Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released The annual survey of imprisoned journalists, conducted this weekend, found that China is once again the world's worst prisoner of journalists, closely followed by Myanmar and Belarus in third place.
CPJ said these top three countries accounted for “more than a third of those incarcerated on census day (December 1).” China imprisoned 44 journalists, Myanmar 43 and Belarus 28.
The report noted that China may be in an even worse situation than the census showed, as strict censorship makes it difficult to determine exactly who has been imprisoned, but the Chinese government He pointed out that since Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement was suppressed by strict politicians, it has clearly expanded its “repression of the media.” “National Security Law” of 2020.
China's approach has also changed slightly, with journalists increasingly accused of espionage and subversion rather than “spreading fake news.” The report revealed that 19 of the 44 journalists imprisoned in China are from the oppressed Uyghur Muslim minority, which China has been carrying out genocide since at least 2017.
Journalists imprisoned in China often face long periods of “pretrial detention,” where they are forced to remain silent long before appearing in court.Typical examples are: apple daily news Founder Jimmy Lai was imprisoned in Hong Kong for almost 1,100 days before his “trial” began.Rai begged On January 2, he was acquitted of incitement and collusion with foreign forces, charges created by Hong Kong's National Security Law.
Myanmar was on the verge of overtaking China as a prison for journalists thanks to the ruling junta's war on independent media. Belarus similarly jailed journalists one after another after protests erupted over dictator Alexander Lukashenko's dubious “re-election” in 2020. By accusing opponents of “extremism,” Lukashenko put a twist on the authoritarian mania of accusing reporters of sedition.
Russia and Vietnam rounded out the top five, while Israel (which the CJP called IOPT, or “Occupied Territories of Israel and Palestine”) is a new addition to the top ten.
“Israel has appeared several times in CPJ's annual census, but this is the highest number of arrests of Palestinian journalists since CPJ began recording arrests in 1992, indicating that Israel is a criminal This is the first time that the country has been ranked among the top six countries,” the report said.
CPJ complained about the “closed nature” of Israel's legal proceedings against Palestinian journalists, saying that “CPJ researchers had difficulty learning what charges the journalists were facing” and instead I relied on comments from my family.
“Israel’s ranking in CPJ’s 2023 Prison Census is evidence that a fundamental democratic norm, freedom of the press, is being undermined as Israel uses harsh methods to silence Palestinian journalists.” This practice must be stopped.” Said CPJ CEO Jody Ginsburg said:
Israel is is hotly debated Many of the “reporters” arrested or killed during the Gaza operation were actually Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) operatives, with claims that Palestinian journalists were targeted to silence media reporting. he claimed. UK-based journalist David Collier specifically accuses CPJ of spreading Hamas propaganda by uncritically accepting a list of “journalists” from terrorist organizations who “have nothing to do with reporting or reporting.” did.
Among other findings, the CJP's annual report said that while Iran remains a repressive environment for journalists, the number of journalists imprisoned by the regime has declined since Iran's heyday. Mahsa Amini protests Passed; Africa is deteriorating, especially in conflict areas. And Russia has become increasingly active in “trying to criminalize journalism across its borders by issuing arrest warrants and prison sentences in absentia.”
“Russia also holds a disproportionate number of foreign journalists in prison. Twelve of the total 17 non-local journalists imprisoned worldwide in the census are held by Russia,” CPJ said. cited the names of American citizens. Evan Gershkovich of wall street journal and Ars Kurmasheva Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
CPJ looked not only at the number of journalists imprisoned, but also at the quality of detention, and found that China, Myanmar, Belarus, Russia and Vietnam are most frequently involved in physical and sexual abuse of prisoners. discovered. These governments are detaining journalists, many with serious health problems, in harsh conditions.
Egypt and Turkey, which recently won the “world's worst jailing of journalists,” remain hostile environments for opposition journalism, and CPJ said it was concerned about press freedom in India during elections later this year.
“Across the world, we are at a critical moment. We must end the weaponization of laws that silence the press and guarantee journalists free press. Dozens of people around the world In a prime election year, when billions of people are heading to the polls, anything else is an affront to our democracy and harms us all,” Ginsburg said.
