The Tunis Court of First Instance will consider Monday whether to dissolve Inkyfada’s publisher, Al Khatt. The dissolution request is not based on a single claim but appears to be the culmination of a yearslong campaign against the organization, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

“What is clear is that the procedure fits a broader pattern of institutional censorship: using administrative and judicial tools to eliminate,” Oussama Bouagila, director of RSF’s North Africa office, told ICIJ in a message.

Al Khatt is a nongovernmental organization founded in 2013 to foster independent journalism and media literacy in Tunisia. It also publishes and partly funds Inkyfada, a longtime ICIJ partner that has contributed to several cross-border investigations, including the Panama Papers, the Pandora Papers and the Implant Files.

https://www.icij.org/news/2026/05/us-bars-executives-of-costa-ricas-leading-newspaper-la-nacion-from-entry/

PRESS FREEDOM US bars executives of Costa Rica’s leading newspaper La Nación from entry May 06, 2026

https://www.icij.org/news/2024/11/many-journalists-have-left-how-post-election-repression-compounded-press-freedom-fears-in-venezuela/

PRESS FREEDOM ‘Many journalists have left’: How post-election repression compounded press freedom fears in Venezuela Nov 15, 2024

https://www.icij.org/news/2026/01/im-on-the-right-side-of-history-icij-member-roman-anin-stripped-of-his-russian-citizenship/

PRESS FREEDOM ‘I’m on the right side of history’: ICIJ member Roman Anin stripped of his Russian citizenship Jan 22, 2026

Recommended reading PRESS FREEDOM US bars executives of Costa Rica’s leading newspaper La Nación from entry May 06, 2026 PRESS FREEDOM ‘Many journalists have left’: How post-election repression compounded press freedom fears in Venezuela Nov 15, 2024 PRESS FREEDOM ‘I’m on the right side of history’: ICIJ member Roman Anin stripped of his Russian citizenship Jan 22, 2026

Over the weekend, Pedro Abreu, CEO and chairman of the board of Grupo Nación, the holding company that owns the newspaper, started getting messages from friends with links to local media reports. Three outlets claimed that he, along with four other board members, had had their U.S. tourist visas revoked.

“One of the media outlets even stated our names, our dates of birth, and the expiration dates of our visas,” Abreu told the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, adding that he was in disbelief. “I checked my email, looked to see if I had any calls or anything, but I had no official communication. After a while, I searched on a U.S. government website, I put in my visa information and there I saw. It came up as revoked.”

Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. State Department has revoked visas of lawmakers, government officials and judges from Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and Costa Rica over a range of accusations from organized criminal activities to “witch hunts” of Trump’s political allies. Costa Rica is the only country where the U.S. government has targeted owners and executives at media outlets. (In October, the U.S. revoked the tourist visa of the owner of a digital outlet who was under investigation for money laundering.)

The State Department did not respond to questions sent by ICIJ.

Costa Ricans are required to apply for tourist visas to enter the U.S., which grants them entry for years at a time. Five of Grupo Nación’s seven board members had their visas revoked; the other two hold passports from countries that allow them to enter the U.S. without one, said Fabrice Le Lous, La Nación’s editor in chief. “And there is one common denominator among them: that they were given absolutely no reason or explanation,” he said.

The Trump administration has used visas as a reward and a punishment in its efforts to persuade nations to accept U.S. deportees from other countries. In September, after Ghana agreed to take deportees, the U.S. lifted visa restrictions on the country. It is not clear whether the visa revocations in Costa Rica are connected to the April agreement outgoing President Rodrigo Chaves signed with the U.S. to accept up to 25 deportees a week.

https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-targets/escalating-efforts-a-year-after-china-targets-beijings-global-campaign-against-dissenters-continues/

CHINA TARGETS ‘Escalating efforts’: A year after China Targets, Beijing’s global campaign against dissenters continues Apr 28, 2026

https://www.icij.org/news/2026/01/im-on-the-right-side-of-history-icij-member-roman-anin-stripped-of-his-russian-citizenship/

PRESS FREEDOM ‘I’m on the right side of history’: ICIJ member Roman Anin stripped of his Russian citizenship Jan 22, 2026

https://www.icij.org/news/2025/11/censorship-disguised-as-law-investigative-journalists-in-peru-push-back-against-government-crackdown/

