The Committee for Justice (CFJ) submitted a written contribution to Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in response to the call for contributions on the safety of journalists, issued in the context of Human Rights Council resolution 59/15. The contribution focuses on Egypt and Sudan and assesses the effectiveness of national frameworks for the protection of journalists, including laws, institutions, accountability mechanisms, prevention policies and remedies.
CFJ stated that prevention is achievable only where the institutions entrusted with protection are not themselves complicit in violations or tolerant of them. The existence of laws or formal institutions is not sufficient when security agencies, prosecutors, courts, media regulators or de facto authorities are used to criminalize journalistic work or silence independent reporting.
“CFJ stresses that national protection frameworks cannot be effective where state institutions or de facto authorities are involved in targeting journalists”
The submission finds that Egypt illustrates how legal and institutional frameworks can be repurposed to restrict independent journalism. CFJ documented the continued exposure of journalists, writers and media workers to arrest, enforced disappearance, prolonged pretrial detention, terrorism-related charges, travel restrictions, arbitrary dismissal, website blocking and forms of transnational repression.
CFJ noted that the Supreme State Security Prosecution and terrorism-related charges are repeatedly used to transform journalistic activity or online expression into national security cases. Among the cases highlighted is that of researcher and journalist Hani Sobhi, who was arrested in October 2025 reportedly over posts published on his Facebook page. He was later interrogated before the Supreme State Security Prosecution in Case No. 7143 of 2025 on charges including joining a terrorist group and spreading false news, rumours and statements.
The submission also addressed the continued pretrial detention of journalist Yasser Abu Al-Ela for more than two years. He was arrested in March 2024, forcibly disappeared for nearly 50 days, and later brought before the Supreme State Security Prosecution, where he reported physical and psychological torture during the period of disappearance. CFJ also noted the targeting of members of his family as a means of pressure, reflecting the retaliatory nature of violations linked to journalistic work.
In the same context, CFJ highlighted the case of journalist Safaa El-Korbeji, who was arrested again in October 2025 after her release in February 2024 following nearly two years of pretrial detention. CFJ also documented her arbitrary dismissal from Radio and Television Magazine after she exposed alleged corruption and defended the rights of Maspero employees, as well as the later renewal of her detention in Case No. 7256 of 2025 over a Facebook post concerning the displacement of residents from the Agiba Chalets area in Matrouh Governorate.
CFJ stressed that the targeting of independent media in Egypt is not limited to individual journalists. The submission referred to the repeated summonses, investigations, raids, prosecutions and blocking measures affecting Mada Masr, as well as the blocking of more than 600 websites since 2017 without a clear legal basis. CFJ also documented the blocking of the independent platform Zawia3 in February 2025, which directly interferes with the public’s right to know and the ability of independent media to perform their watchdog role.
Regarding Sudan, CFJ warned that the armed conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces has produced a severe collapse in guarantees for the protection of journalists. CFJ recalled that journalists and media workers are protected civilians under international humanitarian law and must not be targeted, detained, disappeared, tortured or punished for reporting, documenting or transmitting information.
According to CFJ’s documentation, 14 journalists and media professionals were killed in Sudan during 2025. CFJ also recorded six cases of enforced disappearance, four long-term detentions, nine cases of arbitrary arrest and temporary detention, four judicial prosecutions, eight cross-border violations affecting Sudanese journalists in countries of asylum, 19 cases of threats, hate speech and smear campaigns, and three institutional decisions or measures restricting press freedom.
The submission highlighted several individual cases that reflect the gravity of this pattern, including the detention of journalist Ikhlas Khalifa by RSF-affiliated forces for more than two months; the death of journalist and broadcaster Yahya Hamad Fadlallah following torture in army detention facilities; the killing of journalist Bakhita Adam Masoud by shrapnel in Khartoum Bahri; and the killing of journalists Hashem Al-Hassan, Al-Shaykh Al-Samani and Nour Suleiman Nour in contexts linked to the conflict and armed attacks.
CFJ also warned of escalating enforced disappearance and collective targeting of media workers in Sudan, including the disappearance of journalist Abd El-Galil Mohamed Abd El-Galil after his abduction from his home in Kassala in May 2025; the arrest of five journalists in El-Fasher following the RSF takeover of the city; the loss of contact with other journalists; and the circulation of lists containing the names of 28 journalists and media professionals reportedly wanted by the State Security Prosecution in Port Sudan.
CFJ stated that the Egyptian and Sudanese contexts reveal different but connected failures. In Egypt, laws and institutions are used to securitize and criminalize independent journalism. In Sudan, armed conflict, impunity, the breakdown of judicial safeguards and communication blackouts create conditions that enable killing, disappearance, detention and intimidation.
CFJ urged OHCHR to ensure that its forthcoming study gives central attention to institutional complicity and to the role of de facto authorities, security agencies, prosecutors, courts and media regulators in undermining journalist safety. CFJ also stressed that any international recommendations should include effective safeguards against the use of counter-terrorism, cybercrime and media regulation laws against legitimate journalistic work; independent investigations into all violations; accountability for those responsible; and effective remedies for victims and their families.
CFJ affirms that the safety of journalists is not only a professional concern. It is a necessary condition for the protection of the right to freedom of expression, the public’s right to know and accountability for serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.
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