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Asia press releases
Year: 2003 | Sort: by country
 Afghanistan
 16 October 2003 - Explanation sought for closure of government daily Arman-e-Mili
6 October 2003 -
Jalalabad cable operator banned for second time
6 August 2003 - Supreme court confirms death sentence for two journalists for "blasphemy"
25 June 2003 - President Karzai orders release of two journalists
30 April 2003 - Press Club opens in Kabul
10 April 2003 - Radio Free Afghanistan journalist flees Herat
29 January 2003 - Supreme Court bans cable TV
Bangladesh
11 December 2003 - Attacks by ruling party activists on journalists in south
1 December 2003 - Magazine editor held on charge of spying for Israel
25 November 2003 - Ruling party activists threaten to cut off journalist’s hands
12 November 2003 - Photographer Selim Jahangir freed on bail
30 September 2003 -
Journalist freed and charges dismissed
12 September 2003 - New law would threaten online freedoms
10 September 2003 -
Journalists roughed up by pro-government lawyers
5 August 2003 - More than 130 attacks against press freedom since the start of the year
30 July 2003 - Newsweek banned over article on the Koran
21 May 2003 - Journalist Atahar Siddik Khasru is found alive
18 March 2003 - Detained Reuters stringer reports about police torture
17 March 2003 - Janakantha correspondent goes into hiding to avoid arrest
17 February 2003 - High Court orders government to stop harassing Saleem Samad and two other journalists
18 January 2003 - Correspondent freed after 50 days
14 January 2003 - Seven journalists attacked or threatened by local leader of ruling party
Burma
3 December 2003 - Outrage over death sentence passed on sports magazine chief editor
23 July 2003 - Military police hold two sports magazine journalists
5 June 2003 - News blackout: flagrant violation of the right of the Burmese people to be freely informed
19 March 2003 - Regime bans magazine articles by historian
11 March 2003 - Leading journalist Win Tin "celebrates" 73rd birthday in detention
11 February 2003 - San San Nweh finally gets 1999 Reporters Without Borders prize
Cambodia
20 October 2003 -
Call for independent enquiry into murder of radio journalist
China
26 December 2003 - Charges dropped against young Internet-user Liu Di
23 December 2003 - Crackdown deepens on the Internet
12 December 2003 - Cyber-dissident sentenced to eight years in prison
8 December 2003 - A cyberdissident jailed for two years
5 December 2003 - Webmaster Huang Qi put in solitary confinement after visit from Reporters Without Borders
3 December 2003 - Reporters Without Border challenges 14 major Internet and computer firms about their activity in China
21 November 2003 - French TV station interviews wife of jailed website creator Huang Qi
31 October 2003 - Call for release of Du Daobin, arrested on 28 October
29 October 2003 - Authorities step up control of Internet cafés
22 October 2003 - Cyber-dissident Luo Yongzhong sentenced to three years in prison
15 October 2003 - Call for clemency for dissident He Depu
8 October 2003 - Five-year jail sentence upheld on appeal against webmaster Huang Qi
7 October 2003 - Call for release of cyber-dissidents
1 October 2003 - Cyber-dissident Qi Yanchen freed early
28 August 2003 - Two South Korean reporters expelled after being held for 20 days
6 June 2003 - Independent news website blocked on Tiananmen massacre anniversary
3 June 2003 - Journalist Xu Wei goes on hunger strike to protest 10-year sentence
2 June 2003 - Xinhua staff punished with housing allowance cut
23 May 2003 - South Korean photographer Jae-Hyun Seok sentenced to two years in prison
19 May 2003 - Webmaster Huang Qi sentenced to five years in prison
13 May 2003 - Articles about SARS censored in weekly Nanfang Zhoumo
15 April 2003 - Reporters Without Borders website blocked
4 April 2003 -
Cyber-dissident Huang Qi "celebrates" 40th birthday in prison
1 April 2003 - Chinese editions of three US publications threatened with ban
31 March 2003 - South Korean photographer held without trial for two months
17 March 2003 - One magazine closed, two editors of another magazine fired
7 March 2003 - Young Internet user Liu Di secretly detained for four months
5 March 2003 - Concern grows about fate of two jailed cyber-dissidents
28 February 2003 - Court verdict on cyber-dissident Huang Qi again postponed
27 February 2003 - Foreign press banned from covering an earthquake in Xinjiang province
18 February 2003 - Cyber-dissident sentenced to seven years in prison
23 January 2003 - Photographer arrested in round-up of North Korean refugees
18 January 2003 - Elderly magazine publisher jailed for a year
India
22 December 2003 - Magazine publisher released on bail
24 November 2003 - Journalist kidnapped five months ago reportedly killed by Assam separatists
10 November 2003 - Supreme court blocks bid by Tamil Nadu
state government to jail journalists
29 September 2003 - Government ban on separatist site blocks access to all Yahoo ! discussion groups
21 March 2003 - Bomb attack on paper in Darjeeling
26 February 2003 - Police harass the editor and editorial staff of a publication in Tamil Nadu
20 February 2003 - Discriminatory use of official advertising in Kashmir
1 February 2003 - Journalist killed in Kashmir
31 January 2003 - Reporter arrested in Tamil Nadu state
14 January 2003 - Tehelka.com journalist freed on bail
13 January 2003 - Kashmiri journalist free after seven months in detention
Indonesia
30 December 2003 - Journalist held hostage for six months killed in a clash at Aceh
12 December 2003 -
Army harassment forces Aceh-based biweekly to close
3 August 2003 - Journalist William Nessen freed
26 June 2003 - Cameraman murdered in Aceh
