A couple of weeks ago we reported on Sri Lankan journalist J.S. Tissainayagam, who was detained by Terrorist Investigation Division forces in March. At first glance, his arrest seemed related to a Tamil news site he edits. But local journalists tell us the site was innocuous and as the months passed, no charges were forthcoming.…
New York, September 4, 2008—Police arrested veteran columnist and newspaper publisher Amado “Jake” Macasaet, an outspoken critic of the Arroyo administration, today in connection with a long-pending libel case, according to local news reports. Police served an arrest warrant for Macasaet, 72, who publishes local newspapers including the English-language daily Malaya, in Pasay City, in…
New York, September 2, 2008–A journalist who had been kidnapped by a local Taliban group was killed when a Pakistani airstrike hit the private jail where he was being held in the Swat Valley in Pakistan’s tumultuous North West Frontier Province on Friday, according to local news reports citing a Taliban spokesman. Militants abducted Abdul…
New York, August 29, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Indian authorities to protect journalists and lift restrictions on media workers in the curfew-bound northern Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, after a cameraman was reportedly killed and a near-total news blackout hit the main city of Srinagar. Srinagar newspapers did not reach…
New York, August 29, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Malaysian government’s censorship of the popular news Web site and blog Malaysia Today. The blocking represents the first time officials have violated the government’s 1996 policy pledge not to censor the Internet. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), the state agency charged with…
New York, August 26, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemns an attack led by anti-government protesters against state-run National Broadcasting Service of Thailand (NBT) television news station. The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protest group ambushed and seized control of the station’s headquarters in Bangkok early this morning as part of several ambush-style attacks…
New York, August 25, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the Colombo high court’s indictment of journalist J.S. Tissainayagam today on terrorism charges for articles he published in 2006. Sri Lanka’s Terrorist Investigation Division arrested Tissainayagam, the editor of news Web site OutreachSL, and five of his colleagues within a few days in March 2008.…
New York, August 25, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns restrictions on the media by security forces trying to quell unrest in the northern Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Central Reserve Police Forces beat at least 10 journalists for reporting on Sunday during a strict curfew imposed indefinitely on major towns in the Kashmir…
August 25, 2008 Irshad Akhtar, Aaj TV and Asaap Aslam Jahangir, ARY TV and Nawa-e-Waqat Gulzar Baloch, Samaa TV and Bakhabar Saleem Buzdar, Geo TV ATTACKED The four journalists sustained minor injuries after Pakistani paramilitary forces fired on a rally they were covering in the town of Turbat, Baluchistan province.