Just Earth News | @justearthnews | 03 Jan 2022, 03:15 am Print

Image: Representational image by Engin Akyurt on Pixabay
Beijing: Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released its latest report recently where it showed that 488 journalists, including 60 women, are currently detained worldwide which include 127 in China.
China topped the list released by the group.
RSF logged a total of 488 journalists and media workers in prison in mid-December 2021, or 20 percent more than at the same time last year.
"This exceptional surge in arbitrary detention is due, above all, to three countries – Myanmar, where the military retook power in a coup on 1 February 2021, Belarus, which has seen a major crackdown since Alexander Lukashenko’s disputed reelection in August 2020, and Xi Jinping’s China, which is tightening its grip on Hong Kong, the special administrative region once seen as a regional model of respect for press freedom," read the RSF website.
RSF has also never previously registered so many female journalists in prison, with a total of 60 currently detained in connection with their work – a third (33 pc) more than at this time last year.
"China, the world’s biggest jailer of journalists for the fifth year running, is also the biggest jailer of female journalists, with 19 currently detained. They include Zhang Zhan, a 2021 RSF Press Freedom laureate, who is now critically ill," read the website.
- Donald Trump-led US government to honour Bangladeshi women student protest leaders who led July uprising for 'bravery'
- Pakistan: Baloch activist Mahrang denied in-person family visit, claims her sister
- Uyghur rapper Yashar Shohret serving prison term in China over composing lyrics deemed to promote 'extremism'
- Insecurity worsens for stateless Rohingya amid slash in aid, says UNHCR’s Grandi
- US Department of State condemns any instance of violence, intolerance against minority communities in Bangladesh