PRESS FREEDOM ‘Censorship disguised as law’: Investigative journalists in Peru push back against government crackdown Nov 12, 2025

Recommended reading CHINA TARGETS ‘Escalating efforts’: A year after China Targets, Beijing’s global campaign against dissenters continues Apr 28, 2026 PRESS FREEDOM ‘I’m on the right side of history’: ICIJ member Roman Anin stripped of his Russian citizenship Jan 22, 2026 PRESS FREEDOM ‘Censorship disguised as law’: Investigative journalists in Peru push back against government crackdown Nov 12, 2025

The indictment, filed in March, revolves around the sale of several high caliber firearms to an undercover agent who posed as a gun runner for a Mexican drug cartel. The case is the first of its kind brought against a firearms dealer in the state and likely the first such action in the United States, according to an analysis of federal court records by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

The Trump administration designated six Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations in February 2025, opening the door for law enforcement agencies to take a variety of actions against the groups and those who do business with them.

Criminal organizations in Mexico and elsewhere have long relied on the loosely regulated U.S. gun market to procure firearms, including powerful, military-style rifles they have used in shootouts with government forces and in civilian massacres.

In February, those arsenals were on full display as cartel gunmen unleashed violence across Mexico in response to the Mexican Army killing New Generation Jalisco Cartel leader Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho.

More than 60 people died during the violence.

Mexican soldiers watched over a funeral home in the city of Guadalajara, Jalisco state, Mexico, on March 1, 2026, where the body of drug trafficker Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, who died on February 22 during a military operation, was being held for a wake.

In the wake of the attacks, Mexican defense secretary Ricardo Trevilla Trejo told reporters that 80 percent of the more than 23,000 firearms seized by the Mexican government since late 2024 originated in the United States

U.S. gun dealers have rarely been held accountable for their role in facilitating the movement of those weapons.

There are over 77,000 licensed firearms dealers across the country, compared to two in all of Mexico, according to the most recent government data. And there are few federal restrictions on what kinds of guns they can sell or who can buy them.

In theory, the federal government can bring criminal charges against dealers who facilitate trafficking or can take administrative action against them, such as revoking their license, but in practice that is often difficult, according to Marianna Mitchem, a former senior official at the ATF who worked on industry regulation and currently serves as the Senior Firearms Industry Advisor at Everytown for Gun Safety, a non-profit that advocates for stronger firearms regulation.

“Both avenues are available, but both require proving the dealer’s culpability, and for years that difficulty has been used as a reason not to try,” Mitchem said.

The terrorism-related charges unveiled in Arizona in March appear to be a “test case” for a new strategy to reign in illicit firearms sales, according to Jason Red, a former investigator at the Department of Homeland Security in Arizona, who worked on gun trafficking investigations.

Mark Oliva, managing director of public affairs for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms industry trade association, said that the group, “supports the Department of Justice’s efforts to keep firearms from being illegally trafficked, whether that is to criminal elements within the United States or narcoterrorists beyond our borders.”

https://www.icij.org/news/2026/02/nearly-half-of-powerful-50-caliber-ammo-seized-by-mexican-government-came-from-us-army-plant-defense-minister-says/

IMPACT Nearly half of powerful .50-caliber ammo seized by Mexican government came from US Army plant, defense minister says Feb 10, 2026

https://www.icij.org/news/2026/02/mexican-cartels-overpower-police-with-ammunition-made-for-the-us-military/

INVESTIGATION Mexican cartels overpower police with ammunition made for the US military Feb 07, 2026

https://www.icij.org/news/2026/03/human-rights-court-calls-on-governments-to-crack-down-on-weapons-trafficking/

IMPACT Human rights court calls on governments to crack down on weapons trafficking Mar 12, 2026

Recommended reading IMPACT Nearly half of powerful .50-caliber ammo seized by Mexican government came from US Army plant, defense minister says Feb 10, 2026 INVESTIGATION Mexican cartels overpower police with ammunition made for the US military Feb 07, 2026 IMPACT Human rights court calls on governments to crack down on weapons trafficking Mar 12, 2026

Idris is the executive director of the Center for Uyghur Studies, a U.S.-based research and advocacy nonprofit. Last month, he traveled to Malaysia to launch the Malay-language version of his book, which chronicles Beijing’s repression of Uyghurs, a primarily Muslim ethnic group from northwestern China. But his plans changed when immigration officers detained him upon arrival in Kuala Lumpur, seized his U.S. passport and left him languishing in a detention room for hours before eventually deporting him.

