On December 1, 2020 the One Free Press Coalition launched the 22nd monthly “10 Most Urgent” list of press freedom abuses around the world. This iteration focuses on cases relating to Covid-19 and is ranked in order of urgency.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has documented 207 pandemic-related press freedom violations globally, including imprisonment, physical attacks, legal threats and harassment. Thousands of individuals and groups have called on the UN to release jailed journalists amid the ongoing health crisis. At least two journalists, David Romero of Honduras and Mohamed Monir of Egypt, died after being infected with the virus while in government custody. In addition, Azimjon Askarov died in prison in Kyrgyzstan from what his family suspects was Covid-19, though he was denied a test. 

To assist media professionals reporting on the coronavirus or in danger of contracting it, CPJ offers safety advice in more than 40 languages, and the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) maintains a guide of trauma resources.

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1. Ahmet Altan (Turkey)

Senior journalist especially vulnerable to coronavirus in prison. Ahmet Altan, 70, has spent more than 1,500 days behind bars and, according to his lawyer, is surrounded by three neighboring cells displaying Covid-19 positive signs. Former chief editor for the shuttered daily Taraf, Altan has been detained since September 2016. In 2018, a court sentenced Altan to life in prison, then in 2019 changed the term to 10.5 years. The retrial convicted him of “aiding a [terrorist] organization without being a member” during the failed attempted coup and sweeping purge in 2016.

2. Mahmoud Hussein Gomaa (Egypt)

Tactics preventing imprisoned Egyptian journalists from being released. This December, Mohamed Hussein Gomaa will have spent four years behind bars—the longest pre-trial detention of any Egyptian journalist currently awaiting a hearing. Gomaa worked with Al-Jazeera, including contributing to a documentary about conscription in Egypt. Government officials arrested him in 2016 and called the material false with aims of “spreading chaos.” Gomaa was due to be released on probation in mid-2019, but his detention has been repeatedly extended. Fellow Egyptian journalist Mohamad Ibrahim is also enduring this “revolving door policy,” where new charges are brought to keep individuals in pre-trial detention, despite release orders from criminal court.

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Mohammad Mosaed (Credit Farid Kamran Nia)

3. Mohammad Mosaed (Iran)

Tehran sentences journalist to prison to silence reporting on government. Freelance journalist Mohammad Mosaed was arrested in 2019 because of a post on Twitter, then released in early 2020, only to be re-arrested in February and sentenced to nearly five years in prison. Because of a tweet he released during Iran’s internet shutdown last year and government criticism this year, including its lacking preparedness in responding to Covid-19, Mosaed’s charges have included “colluding against national security” and “spreading propaganda against the system.” His sentence also carries a two-year ban on journalism activities and a two-year ban from using all communications devices.

4. Solafa Magdy (Egypt)

Journalist enduring medical neglect and inhumane prison conditions. Freelance reporter Solafa Magdy has suffered deliberate medical neglect and inhumane prison conditions, heightening risk of contracting Covid-19, like fellow Egyptian journalist Mohamed Monir who died from the coronavirus this summer while in pre-trial detention. Magdy was arrested in November 2019 for her coverage of immigration and human rights in Cairo. The state prosecutor’s office has filed additional charges against Magdy for actions she allegedly committed while in pre-trial detention.

5. Zhang Zhan (China)

Independent journalist imprisoned for coronavirus reporting, now on hunger strike. Since early February, independent journalist Zhang Zhan had been posting reports from Wuhan, including some criticism of the government’s countermeasures to contain the coronavirus. She went missing on May 14, and the following day security officials issued a notice stating that Zhang had been arrested and detained for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.” Her former lawyer resigned from the case in October due to pressure and said Zhang has been on a hunger strike for six months, with her three cellmates taking turns to feed her. Two other Chinese journalists, Chen Qiushi and Li Zehua, had gone missing or been arrested in connection to their Covid-19 reporting.

6. Wan Noor Hayati Wan Alias (Malaysia)

Journalist struggling to find work while facing prosecution for Facebook comments. Journalist Wan Noor Hayati Wan Alias is facing legal prosecution for three comments she posted on Facebook regarding the Covid-19 outbreak in January. Citing “causing public fear or alarm,” the criminal charges which the Malaysian government is pursuing carry a maximum penalty of two years in prison for each individual post. Hayati, who previously reported for Malaysian daily Berita Harian and English newspaper New Straits Times, has lost work due to retrenchment and is struggling to maintain her livelihood as a freelancer. 

