NEW YORK – May 3, 2026 – Coinciding with World Press Freedom Day, leading news organizations and publishers around the world have come together as part of the One Free Press Coalition to announce the 2026 “10 Most Urgent” list, spotlighting fellow journalists being threatened and facing “terrorism” or “anti-state” charges for telling the truth.

Press freedoms globally are under threat, with journalists suffering from sustained harassment, physical harm, legal action and the threat of imprisonment. All of this undermines their ability to report truthfully and hold power to account. This year’s list focuses on journalists who have been targeted using “terrorism” or “anti-state” charges. According to CPJ, the majority of imprisoned journalists the majority of journalists imprisoned as of December 1, 2025 - 61% of those jailed worldwide – were being held on “anti-state” charges, which include accusations of terrorism or accepting funds from a foreign government. 

Imprisoned in Tehran since September 2024, Iranian-American journalist Reza Valizadeh tops the 2026 annual ranking, sentenced to a decade in prison for alleged collaboration with the US government. Jimmy Lai, founder of the newspaper Apple Daily, is second, with a Hong Kong court sentencing the media owner to 20 years in prison, effectively a life sentence.

Other journalists on the list have been denied legal access, are in declining health, or could face the death penalty across countries including China, Tajikistan, Vietnam, Ethiopia and Algeria.

The 2026 ‘10 Most Urgent’ list includes the following journalists, ranked in order of urgency:

1. Reza Valizadeh, journalist for Radio Farda, Iran

After 16 years working as a journalist in the U.S., Iranian-American Reza Valizadeh returned to Iran in February 2024 to care for his aging parents. He was summoned and interrogated for cooperating with exile-based Persian media before being arrested in September 2024 and sentenced to 10 years in prison for “collaboration with the hostile government of the United States.”

2. Jimmy Lai, founder of newspaper Apple Daily, Hong Kong

Media owner Jimmy Lai, 78, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison under Hong Kong’s national security law for “collusion” and “seditious publication.” Arrested in 2020, he remains detained alongside former colleagues from the now-shuttered Apple Daily. China continues to be the world’s leading jailer of journalists.

3. Pham Doan Trang, author, journalist, activist and founder of Luat Khoa legal magazine, Vietnam

Journalist and activist Pham Doan Trang is serving a nine-year sentence for “anti-state propaganda,” linked to her reporting on democracy and human rights. She has faced deteriorating health in detention and been denied adequate medical care, while being held far from her family.

4. Zhang Zhan, citizen journalist and former lawyer, China

Citizen journalist Zhang Zhan is serving a second prison term after reporting from Wuhan during the Covid-19 outbreak. Re-arrested in 2024, she has been sentenced to an additional four years, with reports of denied legal access and severe mistreatment, including force-feeding during hunger strikes.

5. Ulfatkhonim Mamadshoeva, journalist and human rights activist, Tajikistan

Veteran journalist Ulfatkhonim Mamadshoeva, 68, was sentenced to 20 years in prison after being accused of organizing protests in 2022, facing multiple anti-state charges widely seen as targeting her reporting on regional issues, culture and women’s rights.

6. Tsi Conrad, filmmaker and photographer for Bareta News, Cameroon

Filmmaker and journalist Tsi Conrad has been imprisoned since 2018 over charges tied to covering protests. Serving a 15-year sentence, he continues to await a Supreme Court ruling on his appeal following a partial overturning of earlier convictions.

7. Frenchie Mae Cumpio, journalist for Eastern Vista and Aksyon Radyo Tacloban, Philippines

Journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio has been detained for over six years and faces a 12–18-year sentence for alleged terrorism financing. Arrested in 2020 at the age of 21, her case has drawn international scrutiny following findings that weapons may have been planted during a police raid in her home.

8. Sevinj Vagifgizi, chief editor of anti-corruption investigative outlet Abzas Media, Azerbaijan

Investigative editor Sevinj Vagifgizi is serving a nine-year sentence amid Azerbaijan’s crackdown on independent media. Arrested in 2023, she denies financial crime charges, stating they are retaliation for “a series of investigations into the corruption crimes committed by the president of the country and his appointed officials.”

9. Genet Asmamaw, reporter for Medlot Media, Ethiopia

Journalist Genet Asmamaw has been detained since 2023 on terrorism charges linked to her reporting on political conflict. She faces trial in 2026 and could receive the death penalty if convicted, in a country where multiple journalists remain jailed under similar accusations.