25 June 2003 - US journalist held by police in Aceh for alleged visa offence
22 May 2003 - Restrictions on reporting in Aceh province
Laos
25 July 2003 - Appeal for the release of the guides of Thierry Falise and Vincent Reynaud
9 July 2003 - Thierry Falise + Vincent Reynaud Support Committee
8 July 2003 - Thierry Falise and Vincent Reynaud case: Laotian minister promises "good news" about jailed journalists by 14 July
7 July 2003 - French visit of Laotian information minister denounced
4 July 2003 - No concrete progress after one month in detention
27 June 2003 - Trial postponed until 30 June
24 June 2003 - Journalists Thierry Falise and Vincent Reynaud still held
19 June 2003 - The Thierry Falise and Vincent Reynaud Support Committee - Families concerned about length, conditions of detention
13 June 2003 - The Thierry Falise and Vincent Reynaud Support Committee calls on Laotian authorities to release detained journalists at once
11 June 2003 - Two European journalists accused in murder investigation
Malaysia
24 November 2003 - New Straits Times editor in chief fired as a result of Saudi pressure
6 February 2003 - News website Malaysiakini.com refuses to leave its offices
20 January 2003 - Police raid offices of Malaysiakini.com news website
Maldives
28 May 2003 - Editors of an electronic newsletter sentenced to life in prison
15 April 2003 - Government changes press law and cancels 22 publication permits
Nepal
28 October 2003 - Government urged to stop arrests, murders and kidnappings of journalists
2 October 2003 - Pro-Maoist journalist killed
11 September 2003 - Government and Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) urged to stop attacks on the media
10 September 2003 - Rebels kill journalist by publicly cutting throat
30 July 2003 - Weekly’s editor murdered in Kathmandu
26 May 2003 - Two journalists sacked by government radio station
27 March 2003 - Government and Maoist rebels urged to release the 12 journalists still held in Nepal
25 February 2003 - Journalist receives death threat from Maoists
10 February 2003 - Journalist Om Sharma freed after 14 months in prison
Pakistan
31 December 2003 - The authorities deny holding journalist Khawar Mehdi Rizvi as he begins a third week in secret confinement
24 December 2003 - Marc Epstein and Jean-Paul Guilloteau released on bail
23 December 2003 - Marc Epstein, Jean-Paul Guilloteau and Khawar Mehdi Rizvi begin second week in jail
20 December 2003 - Karachi judge refuses to release two L’Express journalists on bail
19 December 2003 - Reporters Without Borders repeats its demand for the release of two journalists from L’Express and of journalist-interpreter Khawar Mehdi Rizvi, held in secret for three days
18 December 2003 - Call for the release of two French journalists who work for L’Express
8 December 2003 -
France asked to intercede on behalf of threatened editor during Pakistan’s premier’s visit
22 October 2003 - Al-Qaeda number three killed reporter Daniel Pearl, says US
7 October 2003 - Critical journalist murdered in Sindh province
3 October 2003 - Two journalists detained and threatened by fundamentalist group
26 September 2003 - Call for journalist sentenced to death to be taken to hospital
30 July 2003 - Newsweek banned over article on the Koran
4 June 2003 - Access to South Asia Tribune website blocked
23 April 2003 - Cable TV firm’s office burned near Quetta
11 April 2003 - Bomb attack, harassment of journalists in Tribal Areas
24 February 2003 - Frontier Post journalist threatened by Afghan commander
30 January 2003 - Murdered journalist’s family gets compensation
Papua New Guinea
16 April 2003 - Proposed law threatens press freedom
Philippines
2 December 2003 - Radio broadcaster becomes 7th journalist murdered in the Philippines this year
8 September 2003 - Sixth journalist murdered
2 September 2003 - Fifth journalist killed this year
21 August 2003 - Radio journalist murdered
6 August 2003 - Newspaper editor arrested after President Gloria Arroyo’s lawyer accuses her of libel
31 July 2003 - Government urged to give police more resources to investigate journalist Bonifacio Gregorio’s murder
30 April 2003 - Journalist killed and another seriously wounded in ambushes
7 February 2003 - Main suspect in murder of journalist Edgar Damalerio escapes
Singapore
13 November 2003 - Parliament grants government powers tightening Internet surveillance
10 October 2003 - Hacker attack on online news group
South Korea
26 August 2003 - Police prevent release of balloons carrying radios to North Korea
12 August 2003 - Confidentiality of TV station’s sources under threat
Sri Lanka
14 August 2003 - Tamil Tigers attack Tamil-language newspaper again
1 August 2003 - Government minister threatens to kill newspaper editor
15 May 2003 - Death threat against BBC stringer
9 January 2003 - Grenade attack on Tamilnet journalist’s house
Thailand
12 February 2003 - Journalist shot dead on tourist island
Tonga
12 December 2003 -
King amends constitution to keep ban on newspaper
28 May 2003 - Taimi ’o Tonga still banned despite Supreme Court ruling
27 May 2003 - Ban on Taimi o’Tonga newspaper judged illegal by Supreme Court
Vietnam
31 December 2003 - Cyberdissident Nguyen Vu Binh jailed for seven years
2 October 2003 - Rumours of Tran Khue’s death unfounded
1 October 2003 - 12 Nobel Prize winners call for release of cyber-dissident Nguyen Dan Que
25 September 2003 - Call for release of cyber-dissident held for a year without trial
27 August 2003 - Cyber-dissident gets five-year prison sentence
17 July 2003 - Youth magazine suspended
18 June 2003 - 13 years in prison for physician who posted democracy article on website
2 January 2003 - Cyber-dissident jailed for 12 years
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