There was clearly pressure from Beijing, Idris told ICIJ. “I feared [for] my life.”

Center for Uyghur Studies Executive Director Abdulhakim Idris. Image: via Center for Uyghur Studies

Idris’ detention is the latest high-profile example of China’s campaign to quell dissent worldwide, a trend that ICIJ and a team of 104 journalists explored as part of last year’s China Targets investigation. Interviews with more than 100 people in 23 countries who were targeted by Chinese authorities revealed how Beijing uses other governments, as well as international institutions like the United Nations and Interpol, to silence critics.

In a statement to ICIJ, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., said allegations of transnational repression were “fabricated by a handful of countries and organizations to slander China.”

But human rights advocates say Idris’ case is a clear example of China’s international reach.

“Beijing successfully weaponized a third country to detain and expel a U.S. citizen,” Rushan Abbas, founder and executive director of Campaign for Uyghurs, said in a press release following Idris’ deportation from Malaysia. “China is escalating its efforts to harass citizens of sovereign nations engaged in lawful advocacy.”

Beijing has consistently been one of the world’s leaders in transnational repression, according to the U.S.-based human rights group Freedom House, which began recording cases in 2014.

Since then, Uyghurs like Idris have been involved in more than 20% of incidents recorded by the nonprofit, but the Chinese government has also targeted political dissidents, Tibet and Taiwan independence advocates and Falun Gong practitioners.

In 2025, the total number of direct, physical incidents of Beijing’s repression rose to 319, according to Freedom House’s latest report. Incidents recorded last year included the detention and suspicious death of a Tibetan lama in Vietnam; the detention of a Thailand-based pro-democracy activist; and the mass deportation of 40 Uyghur men from Thailand who had fled repression in China more than a decade ago.

But those cases just scratch the surface.

“There’s a whole universe of digital or indirect transnational repression,” said Freedom House research director Yana Gorokhovskaia, who co-authored the report. In addition to direct threats, China carries out mass surveillance, online harassment, and coercion by proxy, including threats to friends and family. Those cases are harder to track and validate.

Freedom House also found that Beijing continues to leverage geopolitical and economic power to influence other governments. Thailand’s deputy foreign affairs minister said the country deported the group of Uyghurs last year to avoid “retaliation from China,” according to the report, which suggested that Thai authorities may have been concerned about compromising Chinese investments in Thailand’s agricultural industry and other sectors.

When Malaysian officers detained Idris, he saw them conferring with three people in civilian clothes. “They avoided eye contact with me. They were wearing a mask,” he said. “I’m sure they were Chinese.” Idris’ contact in Malaysia was able to confirm that Beijing had put pressure on the Malaysian government to detain him.

Gorokhovskaia said that transnational repression is “cheap and easy to do.”

“It relies on kind of the existing structures in the international system,” she said, emphasizing the abuse of Interpol red notices, alerts shared with police forces around the world. Freedom House recorded 11 incidents of wrongful detention or deportation last year spurred by red notices, though China was not among the perpetrators.

ICIJ’s China Targets investigation exposed how Beijing previously exploited the red notice system to pursue dissidents and powerful businesspeople in violation of Interpol’s rules. Targets of red notices interviewed by ICIJ included Uyghur rights advocates who said they had been falsely accused of terrorism; a small-town politician who said he was blacklisted after exposing corruption in the communist party; and followers of the Falun Gong spiritual movement.

https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-targets/fake-journalists-cyber-spies-china-targets-reporters/

TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION Phony whistleblowers, fake journalists and cyber spies: ICIJ network targeted after China Targets probe  Apr 27, 2026

https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-targets/watch-inside-china-targets-a-live-panel-with-icij-reporters/

INSIDE ICIJ WATCH: Inside China Targets — a live panel with ICIJ reporters Jun 10, 2025

https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-targets/china-uses-dissidents-turned-spies-to-infiltrate-overseas-activist-groups-as-authorities-flounder/

CHINA TARGETS China uses dissidents-turned-spies to infiltrate overseas activist groups, as authorities flounder Jun 23, 2025

