Asia

  
Afghan security personnel patrol in Ghazni city. Fighting between the Taliban and Afghan forces in and around Ghazni has left at least 20 civilians dead since August 10, the AP reported. (AP/Mohammad Anwar Danishyar)

Media worker killed, telecom connections destroyed in Afghanistan

New York, August 13, 2018– Mohammad Daud Anwari, a media technician for the state-run broadcaster Radio Television Afghanistan, was killed on August 10 during an attack by the Taliban on Tape-e-Television, an area of Ghazni city where many local media antennas are located, the Afghan Journalist Safety Committee (AJSC) reported.

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Indian photographers and journalists gather outside the Mumbai Press Club to protest against the July 27 attack on photojournalist Pravin Indrekar by police in the Indian state of Gujarat, in Mumbai on August 7, 2018. They were also protesting the recent arrest of photojournalist Shahidul Alam in Dhaka, Bangladesh. (AFP/Punit Paranjpe)

Gujarat police beat up photojournalist, charge him with looting and rioting

New Delhi, August 9, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned a brutal attack on photojournalist Pravin Indrekar by police in the Indian state of Gujarat, and called on the state authorities to withdraw charges of looting and rioting that police filed against him.

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A Maldives soldier stands guard outside Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom's residence in Male on February 8, 2018. The Maldives Broadcasting Commission on August 8 fined Raajje TV for airing material the commission said was defamatory toward the president and threatened national security, according to news reports. (AFP)

CPJ calls on Maldives to drop fine against opposition-aligned Raajje TV

New York, August 9, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Maldives authorities to withdraw fines against and stop targeting the opposition-aligned broadcaster Raajje TV. The Maldives Broadcasting Commission yesterday fined Raajje TV 2 million Maldivian rufiyaa (US$130,000)– the largest amount it can impose– for airing a politician’s statement made at an opposition demonstration…

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President Yameen, center, surrounded by his body guards in the capital, Malé, in February 2018. The president was criticized today for comments he made about missing Maldives journalist Rilwan. (AP/Mohamed Sharuhaan/File)

Maldives president’s off-hand comment on missing journalist Rilwan highlights need for fresh investigation

Four years to the day that Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla was last seen by his family, President Abdulla Yameen Abdulla Gayoom declared the Maldives journalist dead.

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Bangladeshi students attempt to break a police barricade during a protest in Dhaka on August 1. More than a dozen journalists have been attacked covering the nationwide protests. (AP/A. M. Ahad)

CPJ Safety Advisory: Covering protests in Bangladesh

On July 29, two students were killed, and 12 others injured when a bus plowed into a passengers waiting at a stop in Dhaka. Since then, daily demonstrations that started in Dhaka have spread throughout Bangladesh. Thousands of students have demonstrated on the streets of Dhaka at major traffic intersections, causing congestion that has nearly…

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Students take an injured fellow to the hospital during clashes with unidentified assailants while they are protesting over recent fatal traffic accidents in Dhaka, Bangladesh, August 4, 2018. (Reuters/Mohammad Ponir Hossain)

Bangladesh orders Shahidul Alam held 7 days; more than a dozen journalists attacked

New York, August 6, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Bangladeshi authorities to immediately halt widespread attacks on journalists covering ongoing student protests in Dhaka and to release photographer Shahidul Alam from jail.

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Bangladeshi photographer Shahidul Alam, pictured in December 2006, is detained in Dhaka after posting a video to Facebook about student protests. (AFP/ Prakash Singh)

Bangladeshi photographer Shahidul Alam detained after post about Dhaka protests

New York, August 5, 2018–A group of men who said they were from the detective branch of Dhaka police today took Shahidul Alam, a photographer, commentator, and the founder of the Bangladeshi multimedia organization Drik and Pathshala Media Institute, from his home, hours after he posted a video to Facebook about protests in the city,…

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Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla, pictured with his mother Aminath Easa, went missing on August 8, 2014. (Ya'sha Adnan)

Maldives acquits two men accused of abducting missing reporter Rilwan

New York, August 3, 2018–A Maldives criminal court yesterday acquitted two men accused of abducting Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla, a reporter for the news website Minivan News, who has been missing since August 2014, according to news reports. The court found Alif Rauf and Mohamed Nooradeen not guilty of forcing Rilwan into a car at knife-point,…

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A man reads a newspaper while walking through a market in Hong Kong in May 2018. The Hong Kong Journalists Association says press freedom in the administrative region is in decline. (AFP/Anthony Wallace)

Hong Kong Journalists Association finds press freedom further restricted by ‘one country’ principle

In its annual report, released July 29, the Hong Kong Journalists Association found that press freedom has gone backward as the administrative region seeks to implement legislation to criminalize critical opinions toward China’s “one country” policy and Beijing.

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The Bangladesh flag is waved during a cricket match in Dhaka in early 2018. At least four journalists were attacked in Bangladesh while covering local elections in July. (AFP/Munir Uz Zaman)

Journalists in Bangladesh attacked and beaten covering local election

New York, August 1, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned violence against journalists covering local elections in the Bangladesh city of Sylhet, and called on authorities to identify and hold the attackers to account. At least four journalists were beaten, allegedly by police and supporters of the ruling Awami League party, according to news…

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