Asia

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has called on the authorities in Afghanistan to do everything possible to protect women journalists, several of whom have been attacked or threatened since the start of the year. One, Niloufar Habibi, has continued to receive death threats since leaving hospital after being stabbed on May 15 in the northwestern city of Herat and has to change residence every day....

Private weeklies in Burma have been ordered by the Press Scrutiny and Registration Board not to run any story that depicts the destruction caused by the cyclone that pummelled the Rangoon and Irrawaddy deltas; rather, they have been told to cover only the reconstruction efforts by authorities, Mizzima News has reported quoting local journalists. Mizzima's sources spoke on condition of anonymity...

A newspaper in Cambodia has had to stop publishing a pullout on Burma after authorities confiscated that section for two consecutive days, warning that a suspension would soon follow. The English-Khmer Cambodia Daily started the pullout, called the "Burma Daily", on May 16, "to introduce to the Burmese people what a free and responsible newspaper looks like", its publisher Bernard Krisher was...

There has been a spate of arrests, detentions, and trials of journalists in Vietnam, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Somsak Khunmi, a long-time news assistant and contributor to Chan Troi Moi (Radio New Horizon) was sentenced today to nine months in prison and three years probation following a six-hour trial Tuesday last on terrorism charges at the People’s Court of Ho Chi...

An Afghan journalist who faces the death penalty for blasphemy has begun his appeal hearings without a defence lawyer. Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh, 23, on Sunday denied charges and said an earlier confession that prompted a court to sentence him to death in January had been extracted under torture, news reports have said. The charges against Kambakhsh relate to an article he downloaded from the...

There's renewed international concern for Sayed Parvez Kambakhsh, a young Afghan journalist sentenced to death for blasphemy. The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders is urging the Afghan government to cooperate with the lawyer of Kambakhsh, who remains jailed in Kabul awaiting an appeal hearing, Radio Free Europe / Radoi Liberty (RFE/RL) has reported. Nearly two months have passed since...

Chinese authorities have freed a Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) reporter and a cameraman, the public broadcaster said Friday. The pair, together with a Chinese builder they were supposed to interview, the worker's brother-in-law and an interpreter, had been arrested Friday morning in Henan province. All five were subsequently released. YLE said Pirkko Pöntinen, the reporter, and Mika Mattila...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the actions of Burma’s military government in restricting press access to disaster areas and censoring local news coverage of the massive devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis. According to CPJ sources, Prime Minister Thein Sein announced at a meeting with businessmen Tuesday that foreigners—including journalists—would not be allowed into the...

Qi Chonghuai, a journalist in China’s Shandong province who had written critically about local officials, was sentenced Tuesday to four years in prison for fraud and extortion in a trial that lasted 12 hours, according to his wife and lawyers. Access to the trial was limited, and reporters were not allowed to attend. It began at 9 am and continued until 9:30 pm, when the sentence was announced...

A CNN reporter who left Myanmar Friday was chased by authorities as he reported on the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis but escaped primarily because of the incompetence of the people after him, the Associated Press (AP) has reported. Dan Rivers hid under a blanket at one police checkpoint and casually covered up his name on a passport to avoid detection another time. He may ultimately have gotten out...