Recommended reading TRANSNATIONAL REPRESSION Phony whistleblowers, fake journalists and cyber spies: ICIJ network targeted after China Targets probe  Apr 27, 2026 INSIDE ICIJ WATCH: Inside China Targets — a live panel with ICIJ reporters Jun 10, 2025 CHINA TARGETS China uses dissidents-turned-spies to infiltrate overseas activist groups, as authorities flounder Jun 23, 2025

“Chen” claimed to be working for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and was requesting an interview with Hung on a range of topics: then pending impeachment proceedings against Taiwan’s president, the island’s divided government, and Watchout’s planned events with members of civil society groups.

Hung, whose media outlet monitors information manipulation, found the email unusual.

“The topic and questions in the invitation email [were] too entry-level for a senior journalist,” Hung told ICIJ. What’s more, Chen’s name was spelled in English, instead of the original Chinese, and the email address didn’t include ICIJ’s official domain.

Hung decided to find out more and started interacting with “Chen” on LINE, a popular messaging app in Taiwan.

The person, who used Chen’s name and photo in their handle, told Hung that an American journalist from ICIJ would meet him in Taipei for the interview and sent a link to what looked like an ICIJ webpage with the reporter’s photo. Hung noticed it wasn’t ICIJ’s real website. The fake Chen also sent Hung another link she said would direct him to a list of questions, adding: “For journalists, information security is truly very important,” a warning most journalists would find superfluous.

Hung didn’t click.

“I played stupid,” he said. “And then she gave up.”

Kuochun Hung, the chief operating officer of the Taiwanese media outlet Watchout. Image: Supplied / Kuochun Hung

Hung, who knows malicious links can be used to steal personal information, suspects that his interlocutor was a Chinese spy impersonating the real Yi-Shan Chen, a financial journalist and editor-in-chief of CommonWealth magazine — a trusted news source in Taiwan. As a member of ICIJ’s network, Chen has partnered with the Washington, D.C.-based news organization on many investigations, but is not an employee.

“They are spies with cyber capabilities,” Hung said. “Their goal is political.”

The real Chen told ICIJ in an interview that she shared Hung’s concerns. “Ironically, they are using the credibility of the investigative reporters to [collect] intelligence,” she said. Chen reported the impersonation attempt to Taiwanese authorities.

Now, an investigation by ICIJ, with the help of cybersecurity analysts at Toronto University’s Citizen Lab, has found that the incident was part of a sophisticated offensive strategy against ICIJ and its network following the 2025 publication of China Targets. The ICIJ-led exposé, in collaboration with 42 media outlets, revealed Beijing’s tactics to threaten, coerce and intimidate regime critics overseas.

Citizen Lab, which specializes in investigating digital threats, analyzed suspicious emails sent to this ICIJ reporter and other messages sent by ICIJ impersonators to targets in Asia, Europe and the United States. Detailing the findings in a report released today, one year after China Targets was published, the analysts said the attacks against the ICIJ network are part of “a wide-ranging campaign” aimed at stealing private information from entities of interest to the Chinese government. Those include Uyghur, Tibetan, Taiwanese, and Hong Kong diaspora activists, as well as journalists from ICIJ and elsewhere who report on activities related to these groups.

A fake website designed to look like an ICIJ landing page. The URL shows it is not an ICIJ webpage.

Rebekah Brown, who led the Citizen Lab investigation, said it indicated that so-called threat actors linked to the Chinese government had used surreptitious means to learn who ICIJ was talking to.

“We suspect that there was some sort of directive [saying] that it’s very important to know, especially after the China Targets report, who’s talking to you, what are you working on now? How can they intervene? How can they stop this narrative from growing?” Brown said. “That results in these targeted digital intrusions, both on [ICIJ] and on a lot of the communities who might possibly be telling you and other journalists things that the government doesn’t want.”

While the probe couldn’t identify which government agency may have given the orders, “we are highly confident that this is China,” said Brown, who in the past worked as a network warfare analyst for the U.S. government.

A Taiwanese national security official told CommonWealth magazine that the attacks are similar to others identified as part of a Chinese state-sponsored espionage operation.

In response to questions from ICIJ, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., said that “China has always opposed and cracked down on any form of cyber attacks” and that transnational repression is “a completely fabricated narrative maliciously concocted by certain countries and organizations in an attempt to smear China.”

