The number of journalists imprisoned for no other real reason than doing their job jumped in 2011 by more than 20 percent, according to a report published Thursday by press watchdog organization, the Committee to Protect Journalists.
For more than a decade, China has topped the list of countries with the most jailed journalists, but they have now been supplanted, not because they have improved, but due to a large increase of jailed journalists in Iran, the new leader.
Other notoriously journalist-unfriendly countries like Eritrea and Burma have not cleaned up their acts either, but continued to jail at a rate fairly consistent with earlier figures.
The CPJ annual prison census found that as of Dec. 1, there were 179 known writers, editors, and photojournalists behind bars worldwide, which is an increase of 34, or more than 20 percent, compared to last year’s tally. The list does not include those who disappear, or are abducted by non-state entities.
The CPJ has been conducting these surveys since 1990, and the 2011 figures are the worst since 1996, when Turkey’s suppression of ethnic Kurdish journalists pushed the tally up to 185. The 2011 worldwide figure represents the biggest single-year jump in a decade.
As a region, the Middle East and North Africa was the worst, accounting for almost 45 percent of those jailed. Iran alone has 42 journalists in prison, many incarcerated following the 2009 election unrest, most on anti-state charges. Iran also has a policy of releasing and then re-arresting journalists, often forcing them to pay large bonds to be released, and pressuring them to keep silent or report on colleagues.
“The effect is that many journalists know they should not touch critical subjects. It really affects the way they cover the news because they are under constant fear and intimidation,” said exiled Iranian journalist Omid Memarian, quoted in the report.
The Americas currently have no documented cases of journalists in prison, but Cuba is still using short-term detainment as a way to harass reporters.
Among stable democracies Turkey stands out, with eight journalists behind bars.
China is highlighted in the report for its continued crackdown on journalists who belong to or report about ethnic minorities, such as Tibetans and Uyghurs. It is also suspected that many critical voices jailed in China are unknown.
“We know so few of the names of people who have been detained or imprisoned for political crimes,” said John Kamm, chairman of the Dui Hua Foundation, a group that advocates for Chinese political prisoners, quoted in the report.
Zheng Yichun, a freelance writer whose columns regularly appeared in The Epoch Times, was arrested on Dec. 4, 2004, and sentenced to seven years in prison for “subversion.” The first winner of the Dr. Ranier Hildebrandt International Human Rights Prize, Zheng has, according to his family, been beaten in prison and refused treatment for his diabetes. Radio Free Asia reports his release is expected soon.
The government of Vietnam is especially harsh on online reporters and bloggers who cover politically sensitive material.
In June 2010 the repression of journalists in China leapt the border into Vietnam. Acting in response to a memo from the Chinese Embassy, Vietnam arrested two Falun Gong practitioners named Vu Duc Trung and Le Van Thanh for broadcasting Chinese-language programs by shortwave radio into China. The programs, downloaded from the Sound of Hope Radio Network, included news about the persecution of Falun Gong and China’s dreadful human rights record. In a trial last month that observers described as a “show trial,” Trung was sentenced to three years and Thanh to two years.
In all, 86 of the 179 journalists jailed worldwide primarily work online. For the purpose of its census, the CPJ defines as journalists “people who cover news or comment on public affairs in print, in photographs, on radio, on television, or online. Writers, editors, publishers, producers, technicians, photographers, camera operators, and directors of news organizations are all included.”
In a comment to The Epoch Times, the organization said that the line between blogger and online journalists is not always clear, but bloggers who it feels meet the above criteria are treated as journalists in their survey.
Isolated Eritrea is the second worst country overall, after Iran, holding 28 journalists imprisoned (one more than China). Among them is Swedish-Eritrean editor and author Dawit Isaak, who has been in prison since 2001, despite a considerable international campaign to free him. Neither Isaak nor any of the other 27 has been publicly charged with any crime. CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon called this fact “an abomination” in a press release.
Meanwhile, 41 journalists were killed in 2011 and 649 live in exile worldwide, according to CPJ statistics.
CPJ is an independent, nonprofit organization founded in 1981. Apart from its surveys, it also gives out awards and works actively to free jailed journalists and keep their cases in the public eye through campaigns, which can often be an important measure in keeping them alive.
