More than 200 journalists are imprisoned for their work for the
third consecutive year, reflecting a global surge in authoritarianism.
China is the world’s worst jailer of journalists in 2014. A CPJ special
report by Shazdeh Omari
The Committee to Protect Journalists identified 220 journalists in jail
around the world in 2014, an increase of nine from 2013. The tally marks
the second-highest number of journalists in jail since CPJ began taking
an annual census of imprisoned journalists in 1990, and highlights a
resurgence of authoritarian governments in countries such as China,
Ethiopia, Burma, and Egypt.
China’s use of anti-state charges and Iran’s revolving door policy in
imprisoning reporters, bloggers, editors, and photographers earned the
two countries the dubious distinction of being the world’s worst and
second worst jailers of journalists, respectively. Together, China and
Iran are holding a third of journalists jailed globally—despite
speculation that new leaders who took the reins in each country in 2013
might implement liberal reforms.
The 44 journalists in Chinese jails are a jump from 32 the previous
year, and reflect the pressure that President Xi Jinping has exerted on
media, lawyers, dissidents, and academics to toe the government line. In
addition to jailing journalists, Beijing has issued restrictive new
rules about what can be covered and denied visas to international
journalists. Coverage of ethnic minority issues continues to be
sensitive; almost half of those jailed are Tibetan or Uighur, including
academic and blogger Ilham Tohti and seven students imprisoned for
working on his website, Uighurbiz. Twenty-nine of the journalists behind
bars in China were held on anti-state charges. (Read detailed accounts
of each imprisoned journalist here.)
The administration of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has also
maintained repressive measures against the press. This year, Iranian
authorities were holding 30 journalists in jail, down from 35 in 2013
and a record high of 45 in 2012. CPJ’s 2014 International Press Freedom
Award winner Siamak Ghaderi was released from prison in July, but that
same month, Iranian authorities jailed Jason Rezaian, a Washington Post
reporter. By late 2014, the government had still not disclosed the
reason for Rezaian’s arrest or the nature of charges against him.
The list of the top 10 worst jailers of journalists was rounded out
by Eritrea, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Syria, Egypt, Burma, Azerbaijan, and
Turkey. The prison census accounts only for journalists in government
custody and does not include those in the captivity of nonstate groups.
For example, CPJ estimates that approximately 20 journalists are missing
in Syria, many of whom are believed held by the militant group Islamic
State.
Turkey, which was the world’s worst jailer in 2012 and 2013, released
dozens of journalists this year, bringing to seven the number of
journalists behind bars on the date of CPJ’s census. However, on
December 14, Turkey detained several more journalists—along with
television producers, scriptwriters, and police officers—and accused
them of conspiring against the Turkish state, according to news reports.
The detentions were born of a political struggle between President
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the ruling party and the movement led by
U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gülen, and included the editor-in-chief of
one of Turkey’s largest dailies, Zaman, which is aligned with Gülen.
In Eritrea, which has consistently ranked among the world’s worst
jailers and is ranked third this year, authorities are holding 23
journalists, all without charge, and have refused to disclose the
prisoners’ health or whereabouts. In 2014, CPJ conducted a fresh
investigation into the status of long-held prisoners in the extremely
repressive country; the probe led to the addition or removal of a
handful of cases but yielded little information about many of those long
jailed.
A state crackdown on independent publications and bloggers in
Ethiopia this year more than doubled the number of journalists
imprisoned to 17 from seven the previous year, and prompted several
journalists to flee into exile, according to CPJ research.
For the first time since 2011, Burma had journalists in jail on the
date of CPJ’s census: at least 10 were imprisoned, all on anti-state
charges. In July, five staff members of the Unity weekly news journal
were sentenced to 10 years in prison each under the 1923 Official
Secrets Act. Rather than reforming draconian and outdated security laws,
President Thein Sein’s government is using the laws to imprison
journalists.
In Azerbaijan, authorities were jailing nine journalists, up one from
the previous year. Amid a crackdown on traditional media, some
activists took to social networking sites in an attempt to give the
public an alternative to state media. CPJ’s list does not include at
least four activists imprisoned in Azerbaijan this year for creating and
managing Facebook groups on which they and others posted a mix of
commentary and news articles about human rights abuses and allegations
of widespread corruption.
Egypt more than doubled its number of journalists behind bars to at
least 12, including three journalists from the international network
Al-Jazeera.
In recent years, journalist jailings in the Americas have become
increasingly rare, with one documented in each 2012 and 2013. This year,
the region has two: a Cuban blogger was sentenced to five years in
prison in retaliation for his critical blog, and in Mexico, an
independent journalist and activist for Mayan causes has been charged
with sedition.
Other trends and details that emerged in CPJ’s research include:
The 220 journalists jailed around the world compares with the 211 CPJ
documented behind bars in 2013. The 2014 tally ranks the second highest
behind 2012, when CPJ documented 232 journalists jailed in relation to
their work.
Worldwide, 132 journalists, or 60 percent, were jailed on anti-state
charges such as subversion or terrorism. That is far higher than any
other type of charge, such as defamation or insult, but roughly in line
with the proportion of anti-state charges in previous years.
Twenty percent, or 45, of the journalists imprisoned globally were being held with no charge disclosed.
Online journalists accounted for more than half, or 119, of the
imprisoned journalists. Eighty-three worked in print, 15 in radio, and
14 in television.
Roughly one-third, or 67, of the journalists in jail around the world were freelancers, around the same proportion as in 2013.
The number of prisoners rose in Eritrea, Ethiopia, China, Bangladesh,
Thailand, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Egypt, Israel and the Occupied
Palestinian Territories, and Saudi Arabia.
Countries that appeared on the 2014 prison census after jailing no
journalists in the 2013 survey were Cameroon, Swaziland, Mexico, Cuba,
Burma, and Belarus.
CPJ defines journalists as people who cover the news or comment on
public affairs in media, including print, photographs, radio,
television, and online. In its annual prison census, CPJ includes only
those journalists who it has confirmed have been imprisoned in relation
to their work.
CPJ believes that journalists should not be imprisoned for doing
their jobs. The organization has sent letters expressing its serious
concerns to each country that has imprisoned a journalist. In the past
year, CPJ advocacy led to the early release of at least 41 imprisoned
journalists worldwide.
CPJ’s list is a snapshot of those incarcerated at 12:01 a.m. on
December 1, 2014. 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.
Journalists who either disappear or are abducted by nonstate entities
such as criminal gangs or militant groups are not included on the
prison census. Their cases are classified as “missing” or “abducted.”
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