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What We Do
Emergency Defence
We fund legal defence for journalists and independent media across the world.
Strategic Litigation
We take on strategic cases to promote and improve media freedom.
Capacity Building
We build local legal capacity to defend journalists through legal training and by funding local legal centres to defend journalists.
What’s new
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The Supreme Court Upholds Torture Convictions in the Case of Claudia Julieta Duque
This article was originally published in Spanish by our partner Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa (FLIP). Read the original here. The Colombian Supreme Court has rejected appeals filed by Emiro Rojas Granados, the former Deputy Director of the redundant Colombian secret police - the Administrative Department of Security (DAS) - and Néstor Javier Pachón…
Ariane Lavrilleux: Landmark Judgment for Source Protection to be Appealed by Paris Public Prosecutor
On 9 October 2025, the Paris Criminal Court dismissed the proceedings against French investigative journalist Ariane Lavrilleux in the Egypt Papers case. During the hearing, the judge also reportedly recognised the public interest of the 2021 Egypt Papers investigation, co-authored by Lavrilleux for the independent outlet Disclose. The investigation exposed a covert French intelligence operation, known as Operation Sirli, in Egypt and alleged French complicity…
Press Freedom Advocates: Tornavoz’s Charlene Nagae on Journalism, Lawsuits and Solidarity in Brazil
Brazil’s media faces a paradox. Independent digital outlets are flourishing and diversifying coverage, even as journalists contend with legal harassment, coordinated online abuse, polarisation, and violence. In this edition of Press Freedom Advocates, Media Defence’s Communications Officer, Anoushka Schellekens, speaks with Charlene Miwa Nagae, Co-founder of Tornavoz, about the landscape, the threats, and how legal…
Arshad Sharif: 3 Years On Impunity Persists
Today marks three years since the killing of prominent Pakistani journalist Arshad Sharif who was fatally shot at close range by Kenyan police at a roadblock near Nairobi. According to the authorities, police opened fire on the car Sharif was travelling in after allegedly mistaking it for a stolen vehicle they were pursuing. However, the…
Webinar: From Judgments to Justice: Human Rights Bodies vs. Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8QXG8zLOsY&list=PLQLf3XioEGCJDBLwI8uUkNaMpDmidp9Np&index=1&t=2968s[/embed] On Monday, 3 November 2025, Media Defence held a case-driven conversation on how regional courts and UN mechanisms can help in reducing impunity for crimes against journalists - and why achieving strong legal precedents and their implementation remain both an important tool as well as an ongoing challenge. Litigating cases of violence against journalists…
FPL and Media Defence launch “Ripostes”, a legal aid fund for independent media in France
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8Bn6SHj1XI&list=PLQLf3XioEGCL76vcyK1Yv0CYBpgXcvX0o[/embed] This marks a first in France. The Fonds pour une Presse Libre (FPL), a French non-profit supporting independent media, and Media Defence have joined forces to create Ripostes - the first and only legal aid fund dedicated to supporting independent press in the country. The fund will become operational on 15 October 2025. This…