This year, 363 journalists were detained by various governments globally, according to a new prison census released by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent organisation that promotes press freedom worldwide. The report was released on Wednesday. 

The worst offenders for detaining journalists include Iran, China, Myanmar, Turkey and Belarus, which are among the countries where protests have made headlines around the world. 

In 2021, 302 journalists were jailed.

The CPJ said the list only includes journalists who were confirmed to have been imprisoned in relation to their work. The census only counted journalists in government custody, not those who had disappeared or been held captive by non-state actors. Such cases were classified as “missing” or “abducted”.

Breaking down some of the cases, the CPJ flagged Iran as the worst for jailing journalists. 

Iran

In Iran, following the death in police custody of  Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman arrested for allegedly breaking Iran’s hijab law, the country has seen mass protests calling for women’s rights, among other demands. Journalists were among the estimated 14,000 Iranians arrested during the crackdown. According to the CPJ, there have been 62 journalists in jail. The number would have been higher, since 21 were released on bail ahead of the census date. Twenty-four women journalists are listed in the census, 22 of whom were arrested after the protests started. The 62 detainees represent the highest number documented by the CPJ for Iran in 30 years. 

China 

“China’s tight censorship of the media and the fear of speaking out in a country that conducts such extensive surveillance on its people makes it especially difficult to research the exact number of journalists among its prison population,” said the CPJ, adding that 43 journalists detained in 2022 (compared with 2021’s revised total of 48) should not be interpreted as an easing of China’s intolerance for independent reporting. The committee added that the authorities tightened online censorship during the zero-Covid lockdown-related protests, with several journalists reportedly detained briefly while reporting on the demonstrations. 

Myanmar

Myanmar appeared on the CPJ’s list in 2021, when a military coup ousted the elected government and cracked down on coverage of the regime. In 2022 42 journalists were jailed, compared with 26 in 2021. The CPJ said this was as the regime “doubled down on its efforts to mute reporters and disrupt the country’s few remaining independent media outlets”. 

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Many news organisations had been reluctant to identify detained staff and freelancers as a way to avoid harsh sentences meted out to journalists, with nearly half of those detained in 2022 sentenced under an anti-state provision that broadly penalises “incitement” and “false news”. 

Turkey

There were 40 journalists arrested in Turkey during 2022, an increase of 18 from 2021. Twenty-five Kurdish journalists were arrested, with their lawyers telling the CPJ they were all jailed on suspicion of terrorism, which according to the committee was a “result of the country’s ongoing efforts to silence those it associates with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)”. 

“Turkey’s independent media remain decimated by government shutdowns, takeovers, and the forcing of scores of journalists into exile or out of the profession,” the CPJ said. 

Belarus 

On 1 December 2022, there were 26 journalists in custody in Belarus. In 2021 there were 19. The CPJ said almost half of them were yet to be sentenced, while two were serving terms of 10 years or more. “All known charges are either retaliatory or anti-state, such as treason,” it said. 

The arrests have taken place against the backdrop of President Alexander Lukashenko’s ongoing vindictiveness against those covering the aftermath of his disputed 2020 election, added the CPJ. 

Other global cases

Afghanistan, with three imprisoned journalists, appears on CPJ’s census for the first time in 12 years. Hundreds of Afghan journalists have fled the country since the Taliban took back control of the country, with those who remained facing sometimes “violent pressure” to conform to its ideologies, said the CPJ. 

In Vietnam there were 21 arrested journalists. According to the CPJ, the country “shows little tolerance for independent journalism, invoking tough sentences for those convicted of anti-state crimes”. Pham Doan Trang, a winner of a CPJ International Press Freedom Award in 2022, is one of them. He is serving a nine-year prison sentence under a law that bans making or spreading news against the state.

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Eritrea remains sub-Saharan Africa’s worst jailer of journalists, ranking ninth globally: 16 are detained without trial or access to families and lawyers for periods ranging from 17 to 22 years. 

In Guatemala, the arrest of the founder and president of elPeriódico, José Rubén Zamora, “sends a chilling message to journalists, especially investigative and independent reporters, ahead of next year’s elections and amid an ongoing crackdown on prosecutors, judges and journalists who previously brought corruption cases to light”, said the CPJ. Zamora faces charges of money laundering, blackmail and influence-peddling – charges seen as retaliation for elPeriódico’s reporting on alleged corruption involving President Alejandro Giammattei and attorney-general Consuelo Porras, said the CPJ. 

“ElPeriódico stopped publishing in print on December 1, saying it was forced to do so after 120 days of political and economic pressure,” it added. 

In Nicaragua, attacks, arrests and threats of imprisonment have forced almost all of the country’s independent journalists either into exile or out of their jobs. A  similar situation exists in Cuba.

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In Russia, scores of journalists have avoided incarceration by fleeing into exile. Russia’s new laws – including a ban on calling the Russia/Ukraine conflict a “war” – have gutted the country’s remaining independent media, said the CPJ. There are 19 known journalists in Russian custody, with several facing sentences of up to 10 years on charges of spreading “fake news”. 

From the Middle East and North Africa, Egypt and Saudi Arabia still remain jailers of journalists. Egypt has 21 in detention and Saudi Arabia 11. 

Journalists remain on the CPJ’s list until the organisation determines with reasonable certainty that they have been released or have died in custody. DM