Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA)

Four years after Sierra Leone Journalist Ibrahim Foday’s death, members of IFEX join the Media Foundation for West Africa in calling for more rapid progress.

The International Partnership Mission to Indonesia encourages President Widodo to ensure that journalists are free to operate in all parts of the country, and to protect the safety of both foreign and Indonesian journalists.

The groups urged donors and others to press the government not to revive a 2011 draft law that was shelved under domestic and international pressure because it threatened freedom of association and expression.

One year later, the general political atmosphere in Thailand has been one of suppression of persons and groups opposed to the May 2014 coup.

The military coup on 22 May 2014 quelled street protests that had unsettled Bangkok for months. But the military junta has since ruled the nation with an iron fist, suppressing any voice of opposition and restricting free speech and media freedom.

While no journalist has been jailed for their work, press freedom and journalist safety in Timor-Leste are constantly under threat, mostly from politicians. Moreover, a new Press Law has been in place since the beginning of 2015.

Freedom of expression in Laos slid further down in 2014 with the adoption of a series of measures aimed at tightening control over the media or curbing growing criticism over social media against the ruling party and the government.

A regional network reports on how press laws and other legal restrictions were used against the media over the last year.