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Hopewell Chin’ono (Credit Frank Chikowore)

7. Hopewell Chin’ono (Zimbabwe)

Journalist in and out of detention for reporting on corruption, twice posting bail. Award-winning journalist Hopewell Chin’ono was arrested ahead of a national anti-corruption protest and charged with incitement, after reporting on alleged Covid-19 procurement fraud within Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health that led to the arrest and sacking of its health minister. After 45 days in pre-trial detention in a maximum security prison, Chin’ono was released on bail in September, then re-arrested at his home in November originally for contempt of court, but later charged with obstruction of justice for a tweet about the National Prosecution Authority (NPA). He was originally denied bail, and then released on bail on November 20. Prosecutors claimed that Chin’ono obstructed justice by “jeopardizing the integrity” of legal proceedings against him in the incitement case, as well as a case against a relative of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, by tweeting about sources within the NPA. 

8. Bárbara Barbosa (Brazil)

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Bárbara Barbosa (Credit Bárbara Barbosa)

Journalists obstructed from covering the pandemic in Brazil. On November 2, a group of about nine unidentified men and women harassed and threatened journalist Bárbara Barbosa, cameraman Renato Soder and NSC TV employees in the southern city of Florianópolis while they were preparing a report on noncompliance of the area’s Covid-19 lockdown. Barbosa said she received hostile messages on Instagram after the incident was reported by local media. Separately, a report found that the office of Rio de Janeiro’s mayor used public funds to pay groups of municipal employees to monitor and obstruct journalists at local hospitals and block news crews from covering Covid-19.

9. Aleksandr Pichugin (Russia)

Journalist found guilty for coronavirus post and ordered to pay a fine. On November 11, Aleksandr Pichugin was found guilty of “disseminating false information that poses a threat to citizens’ lives and health” and ordered to pay a fine of $3,920. The case stems from an April 12 article on his political commentary and satire Telegram channel “Sorokin Khvost.” Pichugin said the post criticized the Russian Orthodox Church for its failure to take safety measures to protect congregants from contracting Covid-19. He published the post after he and other local bloggers met with the governor of Nizhny Novgorod, who asked them to use their platforms to encourage the population to comply with Covid-19 restrictions, the journalist said. Federal Security Service agents detained Pichugin for one night and held his laptop and mobile phone one month for examination.

10. Gautam Navlakha (India)

Charges against senior journalist threaten extended prison term. A human rights activist and columnist at Newsclick news website, Gautam Navlakha has been jailed since April and faces charges on alleged links to Maoist militants and being part of a conspiracy to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He has written frequently on issues related to Kashmir and Maoist separatism. Navlakha, who is in his 60s, has said he maintains his innocence and is worried about receiving a fair and speedy trial. Further, he has said he fears exposure to the Covid-19 virus while in prison and being held in prison for years, unlikely to receive bail due to the nature of the charges against him.

On October 28, 2020 the One Free Press Coalition launched the 21st monthly “10 Most Urgent” list of press freedom cases around the world. The list is ranked in order of urgency and focuses on killed journalists whose cases have not been brought to justice, ahead of the November 2 observance of the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists.

Since 1992, when the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) began collecting data, 883 journalists have been murdered. According to CPJ’s annual Global Impunity Index released this week, Somalia, Syria, Iraq and South Sudan are the four countries with the greatest number of unsolved murders targeting the press, calculated as a percentage of the country’s population.

Globally, the number of journalists murdered in reprisal for their work was the lowest in 2019 that CPJ has recorded in any year since 1992. The reason is difficult to pinpoint, due to self-censorship, the use of other tools to intimidate reporters, and the high-profile nature of some recent cases potentially playing a role.

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1. Jamal Khashoggi (Saudi Arabia)

High-profile murder case seeking answers from U.S. intelligence officials. Jamal Khashoggi, former editor-in-chief of the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan and columnist for The Washington Post, was killed by a team of Saudi military and intelligence officials on October 2, 2018, shortly after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkish and Saudi courts have tried and sentenced several suspects in the case. It was revealed in September 2020 that, after Khashoggi’s murder, U.S. President Donald Trump admitted to helping shield Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who ordered the journalist’s murder according to a report released by the CIA. A current lawsuit against the U.S. intelligence community seeks the release of documents that may provide information on its awareness of threats to Khashoggi’s life.

