Asia

New Delhi, August 18, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Bangladeshi authorities to drop their new crimes against humanity case against journalists Shyamal Dutta, Mozammel Babu, and Farzana Rupa, and stop criminalizing news reporting.  Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on Monday ordered prison authorities to produce the journalists, who have been detained since 2024…

New York, August 14, 2026—Five years on from the Taliban’s seizure of Afghanistan, the Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the group to halt its brutal repression of the press — particularly women journalists — and lift sweeping restrictions that have cut access to independent information and allowed a propaganda ecosystem to flourish. After capturing…

Jakarta, August 11, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Malaysian Resources Corporation Berhad (MRCB) and its executive vice-chairperson, Salim Fateh Din, to withdraw their excessive RM100 million (US$24.45 million) defamation lawsuit against veteran journalist P. Gunasegaram over an opinion piece on an urban rail project. The lawsuit, filed in the Shah Alam High Court…

New York, August 6, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Pakistani authorities to withdraw draconian new guidelines requiring journalists working for international media outlets to obtain authorization before reporting outside Islamabad, Karachi, or Lahore, in a move likely to censor coverage of unrest in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The guidelines, reviewed by CPJ, require international and…

New York, August 5, 2026—Pakistani authorities must account for and immediately release journalists Razi Tahir and Muhammad Saif, who were taken by men in police uniform from their office in the capital city Islamabad, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Wednesday.   Tahir and Saif, independent journalists who publish through Tahir’s popular social media…

August 4, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Vietnamese authorities to end their harassment of journalist Doan Bao Chau after a Hanoi court sentenced him in absentia to seven years in prison over social media posts critical of the government. On August 3, the Hanoi People’s Court convicted Chau under Article 117 of Vietnam’s…

New Delhi, July 27, 2026—Bangladeshi authorities should immediately drop the charges of crimes against humanity against journalists Farzana Rupa and Mozammel Babu and release them without delay, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday. Prosecutors at Bangladesh’s International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) on Monday submitted a formal charge sheet naming the two journalists and 39 other…

Bangkok, July 24, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists on Friday called on the Iglesia Ni Cristo religious group to drop its criminal complaint of unjust vexation against journalist Marchel Espina over an opinion piece published by a community news site. On July 17, Espina, former editor-in-chief of the local SunStar Cebu, voluntarily surrendered to the…

Bangkok, July 21, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the two-year prison sentence given to Cambodian journalist Luot Sophal on incitement charges and calls for his immediate and unconditional release. Sophal, a reporter with the independent local news site Srotop Yuvakvey, was convicted on July 14 by the Oddar Meanchey Provincial Court on charges of…

The Committee to Protect Journalists has joined 58 other press freedom and civil society organizations in calling on Thailand to halt the forcible return of detained Chinese journalist Bai Zhaodong to China. Bai, a former reporter with Caijing magazine and an investigative journalist for over 25 years, has been held in immigration detention in Thailand since January…