{ "slug": "asia", "name": "Asia", "incident_count": 4, "countries": [ { "iso2": "HK", "name": "Hong Kong", "count": 1, "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/countries/hk" }, { "iso2": "IL", "name": "Israel", "count": 1, "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/countries/il" }, { "iso2": "IN", "name": "India", "count": 1, "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/countries/in" }, { "iso2": "TR", "name": "Türkiye", "count": 1, "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/countries/tr" } ], "incidents": [ { "slug": "2026-india-journalist-sentenced-adani-defamation", "title": "India: one-year prison sentence for the journalist Ravi Nair in a criminal defamation case, February 2026", "occurred_on": "2026-02-10", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "IN", "country_name": "India", "continent": "asia", "jurisdiction": "IN", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "insult_and_defamation_laws", "tactics": [ "detention_and_violence", "insult_and_defamation_laws" ], "leader_slug": "narendra-modi", "leader_name": "Narendra Modi", "issue_of_the_day": null, "outcome": "unknown", "outcome_on": "2026-02-10", "outcome_note": "Sentenced on 2026-02-10; no appeal or ruling on appeal appears in the sources cited.", "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "On February 10, 2026, a court in India sentenced the investigative journalist Ravi Nair to one year in prison and a fine of 5,000 rupees (about US$55) for criminal defamation, an offence under which a statement that damages someone's reputation can lead to a fine or prison sentence. The case concerned posts on the platform X between October 2020 and July 2021 and articles on Adani Watch, an Australian non-profit investigative site, that criticized the Adani Group, an Indian conglomerate. CIVICUS Monitor, which tracks civic freedoms by country, recorded the sentence among arrests, detentions and police summonses of Indian journalists in the same period.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2026-india-journalist-sentenced-adani-defamation" }, { "slug": "2026-israel-maintains-ban-on-foreign-press-access-to-gaza", "title": "Israel: ban on independent entry of foreign journalists into the Gaza Strip, 2023 to 2026", "occurred_on": "2026-01-07", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "IL", "country_name": "Israel", "continent": "asia", "jurisdiction": "IL", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "access_ban", "tactics": [ "access_ban", "expulsion_and_visa_denial" ], "leader_slug": null, "leader_name": null, "issue_of_the_day": "The war in Gaza, which began in October 2023.", "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "2026-02-25", "outcome_note": "In effect as of CPJ's report of 2026-02-25; the government asked Israel's Supreme Court in January 2026 to keep the ban.", "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "Since the war in Gaza began in October 2023, the government of Israel has barred foreign journalists from entering the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian territory on the Mediterranean coast between Israel and Egypt, independently; foreign correspondents have entered only on trips escorted by the Israeli military. On January 7, 2026, Al Jazeera reported that the Foreign Press Association, which represents journalists from international news organizations, had condemned the government's decision to keep the ban. The government had told Israel's Supreme Court that the ban should be maintained due to \"security reasons,\" according to Al Jazeera. On February 25, 2026, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported that the ban was still in place.", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2026-israel-maintains-ban-on-foreign-press-access-to-gaza" }, { "slug": "2025-hong-kong-convicts-jimmy-lai-under-national-security-law", "title": "China (Hong Kong): conviction and 20-year sentence of the media owner Jimmy Lai under the National Security Law, 2025 to 2026", "occurred_on": "2025-12-15", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "HK", "country_name": "Hong Kong", "continent": "asia", "jurisdiction": "HK", "level": "state_or_province", "tactic_primary": "detention_and_violence", "tactics": [ "detention_and_violence", "outlet_licensing", "secrets_and_espionage_laws" ], "leader_slug": "john-lee", "leader_name": "John Lee", "issue_of_the_day": null, "outcome": "sustained", "outcome_on": "2026-02-08", "outcome_note": "Sentenced to 20 years in prison on 2026-02-08; no appeal is recorded in the sources cited.", "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "On December 15, 2025, the High Court of Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China with its own courts, convicted Jimmy Lai, founder of the newspaper Apple Daily, on two counts of \"conspiracy to commit collusion with foreign forces\" under the National Security Law, which China's central government imposed on Hong Kong in 2020, and one count of \"conspiracy to publish seditious publications.\" On February 8, 2026, the court sentenced Lai to 20 years in prison. Apple Daily shut down in June 2021 after its accounts were frozen and much of its top leadership was arrested. Human Rights Watch, an international human rights organization, called the charges \"bogus.\"", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-hong-kong-convicts-jimmy-lai-under-national-security-law" }, { "slug": "2025-turkiye-detains-and-deports-journalists-covering-protests", "title": "Türkiye: detention, injury and deportation of journalists covering protests, March 2025", "occurred_on": "2025-03-19", "occurred_on_precision": "day", "country": "TR", "country_name": "Türkiye", "continent": "asia", "jurisdiction": "TR", "level": "national", "tactic_primary": "detention_and_violence", "tactics": [ "detention_and_violence", "expulsion_and_visa_denial" ], "leader_slug": "recep-tayyip-erdogan", "leader_name": "Recep Tayyip Erdoğan", "issue_of_the_day": "The detention of the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu, on March 19, 2025, and the protests that followed.", "outcome": "unknown", "outcome_on": "2025-04-02", "outcome_note": "CPJ's report of 2025-04-02 describes the restrictions as continuing; the outcomes for individual journalists are not recorded.", "era": "2020s", "granularity": "granular", "status": "in_effect", "case_count": 0, "summary": "After the detention of the mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu, on March 19, 2025, protests spread in Türkiye, and between March 19 and March 28, 2025, the authorities detained at least 13 journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a non-profit organization in New York. From March 21 to 23, 2025, at least 14 journalists were injured after being beaten or shot with rubber bullets by Istanbul police, and on March 27 police detained the BBC correspondent Mark Lowen and deported him. CPJ said on April 2, 2025 that the authorities \"have since arrested thousands of protesters and have moved aggressively to tamp down media coverage.\"", "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-turkiye-detains-and-deports-journalists-covering-protests" } ], "downloads": { "csv": "https://thewaronnews.com/continents/asia?format=csv", "json": "https://thewaronnews.com/continents/asia.json", "md": "https://thewaronnews.com/continents/asia.md" }, "license": { "name": "CC BY 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" } }