Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Dec 14: Iran’s crackdown on protests has contributed to a record-breaking 533 journalists being held in prison around the world in 2022, according to a Reporters without Borders (RSF) report released on Wednesday.
The number has increased from 488 in 2021, which was already a record, according to the French NGO.
With 110 jailed journalists, China continues to be ‘the world’s top jailer of journalists,’ followed by Myanmar (62), Iran (47), Vietnam (39) and Belarus (31).
“Dictatorial and authoritarian regimes are filling their prisons faster than ever by jailing journalists,” said Christophe Deloire, RSF Secretary-General, in a statement.
“This new record in the number of detained journalists confirms the pressing and urgent need to resist these unscrupulous governments and to extend our active solidarity to all those who embody the ideal of journalistic freedom, independence and pluralism,” he added.
According to RSF, which has been releasing the yearly ranking since 1995, the only nation that was absent from the list the previous year was Iran.
It said that after protests erupted in September over the death in detention of Mahsa Amini (22), who had been detained for disobeying the nation’s strict dress code, Iran had imprisoned a ‘unprecedented’ 34 media professionals.