The Citizen Lab analysts found more than 100 domains targeting at least a dozen individuals with the aim of stealing credentials, most likely to enable further surveillance, device compromise and coordinated harassment campaigns.

ICIJ spoke to some of the targets, including a Taiwanese foreign ministry official, who was approached by someone impersonating an ICIJ reporter. The imposter told the official that his contact information was provided by “headquarters” — a term journalists generally don’t use.

Citizen Lab found several errors suggesting that the attackers may have been involved in a “high volume” of attacks and used artificial intelligence to automate them, identify targets and generate messages without much oversight.

“It’s yet again a confirmation that the Chinese state continues to be deeply concerned about controlling the narrative about itself overseas and repressing, surveilling or harassing individuals who are challenging their preferred narrative,” said Emile Dirks, a researcher of Chinese surveillance and contributor to the Citizen Lab report.

https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-targets/cyberattack-against-uyghur-rights-activists-shows-hallmarks-of-chinese-repression-tactics-researchers-say/

Digital repression Cyberattack against Uyghur rights activists shows hallmarks of Chinese repression tactics, researchers say Apr 28, 2025

https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-targets/china-transnational-repression-dissent-around-world/

OVERVIEW Inside China’s machinery of repression — and how it crushes dissent around the world Apr 28, 2025

https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-targets/interpol-red-notice-police-warrant-jack-ma/

INTERPOL Chinese authorities exploited Interpol and strong-armed one of the world’s richest men to pursue a target Apr 29, 2025

Recommended reading Digital repression Cyberattack against Uyghur rights activists shows hallmarks of Chinese repression tactics, researchers say Apr 28, 2025 OVERVIEW Inside China’s machinery of repression — and how it crushes dissent around the world Apr 28, 2025 INTERPOL Chinese authorities exploited Interpol and strong-armed one of the world’s richest men to pursue a target Apr 29, 2025

These limitations suggest the attackers were private contractors in China’s ever-growing commercial hacking industry working for a government agency, according to Brown and a Taiwanese security official interviewed by CommonWealth magazine.

The attack shared similarities with another type of campaign called spear phishing, which cybersecurity analysts previously attributed to Chinese state-sponsored actors who target people with personalized messages to trick them into divulging sensitive data.

“In the case of state-sponsored credential theft,” the Citizen Lab report said, “the attacker can gain insight into topics of state-interest, spread disinformation via the compromised account, or use the credentials in future attacks against the target or their contacts.”

According to Dirks, the Chinese surveillance researcher, even if the attack is unsuccessful, campaigns like these can have a “chilling effect.”

“It sends a message to people like yourself and your colleagues, to members of diaspora communities, to human rights organizations that they are being watched, they are being monitored and that they are in the crosshairs of Beijing.”

Digital transnational repression

Digital transnational repression — the use of online technologies for targeted intimidation, threats and surveillance — is a common weapon in the hands of autocratic regimes such as China and Russia, according to a recent European Parliament study. In China, hackers-for-hire compete to support the government’s cyber operations, from monitoring negative social media posts to selling spyware, phishing kits and other offensive cyber tools.

Last year, ICIJ and its media partners interviewed more than 100 targets of Beijing’s repression and found about half of them had been victims of online smear campaigns, hacking attempts, or phishing campaigns seeking to steal their information.

Among them was Jiang Shengda, a Paris-based artist and activist whose family in Beijing has often been visited and interrogated by Chinese security officials demanding that Jiang stop his activism.

Jiang Shengda, a Beijing-born activist now living in France. Image: Maxime Tellier / Radio France

After ICIJ exposed details of the officials’ intimidation tactics against Jiang’s family last year, the activist noticed an uptick in cyberattacks targeting his email account.

Jiang, who also collaborates with a Chinese dissident considered a “key individual” — or threat — by Beijing, said he receives about two to four phishing emails a day from accounts mimicking supermarket chains or postal services.

Jiang said he has informed European authorities about the “harassment” campaign against him and now helps other Chinese dissidents protect against cyber threats.

“This is not just a personal issue,” he said, “but a pressure shared across the entire community.”

For Brown and her team at Citizen Lab, the work isn’t over.

