Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA)

An initiative to discuss the issue of the Thai monarchy on public television hit a snag when an episode of the political talk show was abruptly cancelled, prompting a heated debate on the how such issues should be tackled.

A court in Dili, East Timor has fined two journalists in a defamation case while acquitting them of criminal liability.

The media community in Burma, international groups and observers are abuzz with criticism towards and protest against the draft Printers and Publishing Enterprise Law (PPEL).

Journalists should not be criminalised for doing their work, said SEAPA, in reference to two East Timorese journalists who are facing defamation charges for reporting on a district prosecutor suspected of receiving a bribe.

A parlimantary commission was formed to determine the identity of a Burmese blogger who wrote an article entitled “Is the Hluttaw (Parliament) above the law?” under the pseudonym Dr Sate Phwar.

Three Al Jazeera journalists reporting on an armed standoff near Lahad Datu, Sabah, in Malaysia were detained and interrogated by Malaysian authorities for at least six hours on 20 February 2013.

In an open letter to the ASEAN Secretary-General, SEAPA noted that it has recorded 100 acts of impunity throughout Southeast Asia committed through acts of violence and the imposition of harsh laws against the exercise of free speech, particularly on commentary on political actors and policies.

A Thailand criminal court sentenced Somyot Pruekasemsuk, editor of a political magazine, to eleven years of imprisonment for publishing two articles in 2010 deemed defamatory to the country’s monarchy.