The number of journalists jailed for doing their job has touched a record high this year, seeing a jump of 20 percent as compared to last year with a tally of 323, according to the annual prison census by the Committee to Protect Journalists. India too continues to remain at a record high for the second consecutive year, with seven journalists behind bars, including six charged under the stringent UAPA, it said.

According to CPJ, the countries with the highest number of journalists in jail are Iran, China, Myanmar, Turkey, and Belarus. CPJ said that a “key driver” behind efforts by authoritarian governments to repress journalism is an attempt to “keep the lid on broiling discontent” amid the twin crises of the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“Media suppression in China, Myanmar, and Vietnam make Asia the continent with the highest number of imprisoned journalists – a total of 119,” it noted.

According to CPJ, in India, the seven journalists imprisoned are Aasif Sultan, Siddique Kappan, Gautam Navlakha, Manan Dar, Sajad Gul, Fahad Shah and Rupesh Kumar Singh. Three of them have been in jail for more than a year. It said that the country continues to draw criticism over its treatment of the media, in particular for the use of the preventive detention law, the Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act. This has been used to keep Kashmiri journalists Aasif Sultan, Fahad Shah and Sajad Gul in jail “after they were granted court-ordered bail in separate cases”, the non-profit organisation said.

Worst offenders

Over the past year, Iran has been the worst offender, arresting “dozens of journalists” during the crackdown on the movement sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman arrested for allegedly breaking 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 total 62 journalists behind bars “represent the highest number documented by CPJ for Iran in the 30 years of its census, easily surpassing the previous imprisonment record set during the aftermath of the country’s disputed 2009 election”, it said.

In China, authorities tightened online censorship during recent demonstrations against the government’s zero-Covid lockdown policy and several journalists are reported to have been briefly detained while covering the demonstration, CPJ said. “The slight drop in the known number of journalists jailed in the country – from a revised total of 48 in 2021 to 43 in 2022 – should not be interpreted as any easing of the country’s intolerance for independent reporting. Uighur journalists continue to comprise a significant portion of those serving harsh sentences on nebulous charges.”

The CPJ report notes that Myanmar catapulted into its rankings as the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists in 2021, when a February military coup ousted the country’s elected government. “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 disrupt the country’s few remaining independent media outlets. Many news organizations remain reluctant to identify their detained staff and freelancers to avoid the harsher sentences often meted out to journalists.”

In Turkey, meanwhile, it noted that the situation could worsen ahead of the elections next year. “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. And while even this year’s jump in numbers has left fewer journalists in prison than in the aftermath of a failed 2016 coup attempt, 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 organisation said that several journalists have been arrested in Belarus “against the backdrop of Lukashenko’s ongoing vindictiveness against those covering the aftermath of his disputed 2020 election”. “Belarus held 26 journalists in custody on December 1 – up from 19 last year. Almost half are yet to be sentenced; two are serving terms of 10 or more years. All known charges are either retaliatory or anti-state, such as treason.”