Asia

New York, March 21, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the harassment of Indonesia’s leading independent news outlet, Tempo, after a severed pig’s head was delivered to its office in the capital Jakarta on March 19—weeks after President Prabowo Subianto alleged that foreign-funded media organizations are trying to “divide” the country. On the same day, protesters gathered outside Indonesia’s Press Council…

New York, March 21, 2025—Pakistani authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalist Farhan Mallick, detained in Karachi Thursday by Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), and cease harassing journalists in retaliation for their journalistic work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday. Mallick, founder of the independent online media platform Raftar, was arrested on accusations of…

The Committee to Protect Journalists on March 21 joined eight other civil society organizations in expressing alarm over violence against the media and human rights defenders in Bangladesh, with at least 17 journalists attacked in February. An interim government took power in Bangladesh following the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in August. The…

New York, March 20, 2025—Pakistani authorities must immediately reveal the whereabouts of journalist Asif Karim Khehtran and the brothers of U.S.-based exiled Pakistani journalist Ahmed Noorani, and cease their intimidation of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. Around midnight on March 18, about two dozen individuals, identifying themselves as police, forcibly entered…

New Delhi, March 17, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by Telangana Chief Minister Anumula Revanth Reddy’s threat that individuals “posing as journalists and posting offensive and abusive content” would be “stripped and paraded in public,” following the publication on social media of an interview critical of the southern Indian leader. Reddy, who is…

New Delhi, March 13, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists urges India’s Maharashtra state authorities to consult with journalists and media groups to ensure that its plan to use artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor media coverage and correct “negative” reports does not undermine press freedom. According to a March 6 Government Resolution approving the release of…

New Delhi, March 11, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Indian authorities to maintain full transparency in their investigation into the killing of journalist Raghvendra Bajpai, who was shot dead March 8 in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, and determine whether the journalist was targeted in connection with his work. “Authorities in Uttar…

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined more than two dozen media and civil society groups in a joint statement on March 5, urging the Nepalese government and parliament to revise a recently proposed social media bill and the newly established Media Council. The statement noted that the bill granted the government “overreaching powers” that could…

Editor’s note: On March 14, the journalist B. Nantha Kumar was charged in a local court for allegedly receiving a bribe of 20,000 ringgit (US$4,500) in return for removing and not uploading articles about a migrant trafficking syndicate. Nantha pleaded not guilty and is out on bail pending trial. He faces up to 20 years in prison…

Bangkok, February 27, 2025—Hanoi’s People’s Court sentenced Vietnamese journalist Truong Huy San to 30 months in prison on Thursday under a criminal provision that bars “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe on the interests of the State.” San, a well-known political commentator and author also known by his pen names Huy Duc and Osin, was convicted…