Journalists Killed in July 2025

The year 2025 was not a good one for journalists worldwide. Incidents of violence against journalists continued throughout the year. A total of 7 journalists were killed in different parts of the world in July 2025. We are presenting brief details of these journalists:

Ángel Sevilla

Ángel Sevilla, July 7, 2025, Mexico 

Ángel Sevilla, the director of the digital news outlet Noticias 644, was killed on July 7, 2025, in Ciudad Obregón, Sonora, Mexico. He was fatally shot around 6:30 p.m. in the Sochiloa neighborhood on California Street, between Ramírez Boulevard and Marcelino Dávalos. The attack targeted occupants of a motorcycle, leaving Sevilla and another person dead, with one other injured. A reporter from Noticias 644, covering the incident live, discovered Sevilla’s body and identified him on air, visibly shaken. 

Martín Melvin García Carvajal, July 7, 2025, Mexico 

Martín Melvin García Carvajal, a 57-year-old journalist, was found dead on July 7, 2025, in a rented room in the Adolfo López Mateos neighborhood of Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico. The discovery was made around 3:00 p.m. after neighbors reported a foul odor coming from the property on 45th Avenue, between 3 Sur and Adolfo Rosado Salas streets. Local police and the Quintana Roo State Prosecutor's Office responded, finding García's body in an advanced state of decomposition. García, known for his sports reporting in Cozumel and Mérida, Yucatán, authored the 2015 book Mayra, su vida terminó, su historia comenzó, which linked former Quintana Roo Governor Félix González Canto to a 1999 murder. This led to a defamation lawsuit against him and reported political persecution, forcing him to leave Cozumel for years. He had returned to the island only months before his death.

Ronald Paz Pedro

Ronald Paz Pedro, July 9, Mexico

Ronald Paz Pedro, a police officer and social media influencer who ran the Facebook page NotiExpres, was killed on July 9, 2025, in Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico. He was shot at least 17 times by a gunman or group of armed men on Avenida Cuauhtémoc in the Progreso neighborhood, a busy area, around 11:30 a.m. The attack occurred shortly after he livestreamed a video on Facebook criticizing the local government for an unfinished public works project—a large sinkhole—calling it a hazard and accusing the city council of negligence. His body was found on the sidewalk near a Sears store and a tile shop. No arrests or official motives have been confirmed, though Paz Pedro had previously reported threats in 2019 from the then-Acapulco police chief, Gerardo Rosas Azamar, whom he accused of corruption. The investigation is ongoing, with no clear progress reported.

CH Naresh

CH Naresh, July 12, India

Odisha: Malkangiri district web news channel journalist CH Naresh was murdered in public on 12 July. The journalist was going to cover a news in his car when 5 people riding on two motorcycles attacked him with sharp weapons. He died due to serious injuries and excessive bleeding. The attackers also took away the journalist's car.

Walaa Al-Jaabari

Walaa Al-Jaabari, July 23, Gaza

Palestinian journalist Walaa Al-Jaabari, her husband, and their children were killed on July 23, in an Israeli airstrike on their apartment in Tel Al-Hawa, Gaza City. In her last post a day earlier she had written-"I’m not afraid of dying from hunger..I’m afraid of the heartbreak if this insane war doesn’t stop."

Adam Abu Harbid

Adam Abu Harbid, July 24, Gaza

Palestinian journalist Adam Abu Harbid killed on July 24, 2025, in an Israeli airstrike on a tent sheltering displaced people in the Al-Yarmouk area of central Gaza City. The strike killed several individuals and seriously injured his wife and children.

Awdah Hathaleen

Awdah Hathaleen, July 28, 2025, West Bank

Awdah Hathaleen, a 31-year-old Palestinian activist, journalist, and English teacher from Umm al-Khair in the South Hebron Hills of the occupied West Bank, was fatally shot on July 28, 2025, by an Israeli settler identified as Yinon Levi. Hathaleen, a contributor to the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, which highlights Israeli settler violence in Masafer Yatta, was killed during a confrontation sparked by settlers bulldozing Palestinian land in his village. Witnesses and video footage indicate Levi fired at residents, striking Hathaleen in the chest while he stood near the community center. Despite being rushed to Soroka Medical Center, Hathaleen was pronounced dead on arrival. His body has been withheld by Israeli authorities, preventing an immediate burial in line with Islamic traditions.