The number of journalists imprisoned around the world has reached an all-time high.
According to a report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 363 journalists will be denied their freedom as of December 1, 2022, a new global high that surpasses last year’s record by 20%.
According to the report, at least 56 journalists will be imprisoned in Africa by 2022, with Egypt being the most repressive.
“Egypt remains the top jailer of journalists across Africa, despite some releases under international pressure. Eritrea is one of the most censored countries in the world. The majority of the journalists imprisoned there have been detained without trial for 21 years since the crackdown on the independent press in 2001,” the report reads.
“Cameroon has appeared on the census every year since 2014, with some currently jailed journalists held since 2016. Senegal has one journalist imprisoned for their work, Pape Alé Niang, marking the first time the country has been on the census since 2008.
“Three of the four jailed journalists in Rwanda are YouTubers. Aimable Karasira and Dieudonné Niyonsenga allege that they have been tortured and ill-treated while imprisoned.
“French journalist Olivier Dubois, who was abducted in Mali in April 2021, and five Tigrai TV journalists, detained in the rebel-held city of Mekelle in the northern Ethiopian state of Tigray, are not included in the census because they are in the custody of non-state actors.”
Between 1992 and 2022, twenty-four journalists and media workers were killed in Nigeria.
On October 13, 2022, Abdulrasheed Akogun and his brother Dare Akogun were arrested on criminal charges for comments they made in a WhatsApp group.
The journalists were charged with criminal conspiracy, defamation, inciting disturbance, injurious falsehood, and cyberstalking, alleging that Rafiyu Ajakaye, the governor of Kwara state’s chief press secretary, financially influenced the outcome of a recent election in the local chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists.
Oloye Samuel, the publisher of Taraba Truth and Facts newspaper and the chief executive officer of Rock FM 92.3 in Jalingo, was recently arrested by state government agents following a report that Taraba’s governor, Darius Ishaku, was planning to sell the state liaison office.
IRAN, CHINA, AND TURKEY TOP THE GLOBAL LIST
CPJ reports that Iran, China, Myanmar, Turkey, and Belarus will be the top five global jailers in 2022.
Hundreds of journalists were arrested in Iran during the crackdown on protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who died in police custody after being arrested for allegedly violating Iran’s hijab law.
“Authorities have imprisoned a record number of female journalists – 22 out of the 49 arrested since the start of the protests are women – a reflection of the prominent role they’ve played in covering this women-led uprising,” the report said.
“In China, authorities tightened online censorship during recent protests over the government’s zero-COVID lockdown policies and several journalists are reported to have been briefly detained while covering the demonstrations.
“The number of Myanmar journalists known to be jailed on December 1 rose to at least 42 – up from a revised 30 last year – as the regime doubled down on its efforts to mute reporters and disrupted the country’s remaining independent media outlets. Many news organizations remain reluctant to identify detained staff and freelancers to avoid the harsher sentences often meted out to journalists.
“The number of journalists held in Turkey rose from 18 in 2021 to 40 in 2022 after the arrests of 25 Kurdish journalists in the second half of the year. The journalists’ lawyers told CPJ all were jailed on suspicion of terrorism – a result of the country’s ongoing efforts to silence those it associates with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
“Belarus held 26 journalists in custody on December 1 – up from 19 last year. Almost half are yet to be sentenced; two serve terms of 10 or more years. All known charges are either retaliatory or anti-state, such as treason.”
CPJ and other human rights organisations, including the United Nations (UN) have continued to call for the release of the imprisoned journalists.
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