They will continue to collect evidence about attacks and perpetrators, hoping to inform the public as well as policymakers and government leaders, Brown said.

“By more people knowing that this is a coordinated effort and it’s not isolated, we’ll be able to connect more dots and identify what’s actually going on,” she said. “That will help us both to prevent and detect it better, but also it will give people in leadership maybe some way to hold accountability.”

Note: ICIJ staff email addresses include the domain icij.org. If you believe an ICIJ impersonator has approached you, please do not engage and notify us at contact@icij.org.

Cologne’s regional court sentenced Christoph Zollinger, a Swiss-Panamanian dual national, to one year and nine months’ probation, according to ICIJ’s German partner ZDF. A spokesperson for the court confirmed to ICIJ that the probation period will last for three years.

German prosecutors accused Zollinger and accomplices of establishing offshore companies based in Panama and other tax havens in exchange for payment, which the court determined was done “on a massive scale” and “in a factory-like manner.”

https://www.icij.org/investigations/panama-papers/swiss-lawyer-from-panama-papers-firm-to-face-court-on-tax-evasion-charges/

Offshore finance Swiss lawyer from Panama Papers firm to face court on tax evasion charges Nov 28, 2025

https://www.icij.org/investigations/panama-papers/ten-years-after-the-panama-papers-enablers-and-tax-cheats-are-still-being-brought-to-justice/

IMPACT Ten years after the Panama Papers, enablers and tax cheats are still being brought to justice Apr 02, 2026

https://www.icij.org/investigations/panama-papers/judge-orders-nazi-looted-modigliani-linked-to-panama-papers-be-returned-to-heirs/

IMPACT Judge orders Nazi-looted Modigliani linked to Panama Papers be returned to heirs Apr 06, 2026

Recommended reading Offshore finance Swiss lawyer from Panama Papers firm to face court on tax evasion charges Nov 28, 2025 IMPACT Ten years after the Panama Papers, enablers and tax cheats are still being brought to justice Apr 02, 2026 IMPACT Judge orders Nazi-looted Modigliani linked to Panama Papers be returned to heirs Apr 06, 2026

The investigation, led by ICIJ and 47 media partners, explores how Merck & Co. — known as MSD outside the United States and Canada — keeps huge revenues flowing while pricing out many patients and governments from its blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda.

ICIJ’s investigation revealed that Merck operates with a gross lack of transparency in pricing, even as the cost of Keytruda strains public health systems and counterfeiters reap massive windfalls from duping the expensive drug. The findings have so far elicited widespread reactions from politicians, government agencies, and health and financial accountability experts.

Merck’s tax maneuvers highlighted in the U.S.

The international collaboration found that Merck reduced its U.S. taxes by recording profits in lower-tax jurisdictions. In its 2025 annual report, Merck disclosed it paid around $1.6 billion in U.S. income taxes, compared to $4.5 billion in other countries.

At a U.S. congressional hearing on corporate taxation on Tuesday, Zorka Milin, head of the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition, confirmed those findings.

“Despite making more than half of its sales at outrageous prices to American customers, Merck paid more taxes to Switzerland than it did to the U.S.,” Milin said at the Democrat-led hearing. “For decades, major American pharma companies have been moving their profits and sometimes also their factories overseas. Their customers are mostly American, their intellectual property is developed here with support of American tax dollars, but somehow their profits are Irish, Swiss, Dutch.”

https://www.icij.org/investigations/cancer-calculus/merck-keytruda-cancer-drug-price/

OVERVIEW How Merck turned its wonder drug into a blockbuster — and priced out cancer patients worldwide Apr 13, 2026

https://www.icij.org/investigations/cancer-calculus/a-burgeoning-black-market-inflated-dosing-and-the-over-judicialization-of-health-care-reporters-around-the-world-tell-stories-about-keytruda/

PARTNER STORIES A ‘burgeoning black market’, inflated dosing and the over-judicialization of health care: reporters around the world tell stories about Keytruda Apr 21, 2026

https://www.icij.org/investigations/cancer-calculus/report-mercks-blockbuster-cancer-drug-topped-200000-a-year-under-trump/

KEYTRUDA Report: Merck’s blockbuster cancer drug topped $200,000 a year under Trump Apr 17, 2026

Recommended reading OVERVIEW How Merck turned its wonder drug into a blockbuster — and priced out cancer patients worldwide Apr 13, 2026 PARTNER STORIES A ‘burgeoning black market’, inflated dosing and the over-judicialization of health care: reporters around the world tell stories about Keytruda Apr 21, 2026 KEYTRUDA Report: Merck’s blockbuster cancer drug topped $200,000 a year under Trump Apr 17, 2026

Update April 27, 2026: This story was updated to clarify that Belgium’s reported spending on Keytruda reflects gross expenditure rather than the net price.

