Asia

New York, April 25, 2023—Taliban authorities should immediately and unconditionally release radio reporters Ismail Saadat, Wahidullah Masum, and Ehsanullah Tasal and stop harassing the press for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On Monday, the provincial directorate of the Taliban-controlled Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in eastern…

Brussels, April 25, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed Thursday’s call by the European Parliament for the repeal of two Hong Kong security laws that it said undermine press freedom and for the release of Jimmy Lai, founder of the now-shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily. The parliamentary resolution condemned Hong Kong’s adoption last month of…

The last time Bahram Sintash saw his journalist father was in 2017. Qurban Mamut, an influential Uyghur editor had come to the United States for a visit but upon his return to Xinjiang in northwest China, he disappeared. Sintash later learned that his father had been swept up in China’s 2017 crackdown on Uyghurs and…

New Delhi, April 23, 2024—Indian authorities should safeguard press freedom and stop using visa regulations to prevent foreign journalists covering sensitive subjects, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. Avani Dias, South Asia bureau chief for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), left India on April 19, the first day of India’s election, after being told…

New York, April 18, 2024—The Taliban must cease their relentless suppression of independent media in Afghanistan and allow private broadcasters Noor TV and Barya TV to resume operations, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On Tuesday, the Media Complaints and Rights Violations Commission banned the two broadcasters for violating “national and Islamic values,” without…

As the scorching summer peaks this year, India’s political landscape is coming to a boil. From April 19 until June 1, the world’s biggest democracy will hold the world’s biggest election, which the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been in power since 2014, is expected to win….

New York, April 8, 2024 – The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by reports that the Taliban plans to restrict or block access to Facebook in Afghanistan and calls on authorities not to move ahead on a measure that would further impede the free flow of information in the country. On April 6, Najibullah Haqqani, the Taliban’s acting…

New York, April 4, 2024—Pakistani authorities must promptly investigate Wednesday’s shooting of exiled Afghan journalist Ahmad Hanayesh by two gunmen on a motorcycle and bring the assailants to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. Hanayesh, also known by his birth name Abdul Aleem Saqib, was returning home on the evening of April 3…

Award-winning Myanmar documentary filmmaker Shin Daewe is serving a life sentence on charges of illegal possession of an unregistered drone, a criminal offense under the country’s Anti-Terrorism Law, according to news reports. Shin Daewe was arrested on October 15, 2023, while picking up a video drone she had ordered online to use for filming a documentary, according…

New York, March 29, 2024—Sri Lankan authorities must immediately drop their investigations into journalists G.P. Nissanka and Bimal Ruhunage and allow them to report without fear of reprisal, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. On the evening of March 5, officers with the Sri Lanka police service’s Criminal Investigation Department arrested G.P. Nissanka, owner…