Thailand / Asia

The Committee to Protect Journalists and a group of Southeast Asian lawmakers have called for the “active engagement” of the regional bloc ASEAN in protecting press freedom and the formation of an inter-parliamentary alliance to safeguard media rights in the region, which includes some of the worst offenders of press freedom. As governments escalate efforts…

Bangkok, October 31–A court in Hanoi sentenced Duong Van Thai, an independent Vietnamese blogger who went missing in Thailand and was later in Vietnamese custody in April 2023, to 12 years in prison and three years’ probation on Wednesday on charges of anti-state propaganda. “Vietnam’s harsh sentencing of blogger Duong Van Thai is grotesque and an outrage, particularly amid allegations he…

Bangkok, February 14, 2023—Thai authorities should drop all charges pending against journalist Nutthaphol Meksobhon and photographer Natthapon Phanphongsanon and stop harassing the press for reporting on issues related to the nation’s monarchy, the Committee to Protect Journalists said on Wednesday. Nutthaphol, a reporter with the local independent Prachatai news website, and Natthapon, a freelance photographer,…

Manila, April 18, 2023—Vietnamese authorities should immediately release journalist Duong Van Thai and stop all efforts to harass and detain members of the press living in exile, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Tuesday. On April 13, Thai, an independent journalist who posts political commentary on YouTube and has about 119,000 followers, went missing in…

Bangkok, May 10, 2021 – Thai authorities should refrain from deporting three Democratic Voice of Burma reporters who were arrested yesterday, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. “Thai authorities should uphold the country’s proud history as a sanctuary for journalists fleeing military repression in Myanmar, and on humanitarian grounds should not deport three Democratic…

Bangkok, October 15, 2020 — The Thai government should immediately drop its emergency decree restricting the ability of the press to cover protests, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. At 4 a.m. today, the Thai government issued a decree limiting public assembly and instituting a nationwide ban on publishing and broadcasting news that could…

Bangkok, March 26, 2020 — Thailand should uphold press freedom and refrain from harassing and restricting reporters while emergency rule is imposed to contain the coronavirus outbreak, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Bangkok, January 3, 2020 — Thai authorities should not contest the appeal of journalist Suchanee Cloitre, and should stop charging reporters with criminal defamation, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Bangkok, February 13, 2019–The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the decision by a Thai media regulator to suspend the broadcasting license of Voice TV for 15 days and called on the country’s military government to allow all media to report freely on the nation’s politics.