{"id":184601,"date":"2018-04-18T17:31:23","date_gmt":"2018-04-18T15:31:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scm.bz?p=184601"},"modified":"2018-04-18T17:31:23","modified_gmt":"2018-04-18T15:31:23","slug":"record-number-of-journalists-jailed-as-turkey-china-egypt-pay-scant-price-for-repression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scm.bz\/en\/record-number-of-journalists-jailed-as-turkey-china-egypt-pay-scant-price-for-repression\/","title":{"rendered":"Record number of journalists jailed as Turkey, China, Egypt pay scant price for repression"},"content":{"rendered":"
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German writer and journalist Gunter Wallraff, second right, joins demonstrators holding placards as they stage a protest outside a court where the trial of about a dozen employees of the Cumhuriyet daily newspaper on charges of aiding terror groups, continues in Istanbul, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2017. Most of them were released from prison earlier this month, but four of them, including editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu and investigative journalist Ahmet Sik, are still in prison. (AP Photo\/Lefteris Pitarakis)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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For the second year in a row, the number of journalists imprisoned for their work hit a historical high, as the U.S. and other Western powers failed to pressure the world\u2019s worst jailers\u2013Turkey, China, and Egypt\u2013into improving the bleak climate for press freedom.<\/em><\/h3>\n

A CPJ special report by Elana Beiser*<\/b><\/h3>\n

Published December 13, 2017 \u2013\u00a0<\/i>The number of\u00a0journalists imprisoned worldwide<\/a>\u00a0hit another new record in 2017, and for the second consecutive year more than half of those jailed for their work are behind bars in Turkey, China, and Egypt. The pattern reflects a dismal failure by the international community to address a global crisis in freedom of the press.<\/p>\n

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Far from isolating repressive countries for their authoritarian behavior, the United States, in particular, has cozied up to strongmen such as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo\u011fan and Chinese President Xi Jinping. At the same time, President Donald Trump\u2019s\u00a0nationalistic rhetoric<\/a>,\u00a0fixation on Islamic extremism<\/a>, and insistence on\u00a0labeling critical media \u201cfake news<\/a>\u201d serves to reinforce the framework of accusations and legal charges that allow such leaders to preside over the jailing of journalists. Globally, nearly three-quarters of journalists are jailed on anti-state charges, many under broad and vague terror laws, while the number imprisoned on a charge of \u201cfalse news,\u201d though modest, rose to a record 21.<\/p>\n

In its annual prison census, CPJ found 262 journalists behind bars around the world in relation to their work, a new record after a historical high of 259 last year. The worst three jailers are responsible for jailing 134\u2013or 51 percent\u2013of the total. CPJ has been conducting an annual survey of journalists in jail since the early 1990s.<\/p>\n

Despite releasing some journalists in 2017, Turkey remains the world\u2019s worst jailer for the second consecutive year, with 73 journalists behind bars, compared with 81 last year. Dozens more still face trial, and fresh arrests\u00a0take place regularly<\/a>. In several other cases in Turkey, CPJ was unable to establish a link to journalism. Other press freedom groups using a different methodology have higher numbers. Every journalist CPJ found jailed for their work in Turkey is under investigation for, or charged with, anti-state crimes, as was true of last year\u2019s census.<\/p>\n

The crackdown on the Turkish press that began in early 2016 and accelerated after a failed coup attempt that July\u2013which the government blamed on an alleged terrorist organization led by exiled cleric Fethullah G\u00fclen\u2013continued apace in 2017. Authorities accused some journalists of terrorist activity based solely on their\u00a0alleged use of a messaging app<\/a>, Bylock, or bank accounts at allegedly G\u00fclenist institutions.<\/p>\n

Because Erdo\u011fan\u2019s ruling AKP party was until recent years aligned with G\u00fclen\u2019s movement, the crackdown sometimes led to patently absurd circumstances. For example, prominent journalist Ahmet \u015e\u0131k was\u00a0acquitted of terrorism charges<\/a>\u00a0in April after a six-year trial in which the defendants said they were victims of police and judicial officials linked to G\u00fclen. \u015e\u0131k remained in jail, however, on fresh terror charges for allegedly being\u00a0linked to<\/i>\u00a0G\u00fclen, and many of the police officers, prosecutors, and judges who brought the original case found themselves accused of terror activity. \u015e\u0131k pointed out the contradiction in a\u00a0lengthy statement to the court in July<\/a>, saying, \u201cIn Turkey, some members of the judiciary have become the gravediggers of justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other cases blatantly demonstrated Turkish authorities\u2019 brutal censorship tactics. On March 31, an Istanbul court ordered the release pending trial of at least 19 journalists jailed in the aftermath of the coup attempt, but the prosecutorappealed<\/a>\u00a0and the journalists were re-arrested before they left the jail. The judges who ordered their release were suspended.<\/p>\n

Erdo\u011fan\u2019s government appeared to pay little price for its repressive tactics. In April, he\u00a0narrowly won a referendum<\/a>\u2013amid procedural objections by the opposition that went unheeded\u2013that will abolish the country\u2019s parliamentary system and grant him sweeping powers. On the international stage, German officials including Chancellor Angela Merkel have repeatedly called for the release of Turkish-German journalist Deniz Y\u00fccel, who works for the German newspaper\u00a0Die Welt<\/i>\u00a0and who has been held without charge since February 14. But the NATO allies are\u00a0<\/a>bound<\/a>\u00a0by Turkey\u2019s role in harboring Syrian refugees and other cooperation agreements. Trump, meanwhile,\u00a0hosted<\/a>\u00a0Erdo\u011fan at the White House in May and more recently\u00a0<\/a>praised<\/a>\u00a0him as a friend.<\/p>\n

