Asia

An Indonesian reporter who went to Malaysia to write a special report on allegations of abuse and exploitation of Indonesian workers in the country was last week assaulted and raped by a man who tricked her into believing that he could provide her with information. According to reports, the 34-year-old magazine journalist was lured by a man, believed to be also Indonesian, to a rumah kongsi (a

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has condemned the treatment meted out to two British journalists, Andrew Carter and Aidan Hartley, and their Chinese fixer Dean Peng, working for the investigative programme "Unreported World" on British TV's Channel 4. The two were investigating the fate of petitioners held by the authorities in a western district of the capital, when they were assaulted by...

The Burmese junta has cut off the mobile phones of prominent pro-democracy supporters and of some journalists representing foreign media, including two from Agence France-Presse, the news agency has reported. The management of AFP has requested that the authorities in Burma (Myanmar) restore mobile phone service to its reporters so that they can carry out their work. Burma's military government...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) welcomes the release of Li Yuanlong, a reporter for Bijie Ribao daily newspaper in Guizhou province. Yualong is the second journalist this week to complete a jail sentence imposed by the Chinese authorities and to be released on the promised date. Yuanlong was first detained in September 2005. He was tried on May 11, 2006, for charges of “inciting...

A Chinese researcher for the New York Times who was arrested on charges of revealing state secrets and later convicted of fraud was released Saturday after serving a three-year prison sentence. On Saturday morning, Zhao Yan was greeted by family members and friends as he left a Beijing detention centre. He hugged his sister, daughter and others but said nothing to reporters. He later issued a...

The arrest of two Agence France-Presse reporters on September 12th is the latest in a string of cases of foreign journalists being obstructed in their work. They show that the less stringent regulations introduced in January are being applied erratically and only when less sensitive issues are involved. At least 32 foreign journalists have been detained or prevented by police from doing reports...

Chinese journalist Zhao Yan may be released on September 15 when he completes a three-year prison sentence for alleged fraud. Despite the many appeals for his release in the past, his sentence was never reduced and he was never granted early release. “After serving his three-year sentence in full, first in a state security centre and then a prison, Zhao should have all his rights restored...

Indonesia's supreme court has ordered Time Asia to pay former President Suharto 1 billion rupees (106 million dollars) in damages for a 1999 cover story accusing him of corruption. A spokesman for the court said it concluded that the story in Time’s Asia edition had damaged the former dictator’s "reputation and honour." Time Asia’s Indonesian lawyer, Todung Mulya Lubis, Tuesday said he would try...

Bangladesh's first and only 24-hour news channel has gone off air days after broadcasting last month’s student-led anti-government riots. The Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission told the CSB News station it would be permanently closed if it fails to satisfactorily explain its registration status in seven days, said Hummam Quader Chowdhury, director of Focus Mult, the company that...

China has adopted an emergency response law that bans the spread of false information, but also requires timely information from the government about major accidents, health threats and disasters. The law outlines punishments for media outlets that spread false information about disasters — a move that press freedom organisaitons say is designed to muzzle reporters. Relative of a miner who is...