JOURNALISTS DETAINED AND JAILED IN SOUTH ASIA

May 1, 2020 – April 30, 2021

Activists march and shout slogans during a demonstration in Dhaka on February 27, 2021 following the death of writer Mushtaq Ahmed in jail months after his arrest under internet laws which critics say are used to muzzle dissent. Credit: Munir Uz zaman / AFP

The IFJ documented 63 cases of journalists detained or jailed in South Asia from May 2020 to April 2021, an increase on the 52 arrests recorded the previous year.

In Bangladesh, the government continued to arrest journalists, censor free speech and target dissenting voices. The detention of 16 journalists, the second highest number in the region, is testament to Bangladesh’s government’s concerted attacks on the media and freedom of expression. The figures also show that if you area arrested in Bangladesh, you are more likely to be held for an extended period. The bitter consequences of these detentions under the controversial Digital Security Act (DSA) was brought into focus with death of writer Mushtaq Ahmed in a high-security prison near Dhaka on February 25, 2021. Mushtaq had been incarcerated for almost ten months under the draconian Digital Security Act (DSA) for allegedly “spreading conspiracy theories and rumours against Bangladesh government and its Covid response.” He was incarcerated after publishing an article raising the issue of inadequate protective personal equipment (PPE) for doctors. Co-accused cartoonist Kabir Kishore said he had been subjected to torture while in custody. The death of a journalist for reporting on an issue that could save lives is a brutal indictment of Bangladesh’s heavy-handed approach to criticism at all costs.

Afghanistan had four arrests, with relatively short detainments. This was a decline from the last reporting period which had 11 arrests. One journalist was arrested for carrying a drone. Another for writing a report that was allegedly insulting to the president.

In India, the growing trend of journalists being arrested and detained for short periods of time in order to intimidate or hinder their ability to report continued. Eleven Indian journalists were detained for less than 24 hours, six of them while covering elections. Overall, Indian security forces detained 27 journalists, the highest number of any country and a massive increase from the ten journalists detained in the country in the last reporting period. Digital repression in the world’s largest democracy was highlighted with the jailing or detention of seven Indian journalists for activities on social media. At time of publication, three remain behind bars. In Kashmir, journalist Asif Sultan remains incarcerated under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, a supposed anti-terror law, for publishing a story about the second anniversary of the death of Kashmiri militant Burhan Wani, in 2018.

While Nepal’s number of incarcerations dropped from 23 last year to eight detentions in 2020-21, there remains a strong propensity by security forces to assert their dominance through shorter, menacing and frivolous detentions of media workers. The clearest example of this was the arrest and almost immediate release of Nayapatrika Daily correspondent Tiwari Yadav, who was arrested for parking his motorcycle on the footpath near his office.

As civic space shrank under the Rajapaksa government in Sri Lanka, the number of journalists incarcerated grew from one arrest last year to five in this reporting period. Four journalists remain in jail, with three charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Regulations 2011. Of the five detainments, four pertained to charges related to content posted on social media.

In Pakistan, five journalists were incarcerated for mostly short periods of time but their experiences were harrowing. Reporters Abdul Mateen Achakzai and Saeed Ali Achakazai were tortured for three days by Pakistan’s anti-terrorism forces, before returning home with bruises across their bodies.

On World Press Freedom Day 2021, 13 journalists currently remain behind bars, again an increase from just four the previous year. This dual attack on the physical freedoms of the media is particularly concerning due to the capacity for Covid-19 to spread rapidly within jails and for the overwhelmed medical facilities in countries such as India; journalists need freedom to breathe.

TOTAL JAILED OR DETAINED:

Died in custody: 1
Currently in jai: 13
Detained for more than one week: 21
Detained for less than one week: 6
Detained for one day or less: 22

TOTAL: 63

*Women jailed or detained: 2

TOTAL JAILED OR DETAINED BY COUNTRY IN SOUTH ASIA:

Afghanistan: 4
Bangladesh: 16
Bhutan: 0
Nepal: 8
India: 24
Maldives: 0
Pakistan: 6
Sri Lanka: 5

DIED IN CUSTODY

BANGLADESH

Name: Mushtaq Ahmed
Gender: Male
Detained: May 7, 2020
Job: Writer
Accusation: Detained for posting on Facebook satirical cartoons and comments critical of the Bangladeshi government’s response to Covid-19.
Status: Also known under the pen name Michael Kumar Thakur, Ahmed was arrested by the Rapid Action Battalion on May 6, 2020, and kept in pretrial detention ever since over social media posts critical of the country’s Covid-19 response and alleging mismanagement and corruption by the country’s government and its leader Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Ahmed was held in high-security and was denied bail as many as six times. The case file charged him under the DSA with spreading rumours on social media, hurting the spirit of the 1971 liberation war and tarnishing the image of the country’s founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Ahmed, 54, was brought unconscious to Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College Hospital in Gazipur district on February 25, 2021, with the hospital confirming his death at 8.20pm the same day.

