Amnesty International on Monday condemned President Donald Trump’s executive order that significantly reduced funding for US-backed media outlets, including Radio Free Asia (RFA). The organization said that the reduced funding effectively amounted to a closure and the surrender of “a tried-and-tested tool of soft US power.”

The statement highlighted RFA’s instrumental role in providing a free speech alternative to state-controlled media in Asia. Amnesty claimed that without RFA, authoritarian regimes will be able to “maintain control over the news and the narrative,” and eliminate the possibility of dissent. RFA-covered stories such as human rights abuses against Uyghurs in China, state corruption in Vietnam, and airstrikes in Myanmar were provided as examples of news that would otherwise go under-reported.

Amnesty also asserted that authoritarian regimes in Asia have celebrated RFA’s impending closure. The organization cited a statement from a Chinese state-run newspaper that claimed that the RFA and its counterpart Voice of America (VOA) were being “discarded by its own government like a dirty rag.” Additionally, a Cambodian politician said the order was a “big contribution to eliminating fake news.”

The defunding of RFA stemmed from a March 14 executive order directing numerous agencies to eliminate personnel and activities to the “maximum extent consistent with applicable law.” The directive included the United States Agency for Global Media, which controls RFA, VOA, and various other media outlets.

Terminated VOA employees filed a motion on March 26 to obtain a temporary restraining order to halt the Trump administration’s efforts to implement sweeping cuts at the federally funded broadcaster. RFA employees who were terminated filed a complaint on Friday a request to halt further terminations. RFA has already furloughed 75 percent of its US-based staff and suspended over 90 percent of its freelance journalists.