{
  "title": "Incidents: surveillance and subpoenas in Asia",
  "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents?continent=asia&tactic=surveillance_and_subpoenas",
  "filters": {
    "continent": "asia",
    "tactic": "surveillance_and_subpoenas"
  },
  "sort": "date",
  "count": 4,
  "page": 1,
  "pages": 1,
  "per_page": 50,
  "counts_caveat": "The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.",
  "facets": {
    "country": [
      {
        "value": "BD",
        "label": "Bangladesh",
        "rsf": {
          "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
          "year": 2026,
          "rank": 152,
          "of": 180,
          "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 152nd of 180",
          "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
        }
      },
      {
        "value": "IN",
        "label": "India",
        "rsf": {
          "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
          "year": 2026,
          "rank": 157,
          "of": 180,
          "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 157th of 180",
          "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
        }
      },
      {
        "value": "MY",
        "label": "Malaysia",
        "rsf": {
          "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
          "year": 2026,
          "rank": 95,
          "of": 180,
          "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 95th of 180",
          "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
        }
      },
      {
        "value": "SA",
        "label": "Saudi Arabia",
        "rsf": {
          "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
          "year": 2026,
          "rank": 176,
          "of": 180,
          "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 176th of 180",
          "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
        }
      }
    ],
    "continent": [
      {
        "value": "asia",
        "label": "Asia"
      }
    ],
    "tactic": [
      {
        "value": "surveillance_and_subpoenas",
        "label": "Surveillance and subpoenas",
        "count": 4
      },
      {
        "value": "detention_and_violence",
        "label": "Detention and violence",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "prior_restraint",
        "label": "Prior restraint",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "funding_and_ownership_pressure",
        "label": "Funding and ownership pressure",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "stage": [
      {
        "value": "pressure",
        "label": "Pressure",
        "count": 2
      },
      {
        "value": "punish",
        "label": "Punish",
        "count": 2
      }
    ],
    "level": [
      {
        "value": "national",
        "label": "National",
        "count": 4
      }
    ],
    "outcome": [
      {
        "value": "unknown",
        "label": "Unknown",
        "count": 3
      },
      {
        "value": "ongoing",
        "label": "Ongoing",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "leader": [
      {
        "value": "mahathir-mohamad",
        "label": "Mahathir Mohamad"
      },
      {
        "value": "muhammad-yunus",
        "label": "Muhammad Yunus"
      },
      {
        "value": "narendra-modi",
        "label": "Narendra Modi"
      },
      {
        "value": "king-salman",
        "label": "Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud"
      }
    ],
    "era": [
      {
        "value": "2020s",
        "label": "2020s",
        "count": 2
      },
      {
        "value": "2010s",
        "label": "2010s",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "1990s",
        "label": "1990s",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "year": [
      {
        "value": "1998",
        "label": "1998",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "2018",
        "label": "2018",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "2023",
        "label": "2023",
        "count": 1
      },
      {
        "value": "2025",
        "label": "2025",
        "count": 1
      }
    ],
    "has_case": [
      {
        "value": "0",
        "label": "without a court case",
        "count": 4
      }
    ]
  },
  "results": [
    {
      "slug": "2025-bangladesh-journalists-attacked-interim-government",
      "title": "Journalists beaten in Bangladesh in separate incidents as interim government drafts new cyber laws",
      "occurred_on": "2025-02-03",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "BD",
      "country_name": "Bangladesh",
      "continent": "asia",
      "jurisdiction": "BD",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "detention_and_violence",
      "tactics": [
        "detention_and_violence",
        "surveillance_and_subpoenas"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "muhammad-yunus",
      "leader_name": "Muhammad Yunus",
      "issue_of_the_day": "The incidents occurred six months into the interim government that took power after Sheikh Hasina's government fell in August 2024, a period in which press-freedom groups said journalists faced both continued street violence and new draft cyber-security legislation.",
      "outcome": "ongoing",
      "outcome_on": null,
      "outcome_note": "No arrests were reported in the incidents described, and the proposed cyber ordinances remained under review.",
      "stage": "punish",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 152,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 152nd of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "in_effect",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "On a single day in February 2025, groups of men beat at least eight journalists in two separate incidents in rural Bangladesh while they investigated a medical-negligence tip and a land dispute; the incidents came as the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus drafted new cyber ordinances rights groups said could add legal risk on top of the physical one.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-bangladesh-journalists-attacked-interim-government"
