and he did not respond to messages delivered to his WhatsApp. Calls to the head of intelligence Mohamed Salebaan Hasan were unanswered and he did not respond to messages from CPJ requesting comment. 

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Jennifer Dunham.