Also enjoying global standing is President Xi. In China, the number of journalists behind bars rose to 41 from 38 a year earlier. On a visit to Beijing in November, Trump made no public reference to human rights, despite an ongoing crackdown that has led to the arrests of Chinese journalists, activists, and lawyers. With tensions high between the U.S. and China\u2019s neighbor North Korea, and Trump keen to renegotiate the trade balance with Beijing, \u201cTrump seemed to signal areversal of roles<\/a>: the United States may now need China\u2019s help more than the other way around,\u201d\u00a0The New York Times\u00a0<\/i>wrote.<\/i><\/p>\n

The visit came shortly after Xi\u00a0<\/a>tightened his grip<\/a>\u00a0on power at the Communist Party Congress, where his name was written into the Constitution and no successor was identified. According to news reports, analysts\u00a0don\u2019t expect improvement<\/a>\u00a0in human rights.<\/p>\n

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\"Presidents<\/p>\n

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Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump take part in a welcoming ceremony during a visit to Beijing in November 2017. China is jailing 41 journalists. (Reuters\/Damir Sagolj)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Meanwhile, Nobel laureate\u00a0<\/a>Liu Xiaobo<\/a>\u00a0died of liver cancer in July in a Chinese hospital, after receiving medical parole from prison a month earlier, casting doubt on\u00a0whether he received proper care<\/a>\u00a0in custody. China refused Liu\u2019s request to go overseas for treatment once he was released. The writer\u00a0Yang Tongyan<\/a>\u00a0died in November under similar circumstances, shortly after release on medical parole with a serious brain tumor. Jailed in precarious health is\u00a0Huang Qi<\/a>, who has kidney disease and his lawyer told CPJ that authorities had halted his special diet and medical treatment.<\/p>\n

More than half of the journalists imprisoned in Egypt, where the number in jail fell to 20 from 25 last year, are also in poor health. Among them is photographer Mahmoud Abou Zeid, known as Shawkan, who was arrested covering a violent dispersal of protesters by Egyptian security forces and has been in pretrial detention for more than four years. He and his 738 co-accused are charged with possessing weapons, illegal assembly, attempted murder, and murder, according to CPJ research. Shawkan is anemic and needs blood transfusions, but has been\u00a0denied hospital care<\/a>, according to his family. Of the 20 journalists in Egyptian jails, 12 have not been convicted or sentenced for any crime.<\/p>\n

The prolonged imprisonment of Egyptian journalists comes as President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi\u00a0<\/a>battles<\/a>\u00a0deadly extremism and high unemployment in the country, and as Cairo and Washington\u00a0cooperate closely<\/a>\u00a0on security. Soon after\u00a0el-Sisi met Trump at the White House<\/a>\u00a0in April, his government passed a draconian anti-terrorism law that furthered its crackdown on the press by, among other things, enabling authorities to put journalists\u00a0acquitted of terrorism-related charges on a terror watch list<\/a>\u00a0that restricts their financial and other rights, according to\u00a0news reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"A<\/p>\n

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A protester holds a sign calling for the release of Mahmoud Abou Zeid, also known as Shawkan. Egypt is still detaining the photojournalist, who was arrested in 2013. (AP\/Amr Nabil)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In Egypt and China, like Turkey, by far the most common type of charge against journalists is anti-state. Globally, 194 journalists, or 74 percent, are imprisoned on anti-state charges. Worldwide, CPJ has found that governments use\u00a0broad and vaguely worded terror laws<\/a>\u00a0to intimidate critical journalists into silence. Legal provisions often\u00a0conflate coverage of terrorist activity with condoning<\/a>\u00a0it.<\/p>\n

Thirty-five journalists worldwide were jailed without any publicly disclosed charge. Lack of due process in some countries results in such a dearth of information that it\u2019s nearly impossible for CPJ to determine what landed a journalist in jail, whether they have any health problems, and sometimes even whether they are alive. In places such as Eritrea and Syria, journalists who were last known to be in government custody have not been seen or heard from in years. All seven journalists in Syrian government jails have been there for at least four years, amid unconfirmed rumors of torture or execution. CPJ continues to list the journalists on the census to hold the government accountable for their whereabouts and well-being.<\/p>\n

A change of government, however, may lead CPJ to reclassify a journalist\u2019s status. In Gambia, where long-serving leader Yahya Jammeh was ousted in December 2016, the government of President Adama Barrow has expressed interest in determining what happened to reporter\u00a0Chief Ebrima Manneh<\/a>, who was arrested in 2006 but had not been seen since at least 2008. Jammeh and officials in his government made vague and contradictory statements about the journalist\u2019s status over the years. In keeping with the family\u2019s expectations, CPJ this year moved Manneh off the imprisoned census and on to its list of\u00a0journalists killed<\/a>\u00a0in relation to their work.<\/p>\n

Other findings from CPJ\u2019s prison census include:<\/p>\n