By Allan Olingo

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Turkey, China and Egypt account for more than half of the 262 journalists jailed worldwide for their work, hitting a new record in 2017, according to a special report by Elana Beiser of the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ).

The United States and other Western powers failed to pressure the three “world’s worst jailers” into improving the climate for press freedom, resulting in the jailing of hundreds of journalists.

Authoritarian behaviour

The report says that instead of isolating repressive countries for their authoritarian behaviour, the US in particular has cozied up to strongmen such as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and China’s Xi Jinping.

“At the same time, President Donald Trump’s nationalistic rhetoric, fixation on Islamic extremism, and insistence on labelling critical media ‘fake news’ serves to reinforce the framework of accusations and legal charges that allow such leaders to preside over the jailing of journalists.

Globally, nearly three-quarters of journalists are jailed on anti-state charges, many under broad and vague terror laws, while the number imprisoned on a charge of ‘false news, though modest, rose to a record 21,” says the report.

In its annual prison census, the CPJ said that the 262 journalists behind bars around the world in relation to their work, beats last year’s historical high of 259.

China, Turkey and Egypt, are responsible for jailing 134 — or 51 per cent — of the total. The CPJ has been conducting an annual survey of journalists in jail since the early 1990s.

World’s worst jailer

Despite releasing some journalists in 2017, Turkey remains the world’s worst jailer for the second consecutive year, with 73 journalists behind bars, compared with 81 last year. Dozens more still face trial, and fresh arrests take place regularly, mostly for anti-state crimes.

READ: World’s biggest prison for journalists is in Turkey

In China, the number of journalists behind bars rose to 41 from 38 a year earlier. The report also says that more than half of the journalists imprisoned in Egypt, where the number in jail fell to 20 from 25 last year, are in poor health.

Of the 20 journalists in Egyptian jails, 12 have not been convicted or sentenced for any crime. The prolonged imprisonment of Egyptian journalists comes as President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi battles deadly extremism and high unemployment in the country, and as Cairo and Washington co-operate on security.

Draconian law

In April, Egypt passed a draconian anti-terrorism law that furthered its crackdown on the media by, among other things, enabling authorities to put journalists acquitted of terrorism-related charges on a terror watch list that restricts their financial and other rights, according to news reports.

In Egypt and China, like Turkey, by far the most common type of charge against journalists is anti-state activities. Globally, 194 journalists, or 74 per cent, are imprisoned on anti-state charges.

Thirty-five journalists worldwide were jailed without any publicly disclosed charge. Lack of due process in some countries results in such a dearth of information that it is nearly impossible for CPJ to determine what charges a journalist in jail faces, whether they have health problems, and sometimes even whether they are alive.

In places such as Eritrea and Syria, journalists who were last known to be in government custody have not been seen or heard from in years. All seven journalists in Syrian government jails have been there for at least four years, amid unconfirmed rumours of torture or execution.

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