China, Israel, and Myanmar lead the world's top jailers of journalists

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published: 18 January 2025 |  CPJ Media Release

The number of imprisoned journalists worldwide has reached a near record high in 2024, according to a report by the Committee to Protect Journalists. China, Israel, and Myanmar have emerged as the leading offenders in this unsettling trend.

Summary

NEW YORK—The number of journalists jailed worldwide reached a near all-time high in 2024, according to a new report released by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). China, Israel, and Myanmar were the leading jailers of reporters, followed by Belarus and Russia.

A total of 361 journalists were behind bars on December 1, 2024, the second-highest number since the global record set in 2022, when CPJ documented at least 370 imprisoned in connection with their work. The main drivers of journalist imprisonment in 2024 were ongoing authoritarian repression, war, and political or economic instability. Many countries, including China, Israel, Tunisia, and Azerbaijan, set new records for imprisonment.

“These numbers should be a wake-up call for us all,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg. “A rise in attacks on journalists almost always precedes a rise in attacks on other freedoms – the freedom to give and receive information, the freedom to assemble and move freely, the freedom to protest.”

“These journalists are being arrested and punished for exposing political corruption, environmental degradation, financial wrongdoing – all issues that matter to our day-to-day lives.”

Asia remained the region with the highest number of journalists behind bars in 2024, accounting for more than 30% (111) of the global total. In addition to the leading jailers – China, Myanmar, and Vietnam – journalists were also behind bars in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, and the Philippines.

Pervasive censorship in China, for years one of the world’s top jailers of journalists, makes it notoriously difficult to determine the exact number of journalists jailed there. However, jailings are not limited to the mainland, traditionally considered highly repressive. Those jailed include British citizen and Hong Kong-based entrepreneur Jimmy Lai, founder of the pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper, who has been held in solitary confinement in Hong Kong since 2020 and is currently on trial on retaliatory charges of collusion with foreign forces.

A total of 108 journalists were imprisoned in the Middle East and North Africa, almost half of those detained by Israel. Last year, U.N. legal experts determined that Israel violated international law in its detention of three Palestinian journalists. CPJ has previously called on Israel to investigate the cases of these and others held in Israeli custody for lengthy periods without charge, hold accountable those responsible for these rights violations, and provide compensation to journalists who have been arbitrarily detained.

Outside of Belarus (31) and Russia (30), Azerbaijan’s (13) continued crackdown on independent media made it one of the leading jailers of journalists in Europe and Central Asia in 2024. Turkey (11) is no longer among the top jailers of journalists but pressure on independent media remains high.

This is also the case in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, where the number of jailings is lower than in other regions but where threats against journalism persist. Mexico, for example, has no journalists in jail but is one of the most dangerous places to be a journalist outside a war zone. In Nigeria, with four journalists behind bars on December 1, dozens of journalists were attacked and detained as they sought to cover protests and civil unrest. Senegal, which held one journalist in prison on the 2024 census date, also arrested and assaulted journalists covering political demonstrations.

Globally, CPJ found that more than 60% – 228 – of the imprisoned journalists faced broad anti-state charges, including often vague charges of terrorism or extremism in countries including Myanmar, Russia, Belarus, Tajikistan, Ethiopia, Egypt, Venezuela, Turkey, India, and Bahrain. These accusations were commonly leveled against reporters from marginalized ethnic groups whose work focused on their communities.

Tackling journalist imprisonment is a key focus for CPJ, which provides journalists with financial support to cover the cost of legal fees, as well as resources to help journalists and newsrooms better prepare for or mitigate threats of legal harassment and action. The organization also makes concerted efforts to advocate for the release of journalists whose cases could revert or stem the tide of criminalization.

Photo caption: In Hong Kong, media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai has been held since December 2020 amid repeated postponements of his trial on national security charges. China has long been one of the world’s top jailers of journalists. (Photo: Isaac Lawrence/AFP)