On April 4, 2023, Chinese authorities told one Indian journalist and a representative from an Indian media group not to return to the country from abroad, according to multiple news reports and two people familiar with the situation who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity. Chinese authorities told Ananth Krishnan, a Beijing-based correspondent…
In March 2023, India saw a number of attacks on press freedom, including the arrest of Kashmiri journalist Irfan Mehraj; the suspension in India of Twitter handles belonging to an outlet and at least three journalists; and death threats to journalist and fact-checker Mohammad Zubair. On March 20, the National Investigation Agency, India’s counterterrorism body,…
In March 2023, journalists in multiple towns in South Africa were attacked, harassed, or threatened in connection with their reporting. On March 2, in the city of Newcastle, Mayor Xolani Dube and his deputy Musa “Sugar” Thwala accused Estella Naicker, a reporter with privately owned newspaper Northern Natal News, of being paid by political rivals…
On March 30, 2023, two officers with Lebanon’s General Directorate of State Security stopped Jean Kassir, founder of the news website Megaphone, while he was driving in the capital city of Beirut, according to Megaphone and Kassir, who spoke to CPJ in person. The officers summoned Kassir to attend questioning at the directorate’s office the…
On January 11, 2023, the Chawkbazar police station in Bangladesh’s southern Chattogram district opened a Digital Security Act investigation into U.K.-based Bangladeshi journalist Abdur Rab Bhuttow and the privately owned digital news platform London Bangla Channel, where Bhuttow serves as editor, according to news reports and the journalist, who spoke with CPJ by phone. Police…
On March 18, 2023, police in the Indian state of Haryana arrested Jaspal Singh, a TV journalist who reports part-time for the local broadcaster News18 Haryana, from his home in the city of Ratia, according to news reports and Rajesh Kundu, editor of the news website The Ink, who is familiar with the case and…
On January 18, 2023, police in the southeastern Zimbabwe city of Masvingo arrested journalist Garikai Mafirakureva, according to media reports, a statement by the Zimbabwean chapter of the regional press freedom group Media Institute of Southern Africa, and Mafirakureva, who spoke to CPJ via messaging app. Authorities charged Mafirakureva, editor of the Masvingo Mirror newspaper,…
On March 9, 2023, Congolese Minister of Defense Gilbert Kabanda filed a criminal complaint accusing journalist Stanis Bujekera Tshamala of publishing false rumors, according to news reports and a copy of that complaint, which CPJ reviewed. The complaint stemmed from a March 5 tweet by Bujekera, a correspondent for the France-based Jeune Afrique news website,…
On February 17, 2023, an unfamiliar account hijacked a Facebook page run by private broadcaster Voice News and published posts that staff fear may trigger harassment or criminal investigation, according to Ahmer Shaheen, the CEO and chief editor, who spoke to CPJ in a phone interview. The broadcaster’s website and second Facebook page have also…
On August 23, 2022, freelance Pakistani journalist Syed Fawad Ali Shah went missing in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, according to news reports. Shah had lived in Malaysia as a registered refugee since 2011, according to his wife Syeda, who spoke with CPJ. Syeda, who asked to be identified by her first name, said…