JAILED JOURNALISTS – CURRENTLY IN JAIL

BANGLADESH

Name: Abu Tayyab
Gender: Male
Detained: April 20, 2021
Job: Senior television journalist
Accusation: Arrested by police under the controversial Digital Security Act for writing social media posts about alleged corruption.
Status: Currently in jail

Name: Ruhul Amin Gazi
Gender: Male
Detained: October 21, 2020
Job: Chief reporter, Daily Sangram
Accusation: Police alleged Gazi, along with Sadat Hossain, failed to appear in a number of court hearings in the sedition case under the Digital Security Act filed against him.
Status: Currently in jail

Name: Sadat Hossain
Gender: Male
Detained: October 2020
Job: Acting news editor, Daily Sangram
Accusation: Police alleged Hossain, along with Ruhul Amin Gazi, failed to appear in a number of court hearings in the sedition case under the Digital Security Act filed against him.
Status: Currently in jail

Name: Nur Mohammad
Gender: Male
Detained: 10 February, 2021
Job: Owner, Guardian Publications
Accusation: Arrested by the police at his home in Dhaka on charges of associating with suspects accused of spreading fake news about the prime minister and her son.
Status: In custody

INDIA

Name: Anand Teltumbde
Gender: Male
Detained: Surrendered to the National Investigation Agency on April 14, 2020, on the instruction of the Supreme Court
Job: Columnist and writer
Accusation: Authorities accused Teltumbde, columnist Gautam Navlakha, and nine others of being responsible for a violence that erupted in the Pune district of Maharashtra state on December 31, 2017, and having links to the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). In October 2020, he was formally charged with importing Maoist literature and videos and making statements that supported a Maoist revolution.
Status: Currently in Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai

Name: Gautam Navlakha
Gender: Male
Detained: Arrested April 14, 2020
Job: Columnist, Newsclick, and formerly an editorial consultant, Economic and Political Weekly
Accusation: Authorities accused Navlakha and nine others of being responsible for a violence that erupted in the Pune district of Maharashtra state on December 31, 2017, and having links to the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). In October 2020, he was formally charged with importing Maoist literature and videos and making statements supporting a Maoist revolution. In October 2020, the National Investigation Agency filed a 10,000-page charge sheet accusing Navlakha of communicating with Kashmiri separatists, Pakistani intelligence, and members of a banned Maoist party, and “working against the nation”.
Status: Currently in Taloja jail in Navi Mumbai

Name: Aasif Sultan
Gender: Male
Detained: August 27, 2018 (Sultan was held in police lock-up from August 27 until being formally arrested on August 31)
Job: Assistant editor, Kashmir Narrator
Location: Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Accusation: Sultan was charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, an anti-terror law which has come under sharp criticism for curtailing freedom of expression. The journalist was charged for publishing a feature story in July 2018 on the second anniversary of the death of the young Kashmiri militant Burhan Wani, a killing that sparked months of strife on the streets.
Status: Currently in jail

Name: Siddique Kappan
Gender: Male
Detained: October 5, 2020
Job: Journalist, Malayam news portal
Accusation: Kappan was on his way to Hathras to report the gang rape of a Dalit girl when he was picked up in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. He and three others accompanying him were booked under Section 17 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for allegedly instigating communal violence.
Status: He was granted bail for five days to visit his ailing mother by the Supreme Court on February 15, 2021. He is currently in jail and is infected with Covid-19 inside jail. The Supreme Court ordered he be shifted to Delhi for Covid treatment on April 28.

NEPAL

Name: Anish Tamang
Gender: Male
Detained: April 25, 2021
Job: Journalist, Ujyaalo Network
Accusation: Charges related to sedition and Electronic Transaction Act.
Status: Currently in custody

SRI LANKA

Name: Murukapillai Kokila Daasan
Gender: Male
Detained: November 18th, 2020
Job: Journalist, Battinews.com, IVC Tamil news
Accusation: Arrested by the Sri Lankan Terrorist Investigation Division for Promoting LTTE on his Facebook page. Charged under Prevention of Terrorism (Proscription of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) Regulations No. 1 of 2011
Status: Currently in custody. Next court hearing date 2021-May -03 at Valachchenai Magistrates Courts

Name: Murugupillai Kokulathasan (Gokulan)
Gender: Male
Detained: November 29, 2020
Job: Journalist, Battinews.com
Accusation: Arrested by the Sri Lankan Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) for posting pictures on his personal Facebook page.
Status: Currently in custody awaiting trial.