10. Christophe Gleizes, sports reporter for So Foot and Society, Algeria

French journalist Christophe Gleizes is serving a seven-year sentence in Algeria after being convicted of “glorifying terrorism” while reporting on a football club. His case makes him the only French journalist currently imprisoned worldwide, according to RSF.

About the One Free Press Coalition

The One Free Press Coalition is comprised of 43 prominent international members including: Forbes, The New York Times,  The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, Bloomberg News, Reuters, The Washington Post, The Economist, TIME, Fortune, Barron’s, The Atlantic, WIRED, Business Insider, Quartz, Yahoo News, The Associated Press, Dow Jones, Nikkei Asia, The Straits Times, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Corriere della Sera, El País, Le Temps, L’Agefi, Deutsche Welle, EURACTIV, HuffPost, Boston Globe, India Today, AméricaEconomía, Estadão, Agencia EFE, Al Jazeera Media Network, De Standaard, Republik, Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Voice of America, TV Azteca, LA7 and Office of Cuba Broadcasting. One Free Press Coalition partners with the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) to identify the most urgent cases for the list, which is updated and published annually.

The mission of the Coalition is to use the collective voices of its members – which reach more than 1 billion people worldwide – to “stand up for journalists under attack for pursuing the truth.” News organizations throughout the world can join the Coalition by emailing info@onefreepresscoalition.com. Members of the public are also encouraged to join the conversation using the hashtag #OneFreePress and following developments on Twitter @OneFreePress.

To see the “10 Most Urgent” list and to view a complete list of participating news organizations and supporting partners, please visit https://www.onefreepresscoalition.com or @OneFreePress on X.

NEW YORK – May 1, 2025 – Coinciding with World Press Freedom Day, leading news organizations and publishers around the world have come together as part of the One Free Press Coalition to announce the 2025 “10 Most Urgent” list, bringing to light and emphasizing ten cases of those who are currently detained for actively pursuing their duty as fellow journalists. The mission of the coalition is to use the collective voices of its members – which reach more than two billion people worldwide – to “stand up for journalists under attack for pursuing the truth.”

In 2025, many journalists continue to face increased risks and challenges while working to seek the truth and spread the information and knowledge they learned while working.

The “10 Most Urgent” list, published this morning by all members and at the OneFreePress website includes the following journalists:

1. Jimmy Lai, founder of newspaper Apple Daily, Hong Kong

Since December 2020, Jimmy has been confined to solitary confinement in a Hong Kong maximum-security prison, having been charged under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law after raising human rights concerns with international human rights organizations.

2. Shin Daewe, documentary filmmaker and freelancer, Myanmar

Shin was ordered a life sentence in 2024, now reduced to 15 years, on charges of illegal possession of an unregistered drone, after being arrested and interrogated by police in 2023 when she was receiving a drone that she had ordered online.

3. Frenchie Mae Cumpio, community journalist for Eastern Vista, Philippines

Frenchie Mae has been held in pre-trial detention for five years after authorities raided her home in February 2020 and arrested her—along with colleagues Marielle Domequil and Alexander Abingun—on charges of illegal firearms possession and terrorism financing, which she denies.

4. Pham Doan Trang, author, journalist, activist and founder of Luat Khoa legal magazine, Vietnam

Pham was arrested in 2020 and accused of “anti-state propaganda,” and ultimately sentenced to nine years in prison. For years prior to her arrest, she endured threats, police brutality, self-imposed exile and interrogations over her writings about democracy, freedom of expression, human rights, environmental degradation and women’s empowerment.

5. Ihar Losik, freelance journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Belarus Service, Belarus

Ihar was detained in June 2020 in advance of Belarus’ rigged election in August, later tried on charges including “organization of mass riots” and “incitement to hatred. He was later sentenced to 15 years in prison.

6. Sevinj Vagifgizi, chief editor of anti-corruption investigative outlet Abzas Media, Azerbaijan

After Azerbaijan implemented a major crackdown on independent press in 2023, Sevinj was arrested and continues to be detained due to multiple financial crime charges in relation to allegedly illegally receiving funding from Western donors.

7. Vladyslav Yesypenko, contributor to Crimea.Realities, a unit of Radio Free Europe/RadioLiberty’s Ukrainian Service, Russia

Vladyslav was arrested in 2021 and sentenced in 2022 to ultimately five years in prison after initially being detained on suspicion of spying for the Ukrainian government, later changed to charges relating to possession and transport of explosives.

8. Li Yanhe, Taiwan-based radio host and publisher and founder of Gusa Press, China

Li was arrested two years ago during a trip to Shanghai, held incommunicado, and sentenced in February 2025 to a $6,900 fine and three years in prison on charges of inciting separatism.

