Asia

In his tireless global campaign to save 77-year-old media publisher Jimmy Lai from life imprisonment in Hong Kong, Sebastien Lai has not seen his father for more than four years. Sebastien, who leads the #FreeJimmyLai campaign, last saw his father in August 2020 — weeks after Beijing imposed a national security law that led to…

New York, November 18, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges the Hong Kong government to drop its trumped-up charges against media publisher Jimmy Lai, who is set to take the stand for the first time on Wednesday in his trial on national security charges, which could see the 77-year-old jailed for life if convicted. “This…

The Committee to Protect Journalists on Monday, November 11, wrote to Professor Muhammad Yunus urging him to protect press freedom in his role as chief adviser to the interim government of Bangladesh. On November 4, the interim information ministry announced that the Cyber Security Act would be repealed within a week. The law was passed…

New Delhi, November 8, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists is highly concerned after Indian investigative journalist Rana Ayyub’s personal number was leaked online and, separately, local intelligence personnel followed and repeatedly questioned her throughout a four-day reporting trip in the northeastern state of Manipur in early October, according to three people familiar with the situation…

Bangkok, October 31–A court in Hanoi sentenced Duong Van Thai, an independent Vietnamese blogger who went missing in Thailand and was later in Vietnamese custody in April 2023, to 12 years in prison and three years’ probation on Wednesday on charges of anti-state propaganda. “Vietnam’s harsh sentencing of blogger Duong Van Thai is grotesque and an outrage, particularly amid allegations he…

Hope for justice in journalist murders is dim across the world, but especially in Pakistan, which has appeared on CPJ’s Global Impunity Index every year since the list’s inception in 2008. This year, the South Asian country ranks twelfth out of the 13 worst offenders. CPJ’s impunity index lists countries where perpetrators who kill journalists…

New York, October 28, 2024—On October 13, the Taliban banned television operations and the filming and photographing of people in public spaces in northeast Takhar province according to a local journalist who spoke to the Committee to Protect Journalists under the condition of anonymity, fearing reprisal from the Taliban, and media reports. “The Taliban’s latest ban on…

New York, October 28, 2024—Sri Lankan police must cease harassing journalists Selvakumar Nilanthan and Tharindu Jayawardhana, following their reporting on alleged government misconduct, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. “With a new president, Sri Lanka has an opportunity to improve press freedom,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “Police should drop their…

Bangkok, October 23, 2024—Philippine authorities must launch a swift and thorough investigation into the killing of radio anchor Maria Vilma Rodriguez, who was shot three times on Tuesday evening in a store near her home, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. “The killing of radio reporter Maria Vilma Rodriguez shows that the murderers of journalists…

Bangkok, October 22, 2024 – Myanmar’s Kachin Independence Army (KIA) must account for and release Red News Agency reporter Ta Lin Maung and freelancer Naung Yoe who were arrested by the rebel group’s forces on September 29 and 30 respectively, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. “All combatants in Myanmar’s civil war have a…