KARACHI: Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has revealed that a record total of 533 journalists are currently detained worldwide, while the number of those killed has increased again this year – to 57, some 65 journalists are being held hostage and 49 are missing.
In a report issued today, the RSF said last year’s record had been broken again with a total of 533 journalists being held in connection with their work on 1 December, which was 13.4% higher than last year’s figure. RSF has also never previously seen so many women journalists in detention. A total of 78 are currently held, a record-breaking rise of nearly 30% compared to 2021. Women now account for nearly 15% of detained journalists, compared to fewer than 7% five years ago.
Titled “Asia, gagged courage”, the RSF report mentions assassination of leading journalist Arshad Sharif, who was killed in Kenya on October 23. The RSF report says Arshad Sharif, a well-known Pakistani TV journalist who was critical of the military, fled his country to escape imminent arrest and death threats, but he was shot dead in very suspicious circumstances in Kenya. Although the Kenyan police tried to pass off his death as an accident, evidence gathered by RSF showed that he was deliberately shot at very close range. An international investigation is essential to identify the perpetrators.
Highlighting China, the RSF where censorship and surveillance there have reached extreme levels, continues to be the world’s biggest jailer of journalists, with a total of 110 currently being held. They include Huang Xueqin, a freelance journalist who covered corruption, industrial pollution and the harassment of women.
Also a sign of major repression, the Islamic Republic of Iran, with 47 detainees, became the world’s third biggest jailer of journalists just one month after the onset of massive protests. Among the first journalists detained were two women, Nilufar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, who had helped draw attention to the death of the young Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini. They now face the death penalty.
