Two hundred and seventy-four journalists were jailed as a result of their work globally this year, according to the annual global survey by the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The organization says the record number of affected journalists’ exceeding 272 in 2016 as at December 1 followed arrests of many covering COVID-19 or political instability by authoritarian nations. “Amid the COVID 19 pandemic, governments delayed trials, restricted visitors, and disregarded the increased health risk in prisons; at least two journalists died after contracting the disease in custody.
“China reportedly arrested several journalists for their coverage of the pandemic. The country is the world’s worst jailer for the second year in a row. China is followed by Turkey, which continues to try journalists free on parole and arrest new ones. Egypt and Saudi Arabia went to great lengths to keep in custody journalists not convicted of any crime.
“Countries where the number of jailed journalists rose significantly include Belarus, where mass protests have ensued over the disputed re-election of the long-time president, and Ethiopia, where political unrest has degenerated. No Nigerian journalist was jailed during the year according to the report, but some African countries including Cameroon, Egypt, Morocco, Mali, Eritrea, South Sudan, Burundi, Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Algeria
had a number of journalists being held behind bars.
This year’s report marks the fifth consecutive year that repressive governments have imprisoned at least 250 journalists. Analysts say that International leadership on democracy is lacking. This has contributed to the lackadaisical attitudes of many governments to the plight of journalists. The world needs an example at the global political stage in order to imitate civilized democratic values and freedom of the
press.
“As authoritarians looked at the wrong directions to justify their actions particularly in Egypt – the number of journalists jailed on “false news” charges steadily increased. This year, 34 journalists were jailed for “false news,” compared with 31 last year,” the report stated.