International Federation of Journalists (IFJ)

Three local journalists were covering a protest in Medan over the blocking of access to disputed land by the Indonesian Air Force when violence broke out between residents and Air Force personnel.

IFJ and SEAJU welcome a new bill put forward by the Burmese government to repeal the draconian Emergency Provisions Act (1950).

Journalist Kishore Dave was murdered in his office by unidentified assailants on 22 August because of ‘his reports exposing the unsavory deeds of some powerful politicians and their kin’.

Palestinian journalist Omar Nazzal was arrested on 23 April and detained without trial. He has been on hunger strike since 4 August 2016 in protest against his detention as well as the abusive administrative detention policy that allows for suspects to be interned for indefinite periods of time without charge.

The move comes as Can Dündar, editor in chief of another opposition newspaper “Cumhuriyet”, resigned from his position, claiming he would live abroad after having been condemned to 5 years in prison for allegedly divulging state secrets.

The IFJ and NUJP cautiously welcome the conviction of the killer of a radio commentator, while urging the government to do more to end the culture of impunity in the Philippines.

IFJ criticises the recent action of the Chinese authorities to attempt to influence the reporting of Hong Kong and Taiwan media at key court cases, and demands the authorities immediately cease this practice.

Is Brazil’s president plotting the demise of the national public broadcasting service?

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) is shocked by the decision of the public prosecutor on 2 August to open a counter-appeal against Antoine Deltour, Raphaël Halet and Edouard Perrin, the two whistleblowers and the journalist involved in the so-called ‘‘LuxLeaks scandal’’.

Civil society groups have written an open letter urging medical discharge from prison for distinguished Bangladeshi journalist Shafik Rehman .

Murders, media bans and surveillance laws put growing pressures on civil society in Asia.

The IFJ and NUJP are pleased by the signing of an executive order on FOI, but call on the government to expand and strengthen freedom of the press and information in the Philippines.

The anonymity of the net encourages people to make outrageous allegations and threats online that they would avoid in a face to face interaction. Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platform providers are reluctant to act and stop abuse, citing both the dangers and problems of policing the net.

An Iraqi cameraman was killed on 13 July in the south of Mosul, Iraq. He is the 4th media worker to be killed in Iraq since the beginning of the year.

The Kashmir valley went without newspapers recently after the Jammu and Kashmir police raided all newspaper offices in Srinagar, stopping the printing of their editions and confiscating the already printed papers.

“Beyond the simple problem of a lack of evidence, there are serious concerns regarding the indictment which suggest it has been written to obfuscate facts and to implicate the journalists in involvement in the Balyoz case, an already controversial story, to limit public support for their situation.”