9. Makhabat Tajibek Kyzy, Azamat Ishenbekov and Aike Beishekeyeva, journalists from YouTube-based anti-corruption investigative outlet Temirov Live, Kyrgyzstan

In February 2025, Kyrgyzstan’s Supreme Court confirmed sentences against Makhabat, Azamat and Aike on charges of calling for mass unrest.

10. Joakim Medin, special correspondent for the Swedish newspaper ETC, Turkey

Joakim has been held in a high-security prison in Silivri, Turkey since March 30 after his arrest while traveling to report on civil unrest in the city, and being accused of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and “belonging to an armed terrorist organization” because he was present as a reporter at an anti-Erdoğan rally organized by individuals tied to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in Stockholm in 2023.

The list is compiled in collaboration with the Committee to Protect Journalists, International Women’s Media Foundation and Reporters Without Borders (RSF). According to Committee to Protect Journalists data, 361 journalists were behind bars worldwide at the end of 2024 (up from 320 in 2023).

Last August, the One Free Press Coalition celebrated the release of two American journalists — Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva — from Russian detention after their cases were at the top of the May 2024 list of “10 Most Urgent” press freedom cases.

News organizations throughout the world can join the coalition by emailing info@onefreepresscoalition.com. Members of the public are also encouraged to join the conversation using #OneFreePress and following developments on X @OneFreePress.

About the One Free Press Coalition

The One Free Press Coalition is comprised of prominent international members including: L’Agefi; Agencia EFE; The Associated Press; The Atlantic; Barron’s; Bloomberg News; The Boston Globe; Business Insider; Deutsche Welle; Dow Jones; The Economist; Forbes; El País; Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty; Nikkei Asia; TIME; The Wall Street Journal; The Washington Post; and WIRED.

To see the “10 Most Urgent” list and to view a complete list of participating news organizations and supporting partners, please visit https://www.onefreepresscoalition.com or @OneFreePress on X.

Media Contacts:
One Free Press Coalition: pr@onefreepresscoalition.com
CPJ: Mohamed Abdelfattah at press@cpj.org
IWMF: Charlotte Fox at cfox@iwmf.org
RSF: Zoé Boissel at zboissel@rsf.org

The February 2022 “10 Most Urgent” List Highlights Radio Journalists Facing Unjust Retaliation Around the Globe

NEW YORK – February 1, 2022 – Vietnamese reporter and videographer Nguyen Van Hoa, who is currently serving a seven-year prison sentence on anti-state charges, tops the February ranking of the One Free Press Coalition’s “10 Most Urgent” list of press freedom cases. The “10 Most Urgent” list, issued this week by a united group of pre-eminent editors and publishers, spotlights journalists whose press freedoms are being suppressed or whose cases are seeking justice. 

Ahead of World Radio Day on February 13, this month’s list highlights cases of radio journalists from around the globe who have faced unjust retaliation for their reporting. According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), radio has remained the most popular medium for people to access the news globally over the past century. However, the Committee to protect Journalists (CPJ) has uncovered a steady decline in the number of radio stations in certain authoritarian countries – such as Venezuela, for example – as a result of press crackdowns. Since 1992, CPJ has documented at least 275 cases of radio journalists who were killed in connection to their work, and 19 radio journalists who were imprisoned in 2021 alone.

Published today at www.onefreepresscoalition.com and by all Coalition members, the 36th “10 Most Urgent” list includes the following radio journalists, ranked in order of urgency:

1. Nguyen Van Hoa (Vietnam)

Nguyen Van Hoa, a Vietnamese reporter and videographer with Radio Free Asia (RFA), is serving a seven-year prison sentence, to be followed by three years of house arrest, on anti-state charges. Prosecutors said the blogger’s reporting, including on a 2016 industrial accident, was aimed at “propagating against, distorting, and defaming the government.” He has been placed in solitary confinement and has been physically abused in prison.

2. Wan Yiu-sing (China)

Wan Yiu-sing, an internet radio host and commentator who covers political issues in mainland China and Hong Kong for the independent internet radio channel D100, was arrested by Hong Kong police in February 2021. Wan’s arrest came amid authorities’ crackdown on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. He is being held in detention while on trial for alleged sedition and money laundering, and has had to be hospitalized while in detention.

3. Thomas Awah Junior (Cameroon)

Cameroonian journalist Thomas Awah Junior was arrested in January 2017, and is serving an 11-year sentence in Kondengui Central Prison in Yaoundé on false news and anti-state charges. He is in poor health, and in 2019, he was sentenced to an additional three years in jail, to run concurrently with his original sentence, for his alleged role in a prison protest.

