Israel strikes journalists’ compound; 3 die, 3 hurt

A car marked "Press" sits among the wreckage after an Israeli airstrike that hit a compound housing 18 journalists in southern Lebanon on October 24, 2024, killing three journalists and injuring three. (Photo: AFP) — A car marked “Press” sits among the wreckage after an Israeli airstrike hit a compound housing 18 journalists in southern Lebanon on October 24, 2024, killing three journalists and injuring three. (Photo: AFP)

Two journalists and a media worker were killed and at least three others injured in an Israeli airstrike that hit a compound housing 18 journalists from multiple media outlets in south Lebanon’s Hasbaya area, an attack that Lebanon’s information minister Ziad Makary called a “war crime.”

Pro-Hezbollah Al Mayadeen TV’s camera operator Ghassan Najjar, broadcast engineer Mohammed Reda, and Hezbollah-owned Al-Manar TV’s camera operator Wissam Kassem were reported killed.

The three injured were reported to be camera operator Hassan Hoteit and assistant camera operator Zakaria Fadel of the media production company Isol and Al Jazeera camera operator Ali Mortada.

“Deliberately targeting journalists is a war crime under international law. This attack must be independently investigated and the perpetrators must be held to account, ” CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna in New York.

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Moroccan journalists face smears, threats after pardon

Moroccan journalist Omar Radi speaks during a press conference in Rabat on August 10, 2024 after his pardon from prison. (Photo: AFP)

When Moroccan authorities released three prominent journalists in July as part of a mass pardon marking King Mohamed VI’s 25 years on the throne, their friends and families celebrated. But the excitement was short-lived. Taoufik Bouachrine, Soulaiman Raissouni, and Omar Radi have been shamed in the media, stalked, and harassed since their release.

In a new feature, CPJ looks at the ongoing threats facing three icons of the fight for media freedom in Morocco. The three journalists have been effectively silenced in their journalism as they don’t yet know if they are legally allowed to return to work and they fear continued persecution.

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Journalists Attacked

Myat Thu Tan

MURDERED

Myat Thu Tan, a contributor to the local news website Western News and correspondent for several independent Myanmar news outlets, was shot and killed on January 31, 2024, while in military custody in Mrauk-U in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State.

He was arrested on September 22, 2022, and held in pre-trial detention under a broad provision of the penal code that criminalizes incitement and the dissemination of false news for critical posts he made on his Facebook page. Myat Thu Tan had not been tried or convicted at the time of his death.

The journalist’s body was found buried in a bomb shelter, with the bodies of six other political detainees, and showed signs of torture.

Myanmar’s military junta has cracked down on journalists and media outlets since seizing power in a February 2021 coup.

Learn more about Myat Thu Tan