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Ahmed Hussein-Suale Divela (Credit Tiger Eye Private Investigations)

2. Ahmed Hussein-Suale Divela (Ghana) 

No movement to date in bringing 2019 murder to justice. In 2018, a member of parliament during a TV appearance threatened and encouraged violence against Ahmed Hussein-Suale Divela, and Divela had said he feared for his life. A member of the investigative journalism outlet Tiger Eye Private Investigations, 33-year-old Divela was shot and killed by two men on a motorbike in January 2019. He was driving in the Madina neighborhood of Ghana’s capital, Accra, and had been assisting government prosecutors with an investigation into corruption within the country’s soccer leagues. A Tiger Eye lawyer has called for charges to be brought upon the member of parliament, in addition to the two suspects.

3. Dalia Marko (South Sudan)

Suspects’ identities remain unclear in deadly convoy attack. Dalia Marko, a reporter for the local radio station Raja FM, was among five journalists killed when unidentified gunmen ambushed an official convoy in South Sudan in 2015. There were 11 victims in total. According to reports, the convoy was returning from Sepo to Raja, having visited families of individuals killed in another attack by unidentified gunmen, when it was attacked with gunfire and machetes and set on fire. The motive for the attack remains unclear, and government spokesmen pointed blame at the time at different rebel groups. This is the deadliest attack on journalists in South Sudan since CPJ began collecting data in 1992.

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Dalia Marko (Credit Marko Family)

4. Natalia Estemirova (Russia)

No justice in the decade since journalist’s kidnapping and murder. Since 2000, at least five journalists from independent Moscow newspaper Novaya Gazeta have been killed, including Natalia Estemirova. She also contributed to Caucasus news website Kavkazsky Uzel, served as a consultant for Human Rights Watch and was one of few people reporting on human rights abuses in Chechnya. In 2009, four men forced the 50-year-old into a car in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, as she was leaving her apartment for work. According to press reports, the journalist shouted that she was being kidnapped as the car sped away, and later that day her body was found in the neighboring region of Ingushetia with gunshot wounds in her head and chest. A colleague believes Chechen authorities were behind the murder, condemned by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

5. Larry Que (Philippines) 

Journalist’s wife continues seeking justice and answers for his murder. Publisher of weekly community newspaper Catanduanes News Now and owner of a local insurance company, Larry Que was entering an office building in December 2016 when a gunman fatally shot him in the head at close range and escaped on a motorcycle driven by an accomplice. The newspaper had recently published a column by Que alleging “official negligence” over an illegal methamphetamine laboratory and naming Catanduanes Governor Joseph Cua as responsible. Que’s wife believes Cua hired a hitman to “silence” Que. She filed a murder complaint, which police said is still under investigation as of August 2020. She also pursued charges of graft and misconduct against Cua; they were dismissed for lack of evidence.

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Larry Que (Credit Facebook/Larry Que)

6. Nabil Hasan al-Quaety (Yemen)

Secessionist conflict threatens justice in journalist’s murder. Journalist Nabil Hasan al-Quaety, 34, whose wife was expecting their fourth child, was killed in the southern port city of Aden on June 2, 2020. A group of men in military uniforms attempted to hit al-Quaety with their car as he exited his home and opened fire when he ran, shooting him in the head, chest and hand. The assailants then fled. A freelance reporter, videographer and photographer, al-Quaety had worked with the news outlet Agence France-Presse since 2015. The Yemeni government claims sole authority in Aden, but the city is effectively run by the Southern Transitional Council fighting for separation from the country. Both have condemned the killing, but an official investigation could prove difficult due to this makeup. A spokesman for the secessionist group said it recently embedded al-Quaety as a photographer and speculated that forces within the government may be responsible for his death. 

7. Danilo López (Guatemala)

Justice stalled in trial of alleged mastermind behind journalist’s murder. Two gunmen shot Danilo López in March 2015, while the reporter for Guatemala City daily Prensa Libre was walking in a park with a fellow journalist. In more than a decade with the newspaper, López had often written about corruption and misuse of public funds and had received threats in connection to his reporting. The case awaits a murder trial against Julio Juárez Ramírez, a former lawmaker who has been charged with orchestrating the attack and sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department under the Global Magnitsky Act. Courts sentenced the getaway driver to 30 years in prison, charged but have not arrested the alleged gunman and acquitted two other suspects. Authorities believe the case may be linked to an organized crime network working with a drug cartel and transferred the case in 2015 to a special court in the capital after local prosecutors investigating the crime received threats.

