Asia
2017
Delhi police, student activists beat journalists
Police and student activists beat at least eight journalists covering fighting between rival student groups at Delhi University’s Ramjas College on February 22, 2017, according to media reports and journalists speaking to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Defamation suit in Thailand restricts BBC reporter’s freedom of movement
Bangkok, February 28, 2017–A court in Thailand has seized the passport of BBC reporter Jonathan Head in response to a criminal defamation suit filed by a Thai lawyer over a news report on alleged fraud committed on the tourist island of Phuket. The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the restrictions on the reporter’s freedom of…
In China, sources face harassment, jail for speaking to foreign media
Zhang Lifan is a Beijing-based historian specializing in modern Chinese history. He is also an outspoken critic of the Chinese government who is interviewed regularly by the foreign press–even when it leads to harassment from officials. Last month alone, he was quoted in a New York Times article about the government revising the length of…
Sri Lankan military intelligence officers suspected in journalist’s murder
New York, February 23, 2017–Sri Lankan authorities should fully investigate the 2009 murder of an editor and bring his killers to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Five military intelligence officers were arrested this week in connection with the murder of Lasantha Wickramatunga, the editor-in-chief of the weekly Sunday Leader and a fierce…
Hong Kong daily Sing Pao says its journalists and website are under attack
New York, February 22, 2017–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Hong Kong authorities to investigate the harassment of journalists at the daily Sing Pao. Sing Pao Media Enterprises, which owns the paper, released a statement yesterday saying that staff have been followed and harassed, and that the newspaper’s computer system was attacked.
Ex-police official admits role in Filipino radio journalist’s murder
Bangkok, February 21, 2017–Former Philippine policeman Arturo Lascanas in a news conference yesterday acknowledged his role in the September 2003 assassination of radio journalist Juan “Jun” Pala, a crime he claimed was ordered and paid for by then Davao City mayor, now President Rodrigo Duterte.
‘I wanted to stay and fight for my beliefs’ says jailed Vietnamese blogger forced into exile
Vietnamese journalist and religious activist Dang Xuan Dieu was granted early release January 12 from a 13-year prison sentence on anti-state charges filed over his critical reporting. As with recent early releases of other jailed Vietnamese journalists, Dieu was forced to immediately board a plane and go into exile as a condition for his freedom.
Journalist who alleged corruption beaten in India
A group of assailants in the southeastern Indian town of Chirala on February 5, 2017, beat M Nagarjuna Reddy, a reporter with the Telugu-language monthly magazine Basa, according to his employer, press reports, video, and a memorandum the journalist filed with the Andhra Pradesh Human Rights Commission in Hyderabad, the state capital, on February 14.
Cameraman murdered in Pakistan
New York, February 13, 2017 – Pakistani authorities should bring to justice all those responsible for the murder of Taimoor Khan, a cameraman for the private TV channel Samaa TV, who was fatally shot last night while covering the aftermath of an attack on a police vehicle, according to news reports.
TV reporters attacked while covering Indonesia protest
Bangkok, February 13, 2017–Indonesian authorities should identify and bring to justice those responsible for assaulting two journalists with broadcaster Metro TV at a February 11 demonstration in the capital Jakarta, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.