Pakistan journalist killings rise in May; 4 dead

On May 21, Awami Awaz newspaper reporter Nasrullah Gadani suffered critical gunshot wounds after an attack in Pakistan's Kori Goth area of the Ghotki district in Sindh province. Gadani died May 24 in a Karachi hospital, and he is the fourth journalist to be killed in the country this month. (Screenshot Awaz TV News/YouTube) — Awami Awaz newspaper reporter Nasrullah Gadani died on May 24 after he was shot in Pakistan’s Kori Goth area of the Ghotki district in Sindh province. He is one of four journalists killed in Pakistan during the month of May. (Screenshot Awaz TV News/YouTube)

Four journalists so far have been killed in Pakistan in May, the highest number of journalists killed in the South Asian country in any single month since CPJ began collecting data in 1992.

The Committee to Protect Journalists is calling for an immediate investigation of these incidents, for authorities to hold those responsible to account, and for an end to the wave of violence against journalists in the country.

Those killed include:, Nasrullah Gadani, a reporter for local Sindhi language newspaper Awami Awaz, who was shot by attackers and died on May 24; Kamran, Dunwar, a journalist based in North Waziristan who was killed in front of his home on May 24, and, earlier in May, journalists journalists Ashfaq Ahmad Sial and Muhmmad Siddique Mengal, who were killed in separate attacks in Pakistan’s Punjab and Baluchistan provinces.

CPJ has not yet been able to confirm whether their killings were related to their work.

–Journalist missing after being seized from Pakistan home
-Pakistani TV anchor gets death threats after speaking up for press freedom

CPJ, partners join call for U.S. Senate to advance PRESS Act

The Senate floor at the U.S. Capitol on April 17, 2024, in Washington D.C. (Photo: Senate Television via AP)

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined more than 85 journalism and civil society organizations and 35 attorneys and law professors in urging the Senate Judiciary Committee to schedule a markup of the Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying Act (PRESS Act) as soon as possible so that it can be considered by the full Senate and become law.

The PRESS Act would create a federal shield law, protecting journalist-source confidentiality and preventing government surveillance of journalistic activity through phone and email providers.

The legislation, which CPJ helped author, passed the House twice but has previously languished in the Senate.

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Journalists Attacked

Myat Thu Tan

MURDERED

Myat Thu Tan, a contributor to the local news website Western News and correspondent for several independent Myanmar news outlets, was shot and killed on January 31, 2024, while in military custody in Mrauk-U in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State.

He was arrested on September 22, 2022, and held in pre-trial detention under a broad provision of the penal code that criminalizes incitement and the dissemination of false news for critical posts he made on his Facebook page. Myat Thu Tan had not been tried or convicted at the time of his death.

The journalist’s body was found buried in a bomb shelter, with the bodies of six other political detainees, and showed signs of torture.

Myanmar’s military junta has cracked down on journalists and media outlets since seizing power in a February 2021 coup.

Learn more about Myat Thu Tan