According a yearly report, the number of journalists jailed for carrying out their work has hits a new high record with 363 reporters denied of their freedom since December last year.
The Committee to Protect Journalists published its annual prison census on Wednesday – which reports a 20 percent increase from last year.
The report list Iran, China, and Turkey among the biggest jailers of journalists.
The committee says authoritarian leaders have doubled down on their fight against media freedom in 2022 – a year that has been marked by civil protests across the world.
In Africa, the committee says that 56 journalists have been jailed for crimes related to their work, while four have been killed in the same period.
Egypt remains Africa’s highest jailer with 21 journalists behind bars while South Africa does not feature on the list.
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furthermore, the Committee says most journalists are jailed under ambiguous state laws and cyber-crime allegations.
Additionally, it says its census only includes journalists who are in government custody – and not those who have disappeared or been kidnapped by non-state actors.
