China, world's worst jailer of the press global tally 2nd worst on record

NEW YORK - In the wake of a broad crackdown on
free expression since President Xi Jinping took office, China is the world's worst jailer of journalists, with 44
behind bars, the Committee to Protect Journalists found in its rel= nofollow href= and//cl.s4.exct.net/?qs=63a32f33b1d007ef302bcf38f2a2516bc98717f0d93e96469b53027f6f668475 annual
report on imprisoned journalists released today. In Iran, where President Hassan Rouhani has also failed to
meet expectations for liberal reform, 30 journalists are in prison. The list of
the top 10 worst jailers of journalists is rounded out by Eritrea, Ethiopia,
Vietnam, Syria, Egypt, Burma, Azerbaijan, and Turkey. All
told, CPJ identified rel= nofollow href= and//cl.s4.exct.net/?qs=63a32f33b1d007ef302bcf38f2a2516bc98717f0d93e96469b53027f6f668475 220
journalists in jail around the world in 2014, the second-highest number
since CPJ began taking an annual census in 1990. In rel= nofollow href= and//cl.s4.exct.net/?qs=63a32f33b1d007efd1c9024df5476cadbfcfe980b3d0d1a4b2c5d72a396b49c8 2013 ,
211 were jailed, while rel= nofollow href= and//cl.s4.exct.net/?qs=63a32f33b1d007ef3787b3d89d2fc55212ea4a88dd5b07b55e9f0f5141b4c314 2012
saw the record high of 232. We
may live in the information age, but those who bring us the news are being
jailed in record numbers, said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. From China
to Iran and from Egypt to Burma, hopes for reform have been dashed as
authoritarian governments suppress critical speech at a terrible cost to
journalists. Turkey, which was the world's worst
jailer in 2012 and 2013, released dozens of journalists this year, bringing to
seven the number of journalists behind bars on the date of CPJ's census.
However, on December 14, Turkey detained several more journalists and accused
them of conspiring against the Turkish state. The detentions were born of a
political struggle between President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an's ruling party and
the movement led by U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gülen, and included the
editor-in-chief of one of Turkey's largest dailies, Zaman , which is aligned with Gülen. The
number of journalists in rel= nofollow href= and//cl.s4.exct.net/?qs=63a32f33b1d007ef686dd6beade1bf1152dbcc518fef90eafd60fccfc7f720ec Chinese
jails is the largest CPJ has ever documented in that country. Almost half
of those jailed are Tibetan or Uighur, including academic and blogger rel= nofollow href= and//cl.s4.exct.net/?qs=63a32f33b1d007efd3f4aeb2445ccfe9bf566cbdffdb7d478cba2ccb14275676 Ilham Tohti and seven students who worked on his website.A state
rel= nofollow href= and//cl.s4.exct.net/?qs=63a32f33b1d007ef1f408febb54a433959028ce3d116cf05bd826fc2e7cebd9c crackdown on
independent publications and bloggers in Ethiopia this year more than doubled
the number of journalists imprisoned to 17. The number jailed also more than
doubled in Egypt to 12, including three
journalists from the international network Al-Jazeera. Burma had 10 journalists
in jail, the first on CPJ's census since 2011.Worldwide,
132 journalists, or 60 percent, were jailed on anti-state charges such as
subversion or terrorism­. Online journalists accounted for more than half, or
119, of the total imprisoned, while roughly one-third were freelancers. CPJ's list is a snapshot of those incarcerated at 12:01 a.m.
on December 1, 2014. It does not include the many journalists imprisoned and
released throughout the year. The prison census accounts only for journalists
in government custody and does not include those in the captivity of nonstate
groups. For example, CPJ estimates that approximately 20 journalists are
missing in Syria, many of whom are believed held by the militant group Islamic
State.