The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an international media advocacy group, has released its 2024 annual prison census, identifying China as the world’s largest jailer of journalists, followed by Israel and Myanmar.
These nations alone contributed to the total of 528 journalists that were detained around the world for their work, a number fueled by authoritarian crackdowns, war, and political instability.
China, Israel, and Myanmar: The top three offenders
China tops the list with 50 jailed journalists, followed by Israel, which has 43 journalists in jail, and Myanmar with 35.
China and Myanmar even regularly appear in CPJ’s yearly prison census list owing to their dictatorial modus Operandi, while Israel’s sharp rise is attributed to its crackdown on reporting and media facilities across the occupied Palestinian territories since the start of the Gaza war in 2023.
The detailed report from the CPJ also focused on how journalists in the occupied West Bank are held under the administrative detention system which permits detention without charge for long periods under the pretext to prevent future offenses.
The same detentions happened in war-torn Gaza but under the Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law which also allows for detaining individuals without formal charges or providing proper lawyer representation.
According to the human rights organisation B’Tselem, Palestinians faced inhuman treatment through the use of arbitrary violence, humiliation, and deprivation all in the name of detention.
Most of the journalists who were detained by Israeli forces were reportedly apprehended for interacting with or taking interviews with individuals of interest to Israeli authorities.
Journalistic repression in India and Bangladesh
In 2024, Asia had the highest ratio of jailed journalists, with 111, or more than 30 percent of the total number.
Bangladesh: In the country, the four journalists who are currently detained were considered close associates of the former Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, who was removed in August 2024.
The media supporting Hasina came under subsequent criminal probes.
India: Three journalists including two from Kashmir were put behind bars. They were arrested as pressures on media freedom in the region escalated after the abrogation of the autonomy of Kashmir in 2019.
Earlier in May 2024, a Reporters Without Borders (RSF) analysis report revealed that India ranked 159th out of 180 countries in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index, falling behind neighbouring Pakistan which ranked 152nd, posing a threat to the world’s largest democracy.
The organisation mentioned that “press freedom is in crisis in ‘the world’s largest democracy’,” referring to India under the regime of Prime Minister Narendra Modi since 2014.
Broader Concerns
The report noted continued repression in authoritarian countries including Belarus, Russia and Vietnam where journalists face imprisonment for reporting on government violations or dissent.
Political and economic crises in countries such as Egypt and Nicaragua also contributed to the surge in journalist incarcerations.
The CPJ pointed to over a hundred new detentions in 2024 revealing that journalists continue to suffer growing risks in war zones, autocratic nations or political turmoil.
CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg stressed that the findings remain more important than ever, pointing out that the attacks against journalists often precede broader erosions of fundamental freedoms.