Name: Mugunthan Divanya
Gender: Female
Detained: March 29, 2021
Job: Web journalist, YouTube channel ‘TubeTamil’
Accusation: Police spokesman Ajith Rohana says the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) arrested Raj as “the suspects have been operating a website and a YouTube channel promoting the LTTE and related terrorism activities”. Charged under the Prevention of Terrorism (Proscription of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) Regulations No. 1 of 2011
Status: Currently in prison

Name: Wimal Raj
Gender: Male
Detained: March 29, 2021
Job: Web journalist, YouTube channel ‘TubeTamil’
Accusation: Police spokesman Ajith Rohana says the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) arrested Raj as “the suspects have been operating a website and a YouTube channel promoting the LTTE and related terrorism activities”. Charged under the Prevention of Terrorism (Proscription of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) Regulations No. 1 of 2011
Status: Currently in prison

JOURNALISTS JAILED FOR MORE THAN ONE WEEK

BANGLADESH

INDIA

NEPAL

SRI LANKA

JOURNALISTS DETAINED FOR LESS THAN ONE WEEK

AFGHANISTAN

Name: Zaman Ahmadi
Gender: Male
Detained: December 9, 2020
Job: chief editor, Stagedia Media
Accusation: Arrest with 13 other civil activists by the Bamyan Court of Appeals on charges of inciting protests three years ago that killed two people, injured five and damaged government facilities

Status: Case acquitted on December 15 and released from jail.

INDIA

Name: Mandeep Punia
Gender: Male
Detained: January 30, 2021
Job: Freelance journalist
Accusation: Detained at a Singhu border protest site on charges of trying to break barricades and fighting with police under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. Police confiscated his camera and deleted all the records.
Status: Released on bail February 2, 2021

NEPAL

Name: Anish Tamang
Gender: Male
Detained: April 25, 2021
Job: Journalist Ujyaalo Network
Accusation: Arrested on charges related to sedition and the Electronic Transaction Act for allegedly publishing fake news on its news portal about Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.
Status: Detained at time of publication

Name: Durga Lal Tamang
Gender: Male
Detained: April 25, 2021
Job: Journalist, Ujyaalo Network
Accusation: Arrested on charges related to sedition and the Electronic Transaction Act for allegedly publishing fake news on its news portal about Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.
Status: Detained at time of publication

PAKISTAN

Name: Abdul Mateen Achakzai
Gender: Male
Detained: June 20, 2020
Job: Reporter, Khyber News TV
Accusation: Tortured for three days by the Anti-Terrorism Force operated by a paramilitary force known as the Balochistan Levies. After being missing for four days, the two Pakistani reporters reappeared with their bodies covered in injuries.
Status: Released four days later

Name: Saeed Ali Achakzai,
Gender: Male
Detained: June 20, 2020
Job: Reporter, Samaa News TV
Accusation: Tortured for three days by the Anti-Terrorism Force operated by a paramilitary force known as the Balochistan Levies. After being missing for four days, the two Pakistani reporters reappeared with their bodies covered in injuries.
Status: Released four days later

JOURNALISTS DETAINED 24 HOURS OR LESS

AFGHANISTAN

Name: Mahbubullah Hakmi
Gender: Male
Detained: July 8, 2020
Job: Journalist
Accusation: Arrested in Zabul for writing a report that was allegedly insulting to the president.
Status: Unknown

Name: Aziz Watanwal
Gender: Male
Detained: February 27, 2021
Job: Local reporter, Kurzhid TV, Nangarhar province
Accusation: Stopped by guards and arrested by order of the governor after he went to a hospital to interview people injured in an explosion.
Status: Released after about four hours.

BANGLADESH

Name: Nazmus Hasib
Gender: Male
Detained: April 28, 2021
Job: a cameraperson of the private TV channel ATN Bangla
Accusation: He was accused of being involved on clashes between two fractions of a political party.
Status: Granted bail on April 29

INDIA

Name: Sushil Sharma
Gender: Male
Detained: May 23, 2020
Job: Editor, Bastar Bandhu
Accusation: Arrested in Kanker, Chhattisgarh. An FIR was registered against him at the behest of the State Women Commission in connection with his reporting on corruption in the body
Status: Released on personal bond.

Name: Basant Sahu
Gender: Male
Detained: May 24
Job: Reporter
Accusation: Arrested for asking asking Seraikela-Kharsawan deputy commissioner A. Dodde about the first Covid-19 case in the district, and then circulating the DC’s purported denial on news channels and social media.
Status: Released on bail

Name: Vinod Dua
Gender: Male
Detained: June 6, 2020
Job: Senior journalist
Accusation: For alleged defamatory remarks against a BJP spokesperson on his YouTube show. A case was registered under IPC for ‘public nuisance’, ‘public mischief’ and for ‘statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes’
Status: Granted bail the following day.

