Jailed Indian journalist Siddique Kappan hospitalized after contracting COVID-19
New Delhi, April 21, 2021 – Authorities in India’s Uttar Pradesh state should immediately release journalist Siddique Kappan from custody and allow him to freely seek medical treatment for COVID-19, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Kappan collapsed in the Mathura Jail yesterday, where he is held pending trial, and today he tested positive…
Vietnamese police arrest 3 more journalists in probe of ‘Clean Newspaper’
Bangkok, April 21, 2021 – Vietnamese authorities should immediately release journalists Nguyen Thanh Nha, Doan Kien Giang, and Nguyen Phuoc Trung Bao, and drop any pending charges against them, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Yesterday, police in the southern city of Can Tho arrested the three journalists as part of an ongoing investigation…
Journalist Absar Alam shot, wounded in Pakistan
Washington, D.C., April 20, 2021 — Pakistan authorities must conduct a swift and thorough investigation into the shooting of journalist Absar Alam and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Earlier today, an unidentified man shot Alam while he was walking near his home in Islamabad, according to news reports…
Imprisoned Uyghur journalist Erkin Tursun appears in Chinese propaganda video
Taipei, April 19, 2021 – Chinese authorities should immediately release journalist Erkin Tursun and stop using imprisoned members of the press in propaganda materials, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On April 9, at a press event in Beijing, Chinese officials aired a video of Tursun, a former TV producer who has been imprisoned…
Myanmar authorities detain Japanese journalist Yuki Kitazumi on fake news allegation
Bangkok, April 19, 2021 – Myanmar authorities should immediately release Japanese journalist Yuki Kitazumi and drop any pending charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Yesterday evening, military authorities arrested Kitazumi, a freelance journalist who runs the Yangon Media Professionals media production company, at his home in Yangon, according to news reports. A…
Digital media rules empower Indian government to censor online news
Digital news sites in India are on edge and expecting the worst after the government promulgated news rules in February, bringing them under regulation and further endangering the environment for press freedom in the country. The rules, in essence, give the government powers to censor website content, with little chance for appeal. In interviews with…
Hong Kong media owner Jimmy Lai sentenced to 14 months in prison over 2019 protests
Washington, D.C., April 16, 2021 – In response to a Hong Kong court’s sentencing today of media owner Jimmy Lai to 14 months in prison, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement: “Forcing a prominent pro-democracy media entrepreneur like Jimmy Lai to spend more than a year in prison and hitting him with…
Vietnam detains journalist Nguyen Hoai Nam for alleged anti-state crimes
Bangkok, April 14, 2021 – Vietnamese authorities should immediately release journalist Nguyen Hoai Nam, drop any pending charges against him, and stop jailing journalists on trumped-up anti-state allegations, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On April 3, authorities in Ho Chi Minh City detained Nam, an independent journalist who publishes commentary and reporting on…
Masked men ransack Epoch Times printer in Hong Kong
Taipei, April 13, 2021 — The Hong Kong police should swiftly and thoroughly investigate the attack on the printing facility of The Epoch Times and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At about 4:30 a.m. yesterday, four masked men broke into the newspaper’s printing facility in the Tsuen Wan…