PFUJ calls for end to Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists
November 02, 2025: PFUJ urges Pakistan’s federal and provincial governments to end Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists and ensure their safety and press freedom.
JournalismPakistan.com | Published 5 years ago
Join our WhatsApp channel
NEW YORK — The number of journalists imprisoned for their reporting globally reached at least 250 for the fourth consecutive year, with China and Turkey topping the list of the world’s leading jailers, the Committee to Protect Journalists found.
As of December 1, 2019, the CPJ found at least 250 journalists in jail concerning their work, 98 percent of whom are local journalists. After China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, the world’s worst jailers are Eritrea, Vietnam, and Iran.
President Xi Jinping further tightened the state’s iron grip on the press in China, where 48 journalists are behind bars. Turkey, having stamped out virtually all independent reporting and criticism by closing down more than 100 news outlets and lodging terror-related charges against many of their staff, had 47 imprisoned journalists in 2019. Dozens more in Turkey still face trial or have been sentenced to jail and are free on appeal.
“The imprisonment of a single journalist is a terrible injustice that has far-reaching consequences for families, friends, and colleagues,” said Joel Simon, CPJ’s executive director. “But the imprisonment of hundreds of journalists —year after year — is a threat to the global information system on which we all depend. Repressive governments are using these cruel tactics to deprive their own societies and the entire world of essential information.”
Authoritarianism, instability, and protests in the Middle East led to a rise in the number of journalists locked up in the region — particularly in Saudi Arabia, which jumped to 26 behind bars in 2019, putting it at par with Egypt as the third-worst jailer worldwide.
Politics was again the beat most likely to land journalists in jail, followed by human rights and corruption. While the majority of journalists imprisoned worldwide face anti-state charges, the number charged with “false news” rose to 30 in 2012, CPJ found only one journalist worldwide facing the allegation. Repressive countries including Russia and Singapore, have enacted laws criminalizing the publication of “fake news” in the last year.
CPJ’s list is a snapshot of those incarcerated at 12:01 a.m. on December 1, 2019. It does not include the many journalists imprisoned and released throughout the year; accounts of those cases can be found at www.cpj.org.
Journalists remain on CPJ’s list until the organization determines with reasonable certainty that they have been released or have died in custody. — A CPJ press release
November 02, 2025: PFUJ urges Pakistan’s federal and provincial governments to end Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists and ensure their safety and press freedom.
November 02, 2025: Impunity for crimes against journalists deepens worldwide as Pakistan reports a 60 percent surge in attacks and weak enforcement of safety laws.
November 01, 2025: Pakistan Press Foundation reports 137 attacks on journalists in 2025, highlighting rising threats, legal harassment, and censorship on the International Day to End Impunity.
November 01, 2025: A viral Samaa TV clip featuring MNA Sher Afzal Marwat’s crude remarks and Talat Hussain’s laughter raises questions about the declining ethics of Pakistani television.
October 31, 2025: Police foiled a plot to kill DawnNewsTV journalist Tahir Naseer in Rawalpindi after arresting suspects hired for Rs200,000. Naseer says threats followed his reporting.
October 31, 2025: CPJ calls on Pakistan to bring Imtiaz Mir’s killers to justice after the journalist was allegedly murdered by a banned militant group in Karachi.
October 30, 2025: The PFUJ has condemned a fabricated drug case against journalist Matiullah Jan, calling it an attempt to silence him and urging authorities to quash the charges immediately.
October 30, 2025: NewsOne TV remains on air but faces mass layoffs and delayed salaries, exposing Pakistan’s worsening media crisis and financial instability.
November 02, 2025 Independent outlet All About Macau to halt print and online operations amid rising pressure, financial strain, and legal threats, sparking press freedom concerns in the city.
November 01, 2025 Belarus court jails journalist Siarhei Chabotska for extremism and defaming the president, highlighting Minsk’s ongoing crackdown on press freedom.
November 01, 2025 Mexican journalist Miguel Angel Beltran was found murdered in Durango. CPJ urges authorities to ensure justice amid rising violence against journalists in Mexico.
November 01, 2025 UNESCO survey finds one-third of media lawyers cannot effectively defend journalists due to threats, limited resources, and lack of specialization.
October 31, 2025 Radio Free Asia, a US government-funded broadcaster covering tightly controlled Asian media environments, has suspended all news operations after federal funding dried up.