779 journalists were imprisoned in 2023, Reporters Without Borders warns

547 journalists are still behind bars as of December 31, 2023.

In 2023, 779 journalists were imprisoned for more than 48 hours around the world. Among them, 547 are still there and will spend the New Year in prison, deplores, Sunday December 31, 2023, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in its annual report. Another figure which should alert us to attacks on press freedom, after the count of 45 journalists and media collaborators killed in the course of their duties in 2023, revealed in mid-December by RSF.

Four countries are particularly targeted by the NGO since they alone hold almost half of the 547 journalists in their jails as of December 31, 2023: China, Burma, Belarus and Vietnam.

China “remains the largest prison in the world”, denounces RSF. The country imprisoned 135 journalists in 2023, and 121 were still imprisoned on December 29, 2023. Next come Burma (84 journalists imprisoned during the year including 69 still behind bars on December 29, 2023), Belarus (55 including 39 on December 29), Iran, Turkey and finally Vietnam.

A particularly hard year for women journalists

The NGO also warns of the fact that 2023 was a year when prison sentences against women journalists were particularly harsh. “While since 2019, no female journalist has been sentenced to more than 10 years in prison, six of the eight heaviest sentences handed down in 2023 concern female journalists”tried in Iran, Belarus, or even Burundi, notes RSF.

“Over the past five years, at least one journalist has been detained for their work in 86 countries.”

Reporters Without Borders

in his press release

A year ago, Reporters Without Borders counted 569 journalists incarcerated as of December 31, 2022, a “record year”. But through this updated report, the NGO demonstrates once again that the imprisonment of journalists is still as common as ever. and “used in almost half of the countries in the world”.