    },
    {
      "slug": "2023-india-tax-authorities-raid-bbc-offices",
      "title": "Indian tax authorities search BBC offices weeks after Modi documentary ban",
      "occurred_on": "2023-02-14",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "IN",
      "country_name": "India",
      "continent": "asia",
      "jurisdiction": "IN",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas",
      "tactics": [
        "prior_restraint",
        "surveillance_and_subpoenas"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "narendra-modi",
      "leader_name": "Narendra Modi",
      "issue_of_the_day": "The searches followed the government's ban, weeks earlier, of the BBC documentary 'India: The Modi Question,' which examined Modi's record as Gujarat's chief minister during 2002 riots that killed mostly Muslims.",
      "outcome": "unknown",
      "outcome_on": null,
      "outcome_note": "No penalty or further tax action against the BBC was reported; the broadcaster's India operations continued.",
      "stage": "pressure",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 157,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 157th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "2020s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "in_effect",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "India's Income Tax Department searched BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai for alleged tax evasion, three weeks after the government used emergency powers to block a BBC documentary examining Prime Minister Narendra Modi's response to 2002 communal violence.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2023-india-tax-authorities-raid-bbc-offices"
    },
    {
      "slug": "2018-saudi-arabia-pegasus-khashoggi-associate",
      "title": "Saudi Arabia: spyware on an associate's phone precedes Jamal Khashoggi's killing by one day",
      "occurred_on": "2018-10-01",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "SA",
      "country_name": "Saudi Arabia",
      "continent": "asia",
      "jurisdiction": "SA",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas",
      "tactics": [
        "surveillance_and_subpoenas"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "king-salman",
      "leader_name": "Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud",
      "issue_of_the_day": "Abdulaziz and Khashoggi had been collaborating on plans for a news and human rights website, and Khashoggi was, according to Abdulaziz, sharply critical of the Saudi crown prince in their private conversations.",
      "outcome": "unknown",
      "outcome_on": "2018-10-01",
      "outcome_note": "Citizen Lab's finding on the spyware operation itself was not followed, in the source reviewed, by any reported Saudi accountability measure.",
      "stage": "punish",
      "ladder_note": "A journalist's close collaborator was covertly surveilled one day before the journalist himself was killed inside his own country's consulate.",
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 176,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 176th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "2010s",
      "granularity": "granular",
      "status": "in_effect",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "Citizen Lab found Pegasus spyware on the phone of Saudi dissident Omar Abdulaziz, a close associate and collaborator of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, one day before Saudi operatives killed Khashoggi inside the country's Istanbul consulate.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2018-saudi-arabia-pegasus-khashoggi-associate"
    },
    {
      "slug": "1998-malaysia-anwar-arrest-press-restrictions",
      "title": "Malaysia pressures domestic media and monitors foreign correspondents after arresting former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim",
      "occurred_on": "1998-09-20",
      "occurred_on_precision": "day",
      "country": "MY",
      "country_name": "Malaysia",
      "continent": "asia",
      "jurisdiction": "MY",
      "level": "national",
      "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas",
      "tactics": [
        "funding_and_ownership_pressure",
        "surveillance_and_subpoenas"
      ],
      "leader_slug": "mahathir-mohamad",
      "leader_name": "Mahathir Mohamad",
      "issue_of_the_day": "The September 1998 dismissal, arrest and prosecution of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim on corruption and sodomy charges.",
      "outcome": "unknown",
      "outcome_on": null,
      "outcome_note": "The sources reviewed do not describe a formal reversal of the surveillance of journalists or the pressure on party-linked papers during this period.",
      "stage": "pressure",
      "ladder_note": null,
      "rsf": {
        "index": "RSF World Press Freedom Index",
        "year": 2026,
        "rank": 95,
        "of": 180,
        "label": "RSF 2026 rank: 95th of 180",
        "source_url": "https://rsf.org/en/index"
      },
      "era": "1990s",
      "granularity": "anchor",
      "status": "historical",
      "case_count": 0,
      "summary": "After Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's government arrested former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim in September 1998, party-linked newspapers pressured staff to follow the official line, police visited journalists who interviewed his wife, and authorities said they would monitor internet traffic about the case.",
      "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1998-malaysia-anwar-arrest-press-restrictions"
    }
  ],
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  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
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}