Asia

Several journalists covering relatives and supporters of a local politician who was about to file his gubernatorial candidacy on the Philippines island of Mindanao Monday were believed to be among those killed by a gang of armed men in Maguindanao province, according to international news reports. News reports said 21 people were killed after being abducted, including journalists, lawyers, and...

The Singapore government has refused to renew British freelance journalist Benjamin Bland’s work visa, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. The government rejected his application to cover the recently concluded Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit meeting. Bland had planned to report on the summit for the UK’s Daily Telegraph newspaper. Bland’s visa...

The Indonesian governmen has decided to deport Raimondo Bultrini, a reporter with Italy’s weekly L’Espresso, and Kumkum Dasgupta, an assistant editor with India’s Hindustan Times, for lacking accreditation, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. The two reporters were arrested and interrogated for several hours by police on Tuesday and later handed over to...

Two Pakistani journalists, Rab Nawaz Joya and Javed Kanwal Chandor, have been held since November 10 in a police station in Okara district, in the northeastern province of Punjab, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). Although charged with theft and fraud, they were arrested for helping Pakistani and international news media get background information about Ajmal Kasab, a participant in...

A Norwegian freelance journalist and an Afghan colleague were released Thursday after nearly a week in captivity in eastern Afghanistan, according to international news reports. Paal Refsdal had called the Norwegian Embassy in Kabul on November 6 to say he and his translator had been abducted, according to international news reports. Refsdal was making a documentary for Norwegian production...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called on Pakistani authorities to allow the news media better access to the Tribal Areas in the northwest of the country, where the army has been waging an offensive against the Taliban in Waziristan for the past three weeks. “We are aware of the risks for journalists, but the current lack of access to Waziristan for the Pakistani and foreign media is...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has expressed concern over two rulings in Pakistan clamping down on electronic media that represent a very serious backward step. Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has ordered some radio stations not to broadcast BBC Urdu-language news programmes, while Parliament is preparing to ratify drastic censorship dating from the era of General Pervez...

Chinese police have reportedly arrested two Uighur journalists who published online about Uighur issues in Xinjiang, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Friday. Chinese authorities blamed local and international Uighur websites for fueling July's ethnic violence, according to international news reports. Security officials arrested website manager Hailaite Niyazi in his...

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPH) has condemned and called for the immediate release of freelance journalist and blogger Pai Soe Oo, who was detained by government authorities on Wednesday for questioning. Pai Soe Oo was arrested by six officials at his apartment complex in the former capital of Rangoon at around 9 p.m., according to a Mizzima News story that quoted one of...

Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) has surveyed access to websites dedicated to the Uighur community, including sites in the Uighur language, in Mandarin and sometimes in English. These sites, operated by Uyghurs for Uyghurs, are for the most part inaccessible both to Internet users based in Xinjiang and those abroad. More than 85 per cent of the surveyed sites were blocked, censored or otherwise...