NEW YORK: The number of journalists who were imprisoned around the world hit a new record in 2021, the New York-based committee to protect journalists said on Thursday, with China and Myanmar had put a quarter of the bar behind the bar.
In its annual report, CPJ enrolled 50 journalists imprisoned in China, 26 in Burma, 25 in Egypt, 23 in Vietnam and 19 in Belarus.
Adding imprisoned in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, Russia, Ethiopia and Eritrea, CPJ said the total 293 journalists were in prison around the world on December 1 the previous year.
“This is the sixth year in a row CPJ has documented the records of jailed journalists throughout the world,” said Joel Simon, Executive Director of the Group.
“Journalists imprisoned because reporting news is a characteristic of the authoritarian regime,” he said in a statement.
For 40 years, CPJ has condemned journalists killed, imprisoned, censored, physically injured and threatened.
“It’s sad to see many countries in the list of years by year, but it is terrible that Myanmar and Ethiopia are so brutally slamming the door to the freedom of the press.” The association also counted 24 journalists killed worldwide this year.
Mexico “remained in the most deadly country of Western Hemisphere for journalists, with three murders for their reporting and motives for six other murders being investigated,” CPJ said.
India is also high in the list, with four journalists killed this year.
CPJ said the number of journalists behind iron bars reflected “increasing intolerance for independent reporting throughout the world.” The report recorded a restrictive environment for journalists around the world, including laws used to target journalists in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, coup in Myanmar, war in northern Ethiopia and crackdown against opposition in Belarus.