US joins China, Cuba on list of nations jailing journalists- archives documents

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Americas Staff

Web Posted at: 2:29 pm
NEW YORK–China and Cuba were the world’s leading jailers of journalists in 2005, while the United States was listed among the top 10 for the first time, placing it on a par with Burma.

The annual list compiled by the watchdog Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) named 125 editors, writers, and photojournalists imprisoned around the world as of December 1.

China topped the list with 32 journalists in custody, followed by Cuba with 24. The African nations of Eritrea and Ethiopia came next with 15 and 13 respectively.

The United States, which is holding five journalists in detention centres in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, rose to sixth place, just behind Uzbekistan and tied with Burma.

“Anti-state” allegations, including subversion, divulging state secrets, and acting against the interests of the state, were the most common charges used to imprison journalists world-wide, accounting for 78 cases.

“We’re particularly troubled that the list of the worst abusers now includes Ethiopia and the United States,” CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said.

“Journalists covering conflict, unrest, corruption, and human rights abuses face a growing risk of incarceration in many countries, where governments seek to disguise their repressive acts as legitimate legal processes.”

A sudden and widespread crackdown on the Ethiopian press this fall fuelled an increase in the number of journalists jailed world-wide, which was up from 122 in 2004.

The number of countries imprisoning journalists increased from 20 to 24 over the same period.

China topped the 2005 list for the seventh consecutive year. Fifteen, or nearly half of the cases in China involved Internet journalists.