The reporting shed new light on the strategies pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co., known as MSD outside the U.S. and Canada, has used to widen the use of its blockbuster cancer drug, Keytruda, and protect its monopoly. Journalists found that the drug’s sky-high price has caused a ripple effect for health care systems around the world, exacerbating inequalities and driving patients to desperate measures.

The reporting team interviewed hundreds of people, including oncologists, cancer patients and their families, patent experts, regulators and pharmaceutical industry insiders, and gathered more than 1,000 public records requests in 27 countries. Here are some of the stories our partners told around the world.

Keytruda, known generically as pembrolizumab, is a type of immunotherapy that restores the body’s ability to fight cancer cells. Unlike chemotherapy, which targets rapidly dividing cancer cells, Keytruda disrupts a process that allows some cancers to circumvent the immune system. That process involves a protein called PD-1, which is found on the surface of some white blood cells. (White blood cells regulate the body’s immune response.) But some cancer cells express proteins called PD-L1 or PD-L2 that bind to PD-1 and block the body’s ability to recognize and kill cancer cells. Keytruda works by attaching to PD-1, preventing it from interacting with the cancerous cells’ proteins and allowing the immune system to detect and attack the cancer. Pembrolizumab was first invented in the early 2000s by Dutch scientists working for a company that was later acquired by Merck. The drug was approved for medical use in the U.S. in September 2014.

Higher dosing strains public health systems

If a toothpaste maker widens the tube opening, it empties faster.

That’s how oncologist Dr. Daniel Goldstein describes the likely reason behind Merck’s move to set a fixed 200 milligram dose of Keytruda for all patients, despite originally submitting studies to regulators that used a weight-based dosing system which could recommend lower doses for some patients.

In an interview with Der Spiegel, ZDF and Paper Trail Media, the Israel-based cancer specialist laid out his potentially game-changing research finding: Keytruda can work at 25% lower doses with identical efficacy. This would mean significant savings for insurers and public budgets around the world.

In Austria, Der Standard reported that Keytruda costs 6,800 euros (about $8,000) per dose without discounts, making it the country’s single largest medication expense.

Based on research by advocacy organization Public Eye, t

ICIJ’s partners’ work in both countries exposed the health system’s deeper dysfunctions beyond the strain that Keytruda purchases have on their budgets.

https://www.icij.org/investigations/cancer-calculus/report-mercks-blockbuster-cancer-drug-topped-200000-a-year-under-trump/

KEYTRUDA Report: Merck’s blockbuster cancer drug topped $200,000 a year under Trump Apr 17, 2026

https://www.icij.org/investigations/cancer-calculus/cancer-patients-legal-battle-keytruda-lifesaving-drug/

INSURERS ‘They deny the medication that is keeping you alive’: Patients wage grueling legal battles for lifesaving cancer drug Apr 13, 2026

https://www.icij.org/investigations/cancer-calculus/keytruda-evergreening-patents-merck/

INTERACTIVE How Merck uses patents to help maintain Keytruda’s exorbitant price Apr 13, 2026

Recommended reading KEYTRUDA Report: Merck’s blockbuster cancer drug topped $200,000 a year under Trump Apr 17, 2026 INSURERS ‘They deny the medication that is keeping you alive’: Patients wage grueling legal battles for lifesaving cancer drug Apr 13, 2026 INTERACTIVE How Merck uses patents to help maintain Keytruda’s exorbitant price Apr 13, 2026

Kinahan is a leader of the Kinahan cartel, which has been involved in cocaine and heroin trafficking and linked to at least 20 murders across Europe. His detention came after an Irish court issued an arrest warrant tied to his alleged role in an international organized crime network.

