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- At least 387 men and women are in prison worldwide for their work in journalism, according to a survey.
- This arises from the annual balance sheet for press freedom, which the Reporters without Borders (RSF) organization published this Monday.
- More than half of these prisoners are distributed in just five countries: China, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Vietnam and Syria.
According to RSF, 54 journalists are currently kidnapped, 4 disappeared in 2020. Some of them reportedly reported on Corona.
More than 130 media workers around the world have been arbitrarily arrested since spring for reporting on the Corona crisis, according to Reporters Without Borders, “many just for hours or a few days, others for weeks. At least 14 of them are currently in prison.
Reports on Corona in Focus
Governments around the world tried to suppress independent reports on the crown crisis and its aftermath. There have been more than 370 arrests, mostly shorter, in Belarus since the controversial presidential election.
“The very high number of jailed journalists around the world sheds a dazzling light on the current dangers to press freedom,” said the organization’s spokeswoman for the board, Katja Gloger.
Trials, arrests, mistreatment
“Too many governments react to protests, complaints or crises like the Covid-19 pandemic with retaliation against those who bring bad news. Behind each and every one of these cases is the fate of a person who is threatened with criminal trials, long prison terms and often mistreatment because he has not bowed to censorship and repression.
Legend:
Government critical journalist Hopewell Chin’ono leaves a prisoner van in Zimbabwe on November 6, 2020.
Keystone
As of December 1, this year only two media workers were in prison less than at the same time in 2019, when this number had risen significantly for the third time in a row and peaked at 389.
The death penalty threatens
The number of jailed journalists in China (117 jailed), Saudi Arabia (34), Egypt (30), Vietnam (28) and Syria (27) only add up to 61 percent of all cases worldwide.
42 of the media workers currently in prison worldwide (11 percent) are women. That’s 35 percent more than a year ago. A particularly high number of female journalists (4 each) are in prison in Belarus and Iran.
On December 1, five journalists were threatened with the execution of their death sentences: four of them are in the hands of rebels in Yemen, and blogger Ruhollah Sam had the Iranian judiciary executed last Saturday.