4. John Wesley Amady and Wilguens Louis-Saint (Haiti)

Suspected gang members ambushed and shot Amady and Louis-Saint while they were reporting on the lack of security in Laboule 12, a gang-controlled area in the Port-au-Prince commune of Pétion-Ville. Amady was on assignment for the broadcaster Radio Écoute FM and Louis-Saint worked for the online outlets Télé Patriote and Tambou Verité. 

5. Htet Htet Khine (Myanmar)

Myanmar freelance journalist Htet Htet Khine, a producer for BBC Media Action, was arrested in 2021 under the Unlawful Associations Act, according to news reports. She is being held in pre-trial detention at an undisclosed location. Authorities charged Htet Htet Khine under Section 17(1) of the colonial-era Unlawful Associations Act for allegedly working for a banned radio station and harboring fellow journalist Sithu Aung Myint while he fled an arrest warrant.

6. Frenchie Mae Cumpio (Philippines)

Arrested in 2020, Cumpio, executive director of the Eastern Vista news website and a radio news anchor at Aksyon Radyo-Tacloban DYVL 819, frequently covered alleged police and military abuses. Cumpio had previously faced harassment and intimidation from people she believed to be security agents. She is currently held in pretrial detention on charges of illegal firearms possession.

7. Svetlana Prokopyeva (Russia)

Prokopyeva is a regional correspondent for Radio Svoboda, and a 2020 CPJ International Press Freedom awardee. In early 2019, armed law enforcement officers raided Prokopyeva’s apartment, seized her equipment, passport, and personal belongings, and interrogated her at a police station. In 2020, Prokopyeva was convicted of “justifying terrorism” and ordered to pay 500,000 rubles ($6,980) in fines. The court also ordered the confiscation of Prokopyeva’s mobile phone and laptop computer, and she remains on Russia’s terrorist list in retaliation for her work.

8. April Ehrlich (USA)

In September 2020, police arrested local radio reporter April Ehrlich in Portland, OR, while she was covering evictions of people living in a city park. Police charged her with criminal trespassing, interfering with a peace officer, and resisting arrest. Some of these misdemeanors could come with prison terms up to 364 days and fines up to $6,250. 

9. Gulchehra Hoja (China/USA)

After joining Radio Free Asia in the U.S., journalist and 2020 IWMF Courage in Journalism awardee Gulchehra Hoja was sent a “red notice” from China, banning her from returning home. Today, members of her family have been deliberately targeted with constant government surveillance, harassment and have endured numerous detentions in retaliation for her coverage of human rights, and her work at Radio Free Asia, according to Gulchehra and IWMF.

10. Fernando Solijon (Philippines)

Two gunmen on a motorcycle shot Solijon in 2013. Solijon, a radio commentator with DxLS Love Radio of Iligan City, was declared dead on arrival at a local hospital. During his regular radio program, Solijon frequently criticized local politicians, and had received threats for his reporting. Almost ten years on, partial impunity remains in his case, as not all those responsible for his death have been held to account.

The One Free Press Coalition is comprised of 32 prominent international members including: Agencia Efe; Al Jazeera Media Network, AméricaEconomía; The Associated Press; Bloomberg News; The Boston Globe; Corriere Della Sera; De Standaard; Deutsche Welle; Estadão; EURACTIV; The Financial Times; Forbes; Fortune; HuffPost; India Today; Insider Inc.; Le Temps; Middle East Broadcasting Networks; Office of Cuba Broadcasting; Quartz; Radio Free Asia; Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty; Republik; Reuters; The Straits Times; Süddeutsche Zeitung; TIME; TV Azteca; Voice of America; The Washington Post; and Yahoo News.

One Free Press Coalition partners with the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) to identify the most-urgent cases for the list, which is updated and published on the first business day of every month.

Members of the public are also encouraged to join the conversation using the hashtag #OneFreePress and following developments on Twitter @OneFreePress.

One Free Press Coalition

The One Free Press Coalition every month spotlights the “10 Most Urgent” journalists who press freedoms are under threat worldwide. The Coalition uses the collective voices of participating news organizations to spotlight brave journalists whose voices are being silenced or have been silenced by “standing up for journalists under attack for pursuing the truth.” To see the “10 Most Urgent” list every month and to view a complete list of participating news organizations and supporting partners, please visit onefreepresscoalition.com or @OneFreePress on Twitter.

Contacts:

One Free Press Coalition PR: pr@onefreepresscoalition.com  
Committee to Protect Journalists: Bebe Santa-Wood, press@cpj.com