Asia

Jawed Ahmad, an Afghan journalist who worked for Canadian media, including the broadcaster CTV News, was gunned down on March 10 by two men in a vehicle as he was getting out of his own car in the centre of the southern city of Kandahar, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. Ahmad, also known as Jojo Yazemi, died on the spot. His body was taken to a nearby hospital where members of his...

The media in Myanmar (Burma) are alarmed at the plan of the junta's Press Scrutiny and Registration Board—better known as the Censors' Board—to censor the digital copies of articles to be published in Burmese journals and magazines, according to Mizzima News. Burmese journalists said they see this new system as impractical as the Internet speed in the country is too slow for downloading and...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called for the release of the manager of the Poobalasingam Book Depot bookshop in Colombo, who was arrested by anti-terrorism police at his home in the Colombo suburb of Wellawatte on March 5 for sending copies of Ananda Vikatan, a Tamil weekly magazine published in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, to another branch of the same bookshop in Jaffna, in the...

Chinese authorities in Tibet should open the region to foreign journalists and release imprisoned Tibetan journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists has demanded. Tuesday is the 50th anniversary of an uprising against Chinese rule. Foreigners, including journalists, were ordered out of Kangding City, a Tibetan region of Sichuan, today after two homemade explosives were thrown at police...

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has turned down an international call for the reform of lèse-majesté law but hinted some amendment to the enforcement of the law could be considered to allow for expression of academic opinions, the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA) has reported. Speaking at the 54th anniversary of the Thai Journalists Association (TJA) on March 5, Abhisit said there was...

The Court of Appeals (CA) in Manila has turned down a reconsideration motion filed by the president's spouse, Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo, to stop the hearing of the class suit filed against him by 36 journalists and three media organisations, the Manila-based Centre for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) has reported. On February 24, the CA's former Seventh Division affirmed its September 22...

Journalists were barred on March 4 from covering the proceedings of senate elections from the press gallery of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) Assembly, the Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) has reported. Security officials stopped journalists from entering the assembly hall soon after the polling began. The outraged journalists shouted slogans and staged a sit-in outside the main entrance...

The International Press Institute (IPI) has expressed concern about the pressure placed on news organisations by the weak rule of law and the perceived lack of judicial independence in Bangladesh. An IPI high-level mission, including the IPI director David Dadge, travelled to Bangladesh in late 2008 to meet top media and political figures. The mission found that impunity in the crimes against...

Christoph Müller, a leading Swiss TV reporter and producer, was handcuffed and arrested on arrival in Thailand on February 27, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. He was freed on bail 24 hours later but the police confiscated his passport and he is not allowed to leave the country until further notice. His employer, the German-language Swiss TV station SF, has described the measures as a...

Christoph Müller, a leading Swiss TV reporter and producer, was handcuffed and arrested on arrival in Thailand on February 27, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. He was freed on bail 24 hours later but the police confiscated his passport and he is forbidden to leave the country until further notice. His employer, the German-language Swiss TV station SF, has described the measures as a...