Record high for imprisoned journalists worldwide in 2021 - CPJ
The reasons for the relentless climb in the numbers of detained journalists – this is the sixth consecutive year that CPJ’s census has recorded at least 250 incarcerated – differ between countries. But all reflect a stark trend: a growing intolerance of independent reporting. Emboldened autocrats are increasingly ignoring due process and flouting international norms to keep themselves in power. In a world preoccupied with COVID-19 and trying to prioritize issues like climate change, repressive governments are clearly aware that public outrage at human rights abuses is blunted and democratic governments have less appetite for political or economic retaliation.
It’s true that some unexpected countries did buck the trend of putting more journalists in prison. Turkey, once the world’s worst jailer of journalists, is now ranked sixth in the CPJ census after releasing 20 prisoners in the last year. Eighteen remain. Saudi Arabia’s release of 10 prisoners – it’s holding 14 after no new journalists were recorded on the 2021 census – means it is no longer among the five biggest offenders.
However, it would be naïve to see lower prisoner numbers as a sign of a change of heart toward the press. As CPJ has noted, Turkey’s crackdown after a failed coup attempt in 2016 effectively eradicated the country’s mainstream media and prompted many journalists to leave the profession. Turkey’s prison count is also declining as the government allows more journalists out on parole to await trial or appeal outcomes.
In Saudi Arabia, the intimidatory effect of Jamal Khashoggi’s horrific murder and dismemberment in 2018, along with several new detentions in 2019, is likely to have silenced many journalists more effectively than any fresh wave of arrests. In addition, authoritarian leaders are increasingly finding more sophisticated ways to block independent reporters and outlets – notably internet shutdowns and increased surveillance through high-tech spyware – than keeping them behind bars.
China’s relentless incarceration of journalists is not new. However, this is the first time journalists held in Hong Kong are found on CPJ’s annual census – a result of the implementation of the draconian 2020 National Security Law imposed in response to the city’s historic pro-democracy protests.
Eight Hong Kong media figures, including Jimmy Lai, founder of Apple Daily and Next Digital and CPJ’s 2021 Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Awardee, were jailed in a stark blow to the city’s already embattled independent press. Some could face life in prison.
On mainland China, others face a litany of vague Orwellian charges. Freelance video journalist Zhang Zhan, arrested in May 2020 for her critical coverage of China’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, is serving four years for “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble” – a charge often used to target peaceful critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. Others are accused of being “two-faced,” a phrase without legal basis but suggesting surreptitious opposition to the Communist Party and often used against Xinjiang’s Uighur journalists.
China also targeted non-journalists for tenuous associations with the media, arresting 11 people for allegedly sending material to The Epoch Times, a media company affiliated with the spiritual group Falun Gong. The 11 are not listed in the CPJ census because The Epoch Times said they were not reporters, but their detention is an ominous indicator of China’s efforts to stifle media discourse.
Myanmar, which had no journalists in jail as of December 1, 2020, saw the military’s post-coup repression leave 26 journalists in custody 12 months later. The situation, however, is even more dire than this total suggests. Many journalists, among them American Danny Fenster, were released ahead of the census count after months in prison and CPJ’s research suggests there may be others in custody yet to be identified as reporters. In addition, an unknown number of reporters have gone underground or into exile – their departure a significant blow to gains made by independent media under the ousted elected government.
Egypt came in behind Myanmar as the world’s third-worst jailer of journalists, with 25 in custody for 2021. Although a decrease from last year, the ongoing detentions are emblematic of the Abdel Fattah el-Sisi government’s often blatant disregard of its country’s own laws.
Egyptian authorities regularly work around legislation limiting prisoners’ pretrial detention to two years by filing additional charges to extend that period. In other cases, they attach conditions to the releases of those who’ve completed their sentences.
Egyptian photojournalist and CPJ International Press Freedom Awardee Mahmoud Abou Zeid, known as Shawkan, for example, has spent every night in police custody since he was freed from Tora prison on March 4, 2019. Released under “police observation,” he must report to a police station every evening for the next five years. Every evening so far, police order him to spend the night in the station’s cells. Shawkan is also prohibited from managing his financial assets and property for five years.
In sub-Saharan Africa, the biggest setback for media freedom came in Ethiopia. The government of Abiy Ahmed, who became prime minister amidst an unprecedented era of reform after becoming prime minister in 2018, emerged in 2021 as the second-worst jailer of journalists in sub-Saharan Africa, after Eritrea.
Numerous journalists have been arrested in the country since the start of the civil war between the federal government forces and forces led by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) a year ago; nine reporters were still in custody on December 1. Six were arrested in November as the conflict escalated and the government imposed harsh emergency laws. CPJ documented multiple other press freedom violations throughout the year.
Belarus leader Aleksandr Lukashenko, meanwhile, showed how little he cared about public opinion and how much he cared about staying in power by the extreme measures taken to arrest journalist Raman Pratasevich: the outrageous diversion of a civilian RyanAir flight to take Pratasevich off the plane.
Belarus now has at least19 journalists behind bars, up from 10 last year and the highest since CPJ started keeping data on imprisoned journalists in 1992.
One of those in custody is Aliaksandr Ivulin, a reporter for independent sports news site Tribuna. While Ivulin is facing up to four years in prison on charges of violating public order, one of his fans was sentenced to 14 days in detention for wearing a club shirt with the number 25 to a match at Ivulin’s local football club. The reason? That’s the number worn by Ivulin when he played for the club.
In this grim year for free expression, that kind of intolerance leaves little room for optimism that the number of jailed journalists will stop setting records anytime soon.
Committee to Protect Journalists
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