Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

The Committee to Protect Journalists’ annual prison census has found that at least 42 journalists were imprisoned in Myanmar for their reporting as of 1 December.

Alongside threat of prosecutions, Iranian authorities are clearly in a rush to start trials and mete out speedy punishments, says CPJ.

“This year’s top five jailers of journalists are Iran, China, Myanmar, Turkey, and Belarus, respectively. A key driver behind authoritarian governments’ increasingly oppressive efforts to stifle the media: trying to keep the lid on broiling discontent in a world disrupted by COVID-19 and the economic fallout from Russia’s war on Ukraine.”

In March 2022, Russian lawmakers adopted changes to the country’s laws, imposing fines and prison terms for discrediting the military and the actions of government agencies abroad, or spreading “fake” information about them. Badmayev faces up to three years in prison if convicted.

Authorities must thoroughly investigate the killing of journalist Wilder Alfredo Córdoba. Local journalists covering corruption in Colombia’s small cities and towns too often face deadly retaliation for their reporting.

CPJ joined eight civil society groups and press freedom organizations in a letter to the communications working group of the Brazilian transitional government, urging the incoming federal administration to adopt measures to protect press freedom and the safety of journalists.

Indonesia’s new code imposes prison terms of up to three years for insulting the country’s president or vice president.

Two radio stations accused of exchanging insults aimed at each other’s owners, have been suspended for fanning political tensions in the region.