Asia

  
An Indian flag is painted on a woman's face during rehearsals for India's Independence Day celebrations in Ahmedabad. A court in the city issued an injunction against the news website The Wire. (Reuters/Amit Dave)

Indian court bars The Wire from publishing stories on businessman Jay Shah

New Delhi, October 24, 2017– The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned a decision by India’s judiciary to proceed with a criminal defamation complaint against The Wire and issue an injunction preventing the news website from reporting about Jay Shah, the son of the ruling BJP party’s president Amit Shah, while the defamation case is…

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Supporters donate money to Maldives broadcaster Raajje TV, which has been subject to large fines for alleged defamation in relation to its critical reporting. (Raajje TV/Mohamed Sharuhaan)

Maldives repeatedly slaps Raajje TV with huge fines under defamation law

One of the largest TV stations in the Maldives, Raajje TV, says authorities are using newly recriminalized defamation law to try to shut it down by levying exorbitant fines.

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A woman buys the final issue of the Cambodia Daily newspaper at a store in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, September 4, 2017. (Reuters/Samrang Pring)

Two journalists charged with incitement in Cambodia

Bangkok, October 10, 2017– The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the legal harassment of Aun Pheap and Zsombor Peter, two journalists who worked for the shuttered Cambodia Daily, and calls on Cambodian authorities to drop all charges against the pair.

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Pakistan's cricket fans wave a national flag in Karachi, Pakistan on June 20, 2017. Pakistan's interior ministry ordered he Interior Ministry on January 19, 2018 ordered the Pashto-language service of U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Mashaal, to close immediately. (Reuters/Akhtar Soomro)

Pakistani journalist faces terrorism and defamation charges for article critical of regional government

New York, October 4, 2017–Authorities in Pakistan should drop charges against journalist Shabbir Siham, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan’s northern Gilgit-Baltistan region summoned Siham for a hearing on October 7 on accusations of fabrication and extorting a regional minister in violation of Pakistan’s Anti-Terrorism Act, according to news…

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Several Indian journalists receive death threats

New Delhi, September 29, 2017–Authorities in India must move quickly to identify those responsible for sending at least five threats to kill journalists for critical coverage of the government and take steps to ensure the journalists’ security, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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A Chinese police officer stands watch near the Tiananmen Square in Beijing on March 5, 2010. Beijing municipal police reportedly detained the journalist Ding Lingjie in the eastern Shandong province on September 22, 2017. (AP/Andy Wong)

Chinese journalist Ding Lingjie reportedly jailed

Taipei, September 27, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Chinese authorities to immediately release journalist Ding Lingjie from state custody. Ding, an editor for the human rights news website Minsheng Guancha (Civil Rights & Livelihood Watch), disappeared from her relative’s apartment in city of Zibo in the eastern Shandong province on September 22, according…

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A policeman tries to enter through one of the gates in Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple complex in Thiruvananthapuram, capital of the southern Indian state of Kerala, February 20, 2012. A local newspaper filed a complaint with the Thiruvananthapuram rural district police after policeman allegedly attacked one of its journalists. (Reuters/Danish Siddiqui)

Indian police beat up local journalist after unflattering article

New Delhi, September 26, 2017–Authorities in India must thoroughly investigate and bring to justice the perpetrators behind an attack on journalist Sanjeev Gopalan in the southern Kerala state, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Local reporter beaten to death in northeastern India

New Delhi, September 21, 2017–Indian authorities must conduct a thorough investigation into the death of Shantanu Bhowmik, a reporter for the local Bengali-language Dinraat news channel, and bring those responsible to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Rohingya Muslim refugees stand on a street in the Bangladeshi town of Ukhia on September 15, 2017. Bangladesh has detained two Myanmar journalists who are reporting on the crisis. (AFP/Dominique Faget)

Bangladesh detains two Myanmar journalists covering Rohingya crisis

New York, September 15, 2017–Bangladeshi authorities should immediately release two Myanmar journalists who police detained on September 7 and drop all charges against them, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

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Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on June 28, 2017. The U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Asia (RFA) has suspended its news operations in Cambodia amid a rising clampdown on independent media under Sen. (Reuters/Samrang Pring)

Radio Free Asia suspends operations in Cambodia

Bangkok, September 14, 2017–The U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Asia (RFA) has suspended its news operations in Cambodia amid a rising clampdown on independent media, according to news reports.

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