Kinahan was arrested on April 15 under the terms of an extradition agreement between Ireland and the United Arab Emirates. Irish police said in a statement that the arrest “is another extremely important demonstration of the need for international law enforcement co-operation in tackling transnational organised crime.”

Kinahan, who is in his 40s, moved to Dubai after he was the target of an infamous 2016 assassination attempt at Dublin’s Regency Hotel. His presence in Dubai had long allowed him to evade U.S. and European law enforcement. He and his wife, Caoimhe Robinson, built a multimillion-dollar property portfolio in the Gulf emirate, ICIJ reported in 2024. They maintained some of these properties, which included a sprawling villa, even after Kinahan was hit with U.S. sanctions in 2022 for drug smuggling and money laundering.

https://www.icij.org/inside-icij/2025/03/drug-kingpin-daniel-kinahan-was-paid-millions-of-dollars-under-the-table-to-be-top-promoters-exclusive-agent-court-complaint-alleges/

KINAHAN CARTEL Drug kingpin Daniel Kinahan was paid millions ‘under the table’ to be boxing promoter’s exclusive agent, court complaint alleges Mar 05, 2025

https://www.icij.org/news/2024/05/dubai-property-portfolio-calls-into-question-effectiveness-of-sanctions-on-kinahan-cartel-leader-experts-say/

CRIME CARTEL Dubai property portfolio calls into question effectiveness of sanctions on Kinahan cartel leader, experts say May 14, 2024

https://www.icij.org/inside-icij/2022/04/how-a-ruthless-irish-gang-found-a-home-away-from-home-in-dubai-and-an-enemy-in-the-white-house/

Dubai How a ruthless Irish gang found a home away from home in Dubai and an enemy in the White House Apr 23, 2022

Recommended reading KINAHAN CARTEL Drug kingpin Daniel Kinahan was paid millions ‘under the table’ to be boxing promoter’s exclusive agent, court complaint alleges Mar 05, 2025 CRIME CARTEL Dubai property portfolio calls into question effectiveness of sanctions on Kinahan cartel leader, experts say May 14, 2024 Dubai How a ruthless Irish gang found a home away from home in Dubai and an enemy in the White House Apr 23, 2022

The pharmaceutical giant is among more than a dozen companies that signed confidential deals with the Trump administration to lower the prices of some prescription drugs. However, Keytruda, an immunotherapy treatment that accounts for nearly half of Merck’s revenue, has only become more expensive.

In March, Merck’s CEO Robert M. Davis declined to answer questions from ICIJ about the deal, including whether it mentioned Keytruda or if the medicine had been excluded from consideration for lower prices in the United States.

“We cannot disclose the details of this confidential agreement,” Merck said in a statement to ICIJ sent by senior vice president Johanna Herrmann. “However, the agreement overall has a manageable impact in the short- and long-term on our business and is immaterial across the KEYTRUDA family.”

The Food and Drug Administration has approved Keytruda to treat 19 types of tumors in the U.S. But its cost can be ruinous.

The Cancer Calculus, an investigation by ICIJ and 47 media partners published this week, shows how Merck has kept the price of the lifesaving drug sky-high by building a fortress of patents to deter competition and through opaque pricing. An ICIJ analysis found that a standard 200 milligram dose of Keytruda ranged from $1,700 in Indonesia to $12,000 in the U.S., before negotiations and manufacturer rebates.

https://www.icij.org/investigations/cancer-calculus/merck-keytruda-cancer-drug-price/

OVERVIEW How Merck turned its wonder drug into a blockbuster — and priced out cancer patients worldwide Apr 13, 2026

https://www.icij.org/investigations/cancer-calculus/cancer-patients-legal-battle-keytruda-lifesaving-drug/

INSURERS ‘They deny the medication that is keeping you alive’: Patients wage grueling legal battles for lifesaving cancer drug Apr 13, 2026

https://www.icij.org/investigations/cancer-calculus/about-keytruda-cancer-calculus/

Behind the scenes About the Cancer Calculus investigation Apr 13, 2026

Recommended reading OVERVIEW How Merck turned its wonder drug into a blockbuster — and priced out cancer patients worldwide Apr 13, 2026 INSURERS ‘They deny the medication that is keeping you alive’: Patients wage grueling legal battles for lifesaving cancer drug Apr 13, 2026 Behind the scenes About the Cancer Calculus investigation Apr 13, 2026