Eritrea among 4 nations noted for jailing journalists

DAKAR, Senegal, Feb 3, 2005 (PANA) — Four countries with long records of press repression – China, Cuba, Eritrea and Burma – account for more than three-quarters of the journalists imprisoned around the world, a new analysis by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) revealed.

“These four countries operate outside the international mainstream,” CPJ executive director Ann Cooper said.

“The widespread jailing of journalists is pursued only by those few nations that distrust their own citizens and care little about the opinion of the rest of the world,” she added.

CPJ’s annual census found 122 journalists in 20 countries in prison as at 31 December 2004, for practising their profession.

The tally is 16 fewer than the year before, a result in part of international advocacy campaigns waged by CPJ and other press freedom groups.

At least 74 imprisoned journalists worldwide were charged under various “anti-state” laws, such as subversion, sedition, divulging state secrets, or acting against the interests of the state, CPJ’s analysis found.

Allegations of “anti-state” activity were made in 14 additional cases in which formal charges were not made public, CPJ research discovered.

“The prevalence of these broad ‘anti-state’ allegations is striking,” Cooper said, adding: “It illustrates the propensity of repressive governments to simply lock up journalists who write critically about public affairs.”

In at least nine cases, CPJ study showed, journalists were imprisoned under defamation, libel or “insult” laws. Authorities also used a variety of other charges, like inciting public unrest, spreading “false” news, and violating restrictive media regulations, to jail journalists.

For the sixth consecutive year, China was the leading jailer of journalists, with 42 imprisoned at year’s end. Cuba ranked second with 23 reporters, writers and editors behind bars, the grim legacy of the country’s massive March 2003 crackdown on dissidents and the independent press.

Eritrea was the leading jailer of journalists in Africa with 17 in prison, many of whom were being held incommunicado in secret jails, according to CPJ research.

In Burma, 11 journalists were behind bars in reprisal for their work at year’s end. Two of those still in jail, documentary filmmakers Aung Pwint and Nyein Thit, were honored with CPJ’s 2004 international Press Freedom Award last November.

CPJ has begun a campaign seeking the release of the two Burmese filmmakers, with 400 prominent journalists and press freedom advocates joining the effort.

CPJ believes that journalists should not be imprisoned for doing their jobs, and that the use of such penalties is debilitating to the fundamental human right to free expression.

This year’s list includes US journalist Jim Taricani, a reporter for WJAR-TV in Providence, R.I., who is serving six months of home confinement for refusing to reveal who leaked a government surveillance tape to him during a municipal corruption probe.

With at least two other US journalists now facing possible federal prison terms – Matthew Cooper of Time and Judith Miller of The New York Times – CPJ has condemned the US government’s stance and noted that it has sent a terrible message worldwide.

Journalists who either disappeared or are abducted by non-state entities, including criminal gangs, rebels, or militant groups, are not included on the imprisonment list.

CPJ is a New York-based independent, non-profit organisation that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide.