The Committee to Protect Journalists recently reported that as of December 1, 2012, there were 232 journalists imprisoned around the world -the most since the CPJ began reporting on imprisoned journalists in 1990.
Turkey led the dishonor role with 49 jailed journalists. According to the CPJ,
…[Turkish] authorities held dozens of Kurdish reporters and editors on terror-related charges and a number of other journalists on charges of involvement in anti-government plots. In 2012, CPJ conducted an extensive review of imprisonments in Turkey, confirming journalism-related reasons in numerous cases previously unlisted on the organization’s annual surveys and raising the country’s total significantly. CPJ found that broadly worded anti-terror and penal code statutes have allowed Turkish authorities to conflate the coverage of banned groups and the investigation of sensitive topics with outright terrorism or other anti-state activity.
Iran, with 45 journalists in jail, and China, with 32, followed Turkey’s lead closely.
According to the CPJ, the following 27 countries jailed at least one journalist in 2012:
- Azerbaijan: 9
- Bahrain: 1
- Burkina Faso: 1
- Burundi: 1
- Cambodia: 1
- China: 32
- Cuba: 1
- Democratic Republic of Congo: 3
- Eritrea: 28
- Ethiopia: 6
- Gambia: 1
- India: 3
- Iran: 45
- Iraq: 1
- Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories: 3
- Italy: 1
- Kyrgyzstan: 1
- Morocco: 2
- Rwanda: 3
- Saudi Arabia: 4
- Somalia: 1
- Syria: 15
- Thailand: 1
- Turkey: 49
- Uzbekistan: 4
- Vietnam: 14
- Yemen: 1