Search: lawsuits against the press in Asia
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
Türkiye: 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
Philippines: United States colonial government's libel law is used to close the newspaper El Renacimiento
The United States colonial government in the Philippines enacted a criminal libel law in 1901 that Governor-General William Howard Taft defended by saying Filipinos were unused to the freedom of the press. The law was used in 1908 to convi…
Insult and defamation laws · Stage Punish · Head of government William Howard Taft · Upheld by a court