Myanmar authorities sentence Kanbawza Tai News journalists to 3 years in prison
Bangkok, December 13, 2021 – Myanmar authorities should release three Kanbawza Tai News journalists recently sentenced to prison for their work and drop all charges against them, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On December 10, a court at the Nyaung Shwe Taung Lay Lone Prison, in Shan state, sentenced editor Nang Nang Tai,…
Number of journalists imprisoned around the world sets new record
China remains the world’s worst jailer of journalists; India and Mexico rank among the deadliest New York December 9, 2021–The number of journalists behind bars reached a record high in 2021, with 293 behind bars as political upheaval and media crackdowns reflect increasing intolerance for independent reporting around the world. At the same time, targeted…
In Benin, growing fears over law that can jail journalists for posting news online
Posting on Facebook from Benin’s Central Office for Repression of Cybercrime on November 18, journalist Patrice Gbaguidi wrote that authorities had summoned him for a second time in two weeks over a defamation complaint about one of his articles. That day, he and Hervé Alladé, the owner of Le Soleil Bénin Infos newspaper where Gbaguidi…
For families of Al-Jazeera journalists jailed in Egypt, an agonizing choice
When Al-Jazeera journalists Mohamed Said Fahmy, Hisham Abdelaziz, and Bahaa Eldin Ibrahim Neamatalla were arrested on terrorism charges in Egypt between 2018 and 2020, their families decided to keep quiet about their detention. They feared that public attention would backfire, leading Egyptian authorities to prolong their relatives’ time in custody or worsen their prison conditions. …
Ethiopia’s civil war dashes once-high hopes of press freedom
In a Facebook post at the end of October, Awlo Media Center, an Ethiopian online news outlet critical of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s administration, announced that the government’s “pressure and obstruction” had forced it to shut down and lay off all of its employees. The closure came after a number of Awlo Media Center journalists…
‘Taken into a cage’: Hong Kong’s sad media milestone
The year 2021 marks a sad milestone in Hong Kong. For the first time journalists in the former British colony appear on CPJ’s annual survey of journalists unjustly imprisoned for their work. Eight. Zero to eight in one year. I first visited Hong Kong nearly 50 years ago as a student and returned to live…
How Myanmar became the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists
Myanmar has catapulted in the rankings of the Committee to Protect Journalists’ annual census of jailed journalists, the repressive upshot of a democracy-suspending February 1 coup that saw authorities suppress news coverage of their harsh clampdown on anti-military protesters. At least 26 journalists were imprisoned in Myanmar for their reporting as of December 1, compared with…
In Belarus, Lukashenko’s vindictiveness reaches new heights
On May 23, Belarusian authorities caused a global outcry when they diverted a Lithuania-bound commercial flight to the Belarus capital of Minsk so they could arrest two passengers on the plane: self-exiled journalist Raman Pratasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega. This shocking tactic was seen as emblematic of just how far President Aleksandr Lukashenko is…
By the region: Where journalists are most at risk of jail or death
CPJ’s annual prison census found that a record 293 journalists were jailed for their work as of December 1, 2021. At least 24 journalists were killed because of their coverage so far this year. Read our analysis of the global data and click here to learn more from our interactive map. Related data and analysis CPJ’s database of…
Two Myanmar journalists injured, arrested while covering anti-military protest
Bangkok, December 7, 2021 – Myanmar authorities must immediately and unconditionally release journalists Kaung Sett Lin and Hmu Yadanar Khet Moh Moh Tun, who were arrested after sustaining injuries covering anti-military protests, and ensure that those responsible for injuring the journalists are brought to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Authorities arrested photojournalist…