Name: Rajib Sharma
Gender: Male
Detained: July 16, 2020
Job: Television correspondent, DY365
Accusation: Detained by Dhubri police in Assam after a Dhuburi Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) lodged a first information report (FIR). He was arrested for allegedly obstructing a public servant in his duties, extortion and criminal intimidation after reporting on cow smuggling.
Status: Released on bail for to perform last rites of his father; bail extended after CID enquiry ordered.

Name: Dilnawaz Pasha
Gender: Male
Detained: July 21, 2020
Job: BBC correspondent
Accusation: Pasha was subjected to abuse and detained for six hours by the Bahjoi police.
Status: Detained for seven hours and released on intervention from the public relations chief of the Yogi Adityanath government.

Name: Ramesh Rath
Gender: Male
Detained: October 15, 2020
Job: Senior journalist, Odisha Television (OTV)
Accusation: Arrested in Odisha’s capital Bhubaneswar after critical news report
Status: Released that day.

Name: Ahan Penkar
Gender: Male
Detained: October 18; assaulted though he showed his press card.
Job: Journalist, Caravan
Accusation: Delhi Police detained and charged Penkar and nine others of criminal conspiracy for allegedly protesting outside Model Town police station. Students, activists and locals of Gurmandi had staged the protest to demand the lodging of an FIR into the alleged rape and murder of a teenage Dalit girl.
Status: Released but FIR is still pending against him.

Name: Fayaz Lolu
Gender: Male
Detained: December 11, 2020
Job: Journalist, ETV Bharat
Accusation: Detained and assaulted with two other journalists by police while covering the District Development Council polls in Anantnag in South Kashmir.
Status: Released after a few hours.

Name: Mudasir Qadri
Gender: Male
Detained: December 11, 2020
Job: Journalist, News18 Urdu
Accusation: Detained and assaulted with two other journalists by police while covering the District Development Council polls in Anantnag in South Kashmir.
Status: Released after a few hours.

Name: Junaid Rafiq
Gender: Male
Detained: December 11, 2020
Job: Journalist, TV 9
Accusation: Detained and assaulted with two other journalists by police while covering the District Development Council polls in Anantnag in South Kashmir.
Status: Released after a few hours.

Name: Dharmender Singh
Gender: Male
Detained: January 30, 2021
Job: Journalist, Online News India
Accusation: Arrested the same day from a farmers’ protest in Sindhu protest. The contents of his camera were also deleted.
Status: Released on January 31, 2021

NEPAL

Name: Lok Karki
Gender: Male
Detained: May 1, 2020
Job: Journalist
Accusation: Arrested for taking photograph of the Covid-19 relief distribution
Status: Released May 1, 2020

Name: Tiwari Yadav
Gender: Male
Detained: May 10, 2020
Job: Nayapatrika Daily – Parsa District correspondent
Accusation: Arrested for parking motorcycle in the footpath near his office at Birgunj
Status: Released May 10, 2020

Name: Sher Bahadur Bishwakarma
Gender: Male
Detained: January 4, 2021
Job: Journalist, Aajako naya Sasletion
Accusation: Arrested due to his alleged affiliation with the Communist Party of Biplov
Status: Released a day later

Name: Mohan Panta
Gender: Male
Detained: January 4, 2021
Job: TV Today Journalists
Accusation: Arrested due to his alleged affiliation with the Communist Party of Biplov
Status: released on the evening on January 4, 2021

Name: Mandhoj Lama
Gender: Male
Detained: January 4, 2021
Job: Journalist, Sanchar Khabar.com
Accusation: Arrested due to his alleged affiliation with the Communist Party of Biplov
Status: Released on the evening of January 4

PAKISTAN

Name: Bilal Farooqi
Gender: Male
Detained: September 11, 2020
Job: Journalist, The Express Tribune
Accusation: Arrested by Karachi police for posting allegedly anti-military and sectarian posts on social media
Status: released the following day.

Name: Ehtisham Kiyani
Gender: Male
Detained: September 23, 2020
Job: Reporter, Channel 24
Accusation: Arrested on false charges for allegedly bearing weapons in Islamabad’s High Court.
Status: Released an hour later

Name: Bayazid Kharoti
Gender: Male
Detained: November 6, 2020
Job: Media columnist and social media activist
Accusation: Kharoti, who was reported ‘missing’ since November 4, was arrested in Quetta on charges of interfering in the duty of law enforcers.
Status: Held by a paramilitary law enforcement unit for nine hours before being handed over to police and presented in court the next day.