8. Shujaat Bukhari (India) 

Four suspects, no charges in case of murdered journalist. Four suspects are yet to be charged in the June 2018 killing of Shujaat Bukhari, founding editor of Rising Kashmir newspaper. Several unidentified gunmen fired at him as he was leaving his office for an iftar party. He suffered injuries to the head and abdomen and died, as did two police officers who had been assigned to protect him after an attack in 2000. In the days preceding the incident, Bukhari had requested additional security amid the conflict-ridden situation in Kashmir.  Police claimed that Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based militant group was responsible, but the group has denied involvement. In November 2018, police and the army killed one of the prime suspects in a shootout. There have been no updates in the case since.

9. Norma Sarabia Garduza (Mexico)

Case idling 1.5 years after journalist killed outside her home. In June last year, unknown attackers shot and killed reporter Norma Sarabia, 46, at the front door of her residence in Huimanguillo, in the southern state of Tabasco. She had received frequent death threats as a correspondent for newspapers Diario Presente and Tabasco HOY and had recently reported on a series of violent crimes, including murders and a kidnapping. Soon after her death, the Tabasco state attorney general’s office said in a statement released on Twitter that it had opened an investigation. To date, however, there has still been little movement in the investigation. Sarabia is one of 56 journalists killed in Mexico since 1992.

10. Daphne Caruana Galizia (Malta)

Independent investigation needed into investigative journalist’s death. Daphne Caruana Galizia, a prominent journalist who reported on corruption and helped cover the Panama Papers, was killed in Malta in October 2017 by a car bomb near her house. Her widely read blog, Running Commentary, included investigative reports and commentary on politicians. Former Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat considered Galizia a harsh critic of his but condemned the “barbaric” attack and stepped down in January 2020 over the political crisis sparked after the case. Four men have been in detention—some since December 2017—but no trial date has been set. CPJ and 18 other organizations have called on authorities to prevent political interference in the investigation.

On October 1, 2020 the Coalition launched the 20th monthly “10 Most Urgent” list, ranked in order of urgency and focused on women journalists under threat globally. Gender-based violence and harassment—both online and offline—is often used to silence and intimidate female journalists. Due to social stigmas and fears of professional repercussions, some journalists do not report these incidents, while others re-evaluate the type of stories they cover or even give up journalism entirely. Since 1992, 97 female journalists have been killed in connection to their work, according to CPJ, and 20 women were behind bars in 2019.

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1. Solafa Magdy (Egypt)

Trial repeatedly delayed for imprisoned journalist at heightened health risk. In August, Egyptian state prosecutors filed additional charges against Solafa Magdy, who has been held in pretrial detention since November. The new claims accuse Magdy of membership in a terrorist group, spreading false news and misusing social media while weathering the pandemic in jail alongside her husband, enduring inhumane conditions, medical neglect and increased risk of contracting Covid-19. Magdy’s arrest stemmed from freelance coverage of immigration and human rights in Cairo.

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Solafa Magdy (Credit Magdy Family)

2. Gulmire Imin (China)

Journalist serving life in prison since Uighur protests 10 years ago. Uighur journalist Gulmire Imin has served more than 10 years of a life sentence behind bars. One of several administrators of Uighur-language web forums who were arrested after the July 2009 riots in Urumqi, in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, Imin was charged with organizing an illegal demonstration, separatism and leaking state secrets by phone to her husband, who lives in Norway. China is the leading jailer of journalists, counting 48 in detention as of 2019.

3. Maria Ressa (Philippines)

News website founder fights fines and six-year sentence. In September, the EU Parliament called on President Rodrigo Duterte to drop all charges against Maria Ressa and a former colleague at Rappler, the privately owned news website she founded. They are convicted of cyber libel stemming from a 2012 Rappler article about a local businessman’s alleged ties to a former judge, who was later impeached for corruption, and purported links to drug and human trafficking rings. On June 15, the Manila Regional Trial Court ordered each journalist to pay $7,950 in fines and moral damages and serve up to six years in jail. Neither will be jailed or required to pay while their appeal is pending.  

