# Incidents: detention and violence in Asia Each incident is a dated action by a government, an official, a regulator, a court or a legislature that limited journalists' ability to gather or publish news. The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct. Filters: country, continent, tactic, stage, from, to, level, actor, leader, outlet, outcome, source_kind, has_case, plus q, sort (date, date_asc, country, tactic, relevance), per_page (up to 100), page and view (table or cards), as query parameters. 14 incidents match this view. - 10 February 2026: [India: one-year prison sentence for the journalist Ravi Nair in a criminal defamation case, February 2026](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2026-india-journalist-sentenced-adani-defamation). 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 reput… - 15 December 2025: [China (Hong Kong): conviction and 20-year sentence of the media owner Jimmy Lai under the National Security Law, 2025 to 2026](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-hong-kong-convicts-jimmy-lai-under-national-security-law). 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 force… - 19 March 2025: [Türkiye: detention, injury and deportation of journalists covering protests, March 2025](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-turkiye-detains-and-deports-journalists-covering-protests). 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 J… - 3 February 2025: [Journalists beaten in Bangladesh in separate incidents as interim government drafts new cyber laws](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2025-bangladesh-journalists-attacked-interim-government). 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… - 1 November 2023: [Turkish authorities detain three journalists under 'disinformation' law](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2023-turkiye-detains-journalists-disinformation-law). Turkish authorities detained three journalists, jailing columnist Tolga Sardan pending trial, under a 2022 law criminalizing the spread of disinformation, after the government's own disinformation-fighting body disputed their reporting on… - 8 March 2021: [Myanmar junta revokes five outlets' licenses and raids newsrooms after coup](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2021-myanmar-junta-revokes-media-licenses). Weeks after seizing power, Myanmar's military junta revoked the operating licenses of five independent media outlets covering protests against the coup and raided two of their newsrooms, seizing computers and files; journalists from the ou… - 14 May 2020: [China: citizen journalist Zhang Zhan imprisoned for Wuhan reporting](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2020-china-arrests-zhang-zhan). China detained citizen journalist Zhang Zhan for posting independent video reports from Wuhan during the early COVID-19 outbreak, later convicting her of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" and, after her release, detaining her again… - 13 February 2019: [Philippines: Rappler's Maria Ressa arrested over cyber libel case](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2019-philippines-arrests-ressa). Philippine agents arrested Rappler executive editor Maria Ressa at the outlet's Manila office and held her overnight on a cyber libel case tied to a 2012 story, published before the cybercrime law used to charge her existed. - 2 October 2018: [Saudi Arabia's government kills journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside its Istanbul consulate](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2018-saudi-arabia-khashoggi-killed-consulate). Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed by Saudi agents inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul; the CIA concluded the crown prince ordered the killing, which Saudi Arabi… - 3 September 2018: [Myanmar sentences two Reuters journalists to seven years under the Official Secrets Act for reporting on a massacre](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2018-myanmar-reuters-journalists-official-secrets-act). A Myanmar court sentenced Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo to seven years under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act after police handed them classified documents at a dinner shortly before their arrest, while they were investiga… - 1 September 2015: [Azerbaijan: investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova sentenced to 7.5 years](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2015-azerbaijan-sentences-ismayilova). A Baku court convicted investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova on business and tax charges and sentenced her to seven and a half years in prison, in a case CPJ said was payback for her reporting on official corruption. - 18 September 1988: [Burma's new military government tightens pre-publication press controls after seizing power](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1988-burma-slorc-press-scrutiny). After crushing the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, Burma's new military government, the State Law and Order Restoration Council, tightened an existing pre-publication press controls board and raised penalties for unauthorized publishing to se… - 31 July 1980: [South Korea's martial-law government purges journalists who resisted press controls](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1980-south-korea-chun-doo-hwan-press-purge). Under General Chun Doo-hwan's martial-law government, South Korean authorities ordered newsrooms in 1980 to purge journalists who had resisted press controls or joined a May sit-in strike for press freedom, and closed 172 periodicals, dism… - 21 September 1972: [Philippines President Marcos closes every major news outlet under martial law](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/1972-philippines-marcos-martial-law-media-closures). President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law on September 21, 1972, and the next day ordered the military to take over nearly every newspaper, radio and television station in the Philippines, jailing prominent publishers and editors and… Download this view. CSV, JSON or Markdown. 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