Malaysia / Asia

Bangkok, July 13, 2020 – Malaysian authorities should cease investigating Al-Jazeera staffers and stop using legal threats to harass the media, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On July 10, Malaysian police interrogated six reporters and staff members of the Qatari broadcaster in relation to a July 3 documentary, “Locked Up in Malaysia’s Lockdown,” aired…

Bangkok, July 6, 2020 – Malaysian authorities should drop the charges against Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan and stop using legal threats to intimidate the independent news outlet, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On July 2, a seven-member federal court panel agreed to hear contempt of court proceedings against Gan and his news website over five…

When Malaysian journalist Wan Noor Hayati Wan Alias criticized a government decision to allow a cruise ship with Chinese tourists to dock and disembark at the coastal city of Penang in late January, a time when China was at the epicenter of the COVID-19 global pandemic, she was criminally charged with causing a public panic.

Bangkok, February 6, 2020 — Malaysian authorities should immediately drop all charges against journalist Wan Noor Hayati Wan Alias and allow reporters to freely cover and comment on the coronavirus outbreak, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Beirut, December 10, 2019 — Malaysian authorities should disclose their reasons for holding Syrian Kurdish journalist Himbervan Kousa or release him immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Washington, D.C., August 16, 2018–The Malaysian parliament today repealed a law imposing criminal penalties for “fake news” that had been enacted earlier this year by the previous government of Prime Minister Najib Razak, according to news reports.

New York, July 31, 2018–A Kuala Lumpur court yesterday dropped nine sedition charges against Malaysia’s political cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque, known as Zunar, according to news reports. If convicted, Zunar, who was honored with CPJ’s 2015 International Press Freedom Award, could have been jailed for up to 43 years.

Bangkok, April 30, 2018–In a verdict with grave implications for press freedom, a Malaysian court today handed down the nation’s first conviction under its recently enacted “fake news” law, according to press reports.