The record
Incidents in Asia, stage: punish
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.
All filters: country, dates, head of government, sort
India: one-year prison sentence for the journalist Ravi Nair in a criminal defamation case, February 2026
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…
Insult and defamation laws · Stage Punish · Head of government Narendra Modi · Unknown
Türkiye: detention, injury and deportation of journalists covering protests, March 2025
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…
Detention and violence · Stage Punish · Head of government Recep Tayyip Erdoğan · Unknown
Journalists beaten in Bangladesh in separate incidents as interim government drafts new cyber laws
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…
Detention and violence · Stage Punish · Head of government Muhammad Yunus · Ongoing
Pakistan amends cybercrime law to create new agency policing 'fake' online content
Pakistan's parliament amended the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act to create a new Social Media Protection and Regulatory Authority with power to block online content and a Social Media Protection Tribunal, and made spreading informatio…
Official labels · Stage Punish · Head of government Shehbaz Sharif · Sustained
Hong Kong court convicts Stand News editors of sedition
A Hong Kong court convicted former Stand News editors Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam of conspiring to publish seditious material, under a colonial-era law, over articles the outlet had run before police raided its newsroom and it closed at…
Insult and defamation laws · Stage Punish · Head of government John Lee · Upheld by a court
Kazakhstan: new accreditation rules let officials withdraw a journalist's pass for off-topic questions
Kazakhstan's government adopted rules allowing journalists' accreditation to be withdrawn for six months over conduct at a news event, including asking off-topic questions, while proposing separate rules letting the foreign ministry deny f…
Credential control · Stage Punish · Head of government Kassym-Jomart Tokayev · Ongoing
Turkish authorities detain three journalists under '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…
Insult and defamation laws · Stage Punish · Head of government Recep Tayyip Erdoğan · Ongoing
Turkiye: journalist Sedef Kabas is arrested for a proverb about President Erdogan
Turkish journalist Sedef Kabas was arrested and later convicted under Article 299 of the penal code, which criminalizes insulting the president, after quoting a proverb about a palace becoming a stable during a televised discussion of Erdo…
Insult and defamation laws · Stage Punish · Head of government Recep Tayyip Erdoğan · Ongoing
Turkiye: journalist Sedef Kabas tried for insulting the president
Turkish authorities tried journalist Sedef Kabas repeatedly for insulting President Erdogan over her on-air comments and tweets questioning his college diploma and alleging corruption, an offense carrying up to four years in prison.
Lawsuits against the press · Stage Punish · Head of government Recep Tayyip Erdoğan · Ongoing
Philippines: Maria Ressa convicted of cyber libel
A Manila court convicted Rappler's Maria Ressa and researcher Reynaldo Santos Jr. of criminal cyber libel and sentenced them to up to six years in prison, over a 2012 story republished after the cybercrime law used to charge them took effe…
Lawsuits against the press · Stage Punish · Head of government Rodrigo Duterte · Ongoing
China: press credentials and visas withheld from correspondents at three American newspapers
A survey by the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China found the government refused new press credentials to journalists tied to American outlets and cancelled or refused visas for correspondents at the New York Times, Wall Street Journal a…
Credential control · Stage Punish · Head of government Xi Jinping · Sustained
China expels American journalists from three major U.S. newspapers
China ordered American correspondents for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post to leave the country, in a reciprocal response to the Trump administration capping the number of Chinese state-media employees al…
Expulsion and visa denial · Stage Punish · Head of government Xi Jinping · Sustained
China: three Wall Street Journal correspondents expelled over an opinion headline
China's foreign ministry expelled three Wall Street Journal correspondents and revoked their press credentials after an opinion column, unrelated to their own reporting, used a headline the ministry called offensive.
Access bans · Stage Punish · Head of government Xi Jinping · Sustained
India: journalist Aatish Taseer's overseas citizenship revoked
India's government cancelled writer and journalist Aatish Taseer's Overseas Citizen of India status months after he wrote a Time magazine cover story critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, citing his father's Pakistani nationality.
Expulsion and visa denial · Stage Punish · Head of government Narendra Modi · Sustained
Philippines: Rappler's Maria Ressa arrested over cyber libel case
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.
Detention and violence · Stage Punish · Head of government Rodrigo Duterte · Reversed
Turkiye: Dutch freelance journalist Ans Boersma deported
Turkish authorities detained Dutch freelance journalist Ans Boersma while she tried to renew her residence permit in Istanbul and deported her the next day, citing an alleged link to a Syrian armed group that the Netherlands said it had ne…
Expulsion and visa denial · Stage Punish · Head of government Recep Tayyip Erdoğan · Sustained
Saudi Arabia: spyware on an associate's phone precedes Jamal Khashoggi's killing by one day
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.
Surveillance and subpoenas · Stage Punish · Head of government Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud · Unknown
Iran expels a BBC correspondent and restricts foreign journalists after a disputed 2009 election
After Iran's disputed June 2009 presidential election produced mass protests, the government expelled BBC correspondent Jon Leyne, revoked foreign press credentials, confined most foreign journalists to office-based reporting, and blocked…
Expulsion and visa denial · Stage Punish · Head of government Mahmoud Ahmadinejad · Unknown
China expels foreign journalists and restricts coverage of the Tiananmen Square protests
After declaring martial law in Beijing on May 20, 1989, China's government imposed rigid restrictions on coverage of pro-democracy protests and, following the military's June 3-4 clearing of Tiananmen Square, expelled Associated Press corr…
Expulsion and visa denial · Stage Punish · Head of government Li Peng · Sustained
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