Search in Asia, from 2020
The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.
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Kazakhstan: fabricated copyright complaints used against journalists
An investigation found paid services in Kazakhstan filing fabricated copyright complaints, impersonating global brands, to get social media platforms to remove journalists' accounts and posts, alongside criminal prosecutions of the press.
Lawsuits against the press · Stage Pressure · Head of government Kassym-Jomart Tokayev · Ongoing
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
Israel: ban on independent entry of foreign journalists into the Gaza Strip, 2023 to 2026
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 corres…
Access bans · Stage Restrict · Sustained
China (Hong Kong): conviction and 20-year sentence of the media owner Jimmy Lai under the National Security Law, 2025 to 2026
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…
Detention and violence · Stage Eliminate · Head of government John Lee · Sustained
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
China: editor Dong Yuyu is sentenced to seven years for espionage over meals with a diplomat
A Chinese court sentenced Guangming Daily editor and columnist Dong Yuyu to seven years in prison for espionage after his 2022 arrest while having lunch with a Japanese diplomat, a case his son called purely political.
Secrets and espionage laws · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Xi Jinping · Ongoing
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
Georgia enacts 'foreign influence' law requiring media to register as foreign-backed
Georgia's parliament passed a law requiring media and civil-society groups that receive 20 percent or more of their funding from abroad to register as organizations "serving the interests of a foreign power," over mass street protests and…
Official labels · Stage Pressure · Head of government Irakli Kobakhidze · Sustained
Bombay High Court strikes down India's government 'fact check unit' rule
India's 2023 amendment to its Information Technology Rules empowered a government-run Fact Check Unit to label online content about the central government 'fake' or 'false' and require its removal; comedian Kunal Kamra and media groups cha…
Official labels · Stage Pressure · Head of government Narendra Modi · Reversed
Iran: journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi are sentenced to 13 and 12 years
Iranian journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, who broke the story of Mahsa Amini's death in police custody, were sentenced to 13 and 12 years respectively on national-security-linked charges tied to their reporting, and later re…
Secrets and espionage laws · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Ebrahim Raisi · 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
India: Gaon Savera's Facebook and X accounts blocked
India blocked independent news outlet Gaon Savera's Facebook page and X account nationwide just before a workers' convention it planned to cover, without a public explanation from the government.
Shutdowns and blocking · Stage Silence · Head of government Narendra Modi · Unknown
Turkiye: the broadcast regulator fines and suspends channels for earthquake coverage
Turkiye's broadcast regulator, RTUK, fined three television channels and suspended the next five episodes of two of their programs after they aired criticism of the government's response to the February 2023 earthquakes.
Prior restraint · Stage Pressure · Head of government Recep Tayyip Erdoğan · Sustained
Indian tax authorities search BBC offices weeks after Modi documentary ban
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 com…
Surveillance and subpoenas · Stage Pressure · Head of government Narendra Modi · Unknown
Cambodia: Prime Minister Hun Sen orders Voice of Democracy's license revoked over one article
Prime Minister Hun Sen personally ordered the license of independent outlet Voice of Democracy revoked over an article about an earthquake-aid agreement signed by his son, rejecting the outlet's published apology.
Licensing and closure of outlets · Stage Silence · Head of government Hun Sen · Sustained
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
Vietnam: journalist Pham Doan Trang is sentenced to nine years for anti-state "propaganda"
A Vietnamese court sentenced Pham Doan Trang, founding editor of the independent outlet The Vietnamese, to nine years in prison for distributing anti-state "propaganda" under a national-security provision of the country's penal code.
Secrets and espionage laws · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Nguyen Xuan Phuc · Sustained
China (Hong Kong): Apple Daily closes after its assets are frozen under the national security law
Apple Daily, Hong Kong's largest pro-democracy newspaper, printed its final edition after the government froze its parent company's assets and arrested its editors under the national security law imposed on the territory in 2020.
Licensing and closure of outlets · Stage Silence · Head of government Carrie Lam · Sustained
Turkiye: the presidency's press card system is found restrictive by the country's top administrative court
Turkiye's Council of State suspended 2018 rules under which the presidency's Communications Directorate could deny or cancel the yellow and turquoise press cards that let reporters work and enter official buildings, after finding the groun…
Credential control · Stage Pressure · Head of government Recep Tayyip Erdoğan · Reversed
Myanmar junta revokes five outlets' licenses and raids newsrooms after coup
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…
Licensing and closure of outlets · Stage Silence · Head of government Min Aung Hlaing · Sustained
Myanmar: military cuts mobile internet after seizing power
After seizing power on February 1, 2021, Myanmar's military cut mobile data service nationwide, leaving reporters in rural townships and Rakhine State unable to send news and blocking large areas from outside communication for months.
Shutdowns and blocking · Stage Silence · Head of government Min Aung Hlaing · 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: citizen journalist Zhang Zhan imprisoned for Wuhan reporting
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…
Detention and violence · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Xi Jinping · 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