New
York, December 13, 2017—For the second year in a row, the number of
journalists imprisoned for their work hit a historical high, as the U.S.
and other Western powers failed to pressure the world’s worst
jailers--Turkey, China, and Egypt--into improving the bleak climate for
press freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists found.
As
of December 1, 2017, CPJ found 262 journalists behind bars around the
world in relation to their work, an increase on last year’s historical
high of 259. Turkey is again the worst jailer, with 73 journalists
imprisoned for their work as the country continues its press freedom
crackdown. China and Egypt again take the second and third spot, with 41
and 20 cases respectively. The worst three jailers are responsible for
jailing 134--or 51 percent--of the total.
“In
a just society, no journalist should ever be imprisoned for their work
and reporting critically, but 262 are paying that price,” said CPJ
Executive Director Joel Simon. “It is shameful that for the second year
in a row, a record number of journalists are behind bars. Countries that
jail journalists for what they publish are violating international law
and must be held accountable. The fact that repressive governments are
not paying a price for throwing journalists in jail represents a failure
of the international community.”
According to CPJ’s census
194 journalists, or 74 percent, are imprisoned on anti-state charges,
many under broad or vague terror laws. In Turkey, every journalist on
the census is either accused of or charged with anti-state crimes.
Although many journalists cover multiple beats, politics was the most
dangerous, covered by 87 percent of those jailed. Nearly all the jailed
journalists are local and the percentage of freelancers is higher this
year, accounting for 29 percent of cases.
Other leading jailers of journalists in 2017 are Eritrea, with 15 cases, and Azerbaijan and Vietnam, with 10 cases each.
The
international community has done little to isolate repressive countries
and U.S. President Donald Trump’s nationalistic rhetoric and insistence
on labeling critical media “fake news”
serves to reinforce the framework of accusations and legal charges that
allow such leaders to preside over the jailing of journalists. CPJ’s
2017 census found the number of journalists jailed for “false news”
doubled this year, to 21 cases.
Poor prison conditions is another issue this year, with two journalists jailed in China, including Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo,
dying just weeks after being released on medical parole, and several
others seriously ill. In Egypt, CPJ found over half of the jailed
journalists have health conditions.
The
prison census accounts only for journalists in government custody and
does not include those who have disappeared or are held captive by
non-state groups, such as several Yemeni journalists CPJ believes to be
held by the Ansar Allah movement, known as the Houthis. These cases are
classified as “missing” or “abducted.” CPJ has been conducting an annual survey of journalists in jail since the early 1990s.
CPJ’s
list is a snapshot of those incarcerated at 12:01 a.m. on December 1,
2017. It does not include the many journalists imprisoned and released
throughout the year; accounts of those cases can be found at https://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.
###
CPJ is an independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide.
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
No comments:
Post a Comment