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Daysi Lizeth Mina Huamán (Credit Denia Mina)

4. Daysi Lizeth Mina Huamán (Peru)

Reporter who disappeared at bus stop has been missing eight months. A reporter for the TV broadcaster Cable VRAEM in the central Peruvian city of Ayacucho, Daysi Lizeth Mina Huamán has been missing since January 26. On the day she disappeared, Mina voted in Peru’s congressional elections, filed a report on the elections, then was last seen at a Santa Rosa bus station. She planned to take a bus to the town of San Francisco to meet her boyfriend, who reported to authorities the next day that she was missing. About a week later, family members reportedly found Mina’s identity card and other personal documents along the side of a road between Santa Rosa and San Francisco. Authorities have still not provided any information to the family or the public since Mina’s disappearance.

5. Nouf Abdulaziz (Saudi Arabia)

Journalist held two years without formal charges. The case of Nouf Abdulaziz indicates how dangerous a beat focused on gender can be. The Saudi blogger was arrested in June 2018 in connection to her reporting on women’s rights as part of a broader wave of arrests aimed at activists who pushed for gender equality in the kingdom. Without formal charges, she is being held at Riyadh’s al-Hair Prison and has allegedly been tortured. Tying Egypt for leading jailer of journalists, Saudi Arabia held 26 journalists behind bars according to CPJ’s 2019 prison census.

6. Nada Sabouri (Iran)

Reporter begins 3.5-year prison sentence for 2014 arrest. Five years after court authorities determined sentencing, freelance sports reporter Nada Sabouri began a 3.5-year jail term in August at Tehran’s Evin prison. Her charges date to 2014, when she worked as a reporter for the economic daily Kasbokar. She was arrested at the time, and released on bail, for covering a rally on behalf of political prisoners at the presidential office and charged with “colluding against national security” and “disturbing public order.” Iran has repeatedly sentenced journalists to lengthy jail terms but then released them on bail, leaving journalists technically free but silenced by authorities’ ability to summon them at any time.

7. Daphne Caruana Galizia (Malta)

Independent investigation needed into journalist’s killing three years ago. This month marks three years since the car bomb killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia, a prominent investigative journalist and blogger who reported on government corruption and the Panama Papers. Maltese authorities detained one suspect last year in connection to the murder, in addition to three men who have been in jail in connection to the murder since December 2017. CPJ and other rights organizations have repeatedly called on Maltese authorities to ensure the investigation into the murder is independent and free from political interference.

8. Frenchiemae Cumpio (Philippines)

Journalist detained almost eight months after arrest and charges believed to be a set up. Journalist Frenchiemae Cumpio has been detained since February 7 and could face 6 to 12 years in prison for charges of “illegal firearms possession.” Cumpio worked as executive director of the Eastern Vista news website and radio news anchor at Aksyon Radyo-Tacloban DYVL 819. Prior to her arrest, she frequently covered alleged police and military abuses and had recently faced harassment and intimidation from people she believed to be security agents. A court denied Cumpio’s lawyers’ request to drop the charges; they told CPJ they believe the firearms and explosives were planted to justify the illegal arrest.

9. Agnes Ndirubusa, Christine Kamikazi and the Iwacu team (Burundi)

Court rejects four journalists’ appeal to prison sentence and fine. In June, Burundi courts rejected four journalists’ appeal after they were convicted in January of attempting to undermine state security. Agnès Ndirubusa, head of the political desk, and broadcast reporter Christine Kamikazi, were covering regional clashes for Iwacu, one of the country’s last independent outlets, when they were arrested last October alongside two of their colleagues. All four are sentenced to 2.5 years in prison and a $530 fine.

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Christine Kamikazi (left) and Agnès Ndirubusa (Credit Iwacu Media)

10. Andrea Sahouri (U.S.)

Iowa reporter among many arrested and facing charges during U.S. protests. As of September 21, journalists have been arrested more than 109 times at protests in the U.S. this year. That includes Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri who police pepper-sprayed and arrested on May 31. She was charged with failure to disperse and interference with official acts and has pleaded not guilty. The first charge is punishable by a fine between $65 and $625 or prison in lieu of a fine, and interference with official acts carries a fine of at least $250.

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Andrea Sahouri (Credit Kelsey Kremer of the Des Moines Register)