Most women journalists arrested in a month

Throughout the month of October 2022, the Coalition For Women In Journalism documented 22 cases of violations against women journalists. These included killing, physical assaults, detentions, organized troll campaigns and legal harassment among other attacks on press freedom and women journalists reporting from different parts of the world. Read on for more details on violations against women journalists this month.

Another woman journalist was shot dead

• Iraq: Prominent Kurdish journalist and academic Nagihan Akarsel was shot multiple times and killed in broad daylight in Sulaymaniyah city, Northern Iraq, on October 4, amid incrasing assassinations of Kurdish people. Read more about the murder.

13 women journalists were arrested 

• Iran: Seven women journalists were arrested amid protests in Iran. Safiyeh Qarabaghi, a freelance reporter who covers women’s issues in her hometown of Zanjan, was arrested on October 1, according to a tweet by her husband, who said she was taken to an undisclosed location. 

• Sepideh Salarvand, an award-winning documentary maker, was arrested from her Tehran home on October 3. Her most recent project focused on Afghan child laborers in Iran. 

• Mehrnoosh Tafian, a freelance politics reporter, was arrested in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, in the majority Arab province Khuzestan, according to IranWire and CPJ sources. 

• On October 19, journalist and political activist Mandana Sadegi in Abadan and journalist Farkhondeh Ashori in Shiraz were arrested according to CFWIJ sources on the ground. Mandana Sadeghi was previously prosecuted during the protests of November 2018 and criticism of what happened during the construction and then the collapse of the Metropol building in Abadan and has a case in the judiciary of Khuzestan province. Freelance journalist Farzaneh Yahyaabadi was also arrested from her office in Abadan.Read more about arrested women journalists in Iran.

• Turkey: On October 25, houses of 11 journalists, including seven women, were raided by the police and detained after being subjected to police violence. Mezopotamya Agency (MA) Editor-in-Chief Diren Yurtsever, MA reporters Zemo Ağgöz, Berivan Altan, Ceylan Şahinli, JINNEWS reporters Habibe Eren, Öznur Değer and Derya Ren were detained in police raids on their homes in corresponding cities. After two days of detention period, six of them were arrested and sent to Diyarbakır Prison. Read more on mass detention of Kurdish journalists. 

Four women journalists were physically assaulted

• Turkey: Solfasol TV reporter Zişan Kürüm was physically assaulted and injured by the police while following Mahsa Amini events in Ankara. Evrensel journalist Eylem Nazlıer was attacked and choked by police despite that she has press card. 

• Vietnam: The guards had beaten and choked Huynh Thuc Vy  at the Gia Trung Prison. Vy is presently serving a 33-month prison sentence at Gia Trung Prison. Vy has been the target of infliction of physical and psychological distress for allegedly helping other inmates. She has been denied proper medical supplies and treatment as well as family visits. Read more about her case.

• Serbia: While reporting on a demonstration against the construction of a bridge over the Danube River, Emilija Marić, editor-in-chief of Novi Sad TV, was the target of a physical attack. She was covering the attempts to hinder the commencement of construction by environmental activists. While filming on her mobile, activists reportedly identified her and began to slander Marić and Bogdanović. Marić reported that one of them went up to her, hit her and knocked the phone out of her hand, which then hit her on the head. Read details of the incident.

Two women journalists were subjected to major online troll campaigns

• United States: Political analyst and journalist Negar Mortazavi has been the target of a bomb threat while being hosted as a panelist by the University of Chicago. According to the University of Chicago they received several emails and phone calls asking for cancellation of Mortazavi's speech. She was maliciously accused of having ties to the Iranian government due to her connection with NIAC as the director of Persian & New Media in early 2014. Read more about the semar campaign.

• Poland: Respected Brussels correspondent for Polsat, Dorota Bawolek, was tasked by the prominent free-to-air television channel to cover the EPP (European People’s Party) pre-summit meeting on Thursday, October 20. Due to manipulation tactics used by a TVP employee, Bawolek is now facing a smear campaign and death threats. Read details of troll campaign.

Another woman journalist was targeted by SLAPP

• Serbia: Courageous investigative journalist Dragana Pećo at KRIK, and a researcher at OCCRP has been sued for the second time by Nikolas Petrović. The SLAPP case against Pećo is a typical practice in Serbia. It is considered as the most common method of intimidation and censorship of free media. Learn more about the SLAPP case.

One woman journalist was forced to deport 

• Afghanistan: Photographer and independent reporter Stefanie Glinski has been forced to deport from Afghanistan and denied re-entry. Her recent charting on the rise of the Islamic emirate has cost her the right to remain in Afghanistan and report freely. Glinski, like many other journalists working on the ground, is an important voice to shedding light onto the Taliban takeover. Read details on her case.

If you would like to request more insight into our findings, or would like to suggest an addition to our work reach out to us at info@womeninjournalism.org. For media inquiries reach out to us at press@womeninjournalism.org.