Asia

There should be no doubt that the government is continuing its offensive against the media following its military victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). On Wednesday, Media Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena confirmed what had been rumored for more than a week: The defunct Press Council, which was put to rest in 2002,…

New York, June 26, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the sentencing today of Hang Chakra, editor-in-chief of the opposition Khmer-language daily Khmer Machas Srok, to one year in prison stemming from his reports on alleged government corruption.

Last night, about 300 people gathered at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University for a vigil for U.S. television journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling. Today marks the 100th day of captivity in North Korea for the women, who were arrested in March by North Korean guards while filming a story about refugees for the…

New York, June 25, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about pending wiretapping charges against Cecilia “Cheche” Lazaro, a well-known journalist with the broadcaster ABS-CBN. If found guilty of violating the Anti-Wiretapping Act, she faces up to six years in prison. 

Reacting to reports that New York Times reporter David Rohde and his assistant Tahir Ludin have escaped Taliban captors who held them for more than seven months, we issued the following statement:

I am from Afghanistan, but I have lived in exile in Sweden for almost a year and a half. I spent my teenaged life in Pakistan, where I moved in 1997 to escape the savage regime of the Taliban.

New York, June 17, 2009–The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on North Korean authorities to demonstrate greater transparency in their treatment of imprisoned U.S. television reporters Euna Lee and Laura Ling. 

Sri Lankan journalists flee under severe pressure in the past year. Iraq and Somalia, two deadly countries for the press, also rank high in numbers of journalists forced into exile. Hundreds of journalists have been driven into exile this decade. By Karen Phillips

Responding to a Korea Central News Agency report that Euna Lee and Laura Ling have admitted crossing illegally into North Korea and trying to slander the state, we released the following statement today…

New York, June 15, 2009–Intelligence officials at the National Directorate of Security (NDS) in Kabul should immediately release two Afghan journalists detained on Sunday, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.