Turkey takes number of journalists in jail to record high globally

PanARMENIAN.Net - More journalists are jailed around the world than at any time since the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) began keeping detailed records in 1990, with Turkey accounting for nearly a third of the global total, CPJ found in its annual census of journalists imprisoned worldwide.

Amid an ongoing crackdown that accelerated after a failed coup attempt in July, Turkey is jailing at least 81 journalists in relation to their work, the highest number in any one country at any time, according to CPJ’s records. Turkish authorities have accused each of those 81 journalists--and dozens more whose imprisonment CPJ was unable to link directly to journalistic work--of anti-state activity.

The global total of 259 journalists jailed on December 1, 2016, compares with 199 behind bars worldwide in 2015. The previous global record was 232 journalists in jail in 2012.

After Turkey, the worst offenders in 2016 are China, which had jailed the most journalists worldwide in the previous two years; Egypt, where the total rose slightly from 2015; Eritrea, where journalists have long disappeared without any legal process into the secretive country’s detention system; and Ethiopia, where longtime repression of independent journalists has deepened in recent months.

This year marks the first time since 2008 that Iran was not among the top five worst jailers, as many of those sentenced in the 2009 post-election crackdown have served their sentences and been released. CPJ identified eight journalists in Iranian prisons, compared with 19 a year ago. However, Tehran is still sending journalists to jail, including filmmaker Keyvan Karimi, who is serving a sentence of one year in prison and 223 lashes in relation to his documentary about political graffiti, “Writing on the City.”