At least 250 journalists are jailed around the world, with the largest number held in China, amid a growing crackdown by authoritarian regimes on independent media, a press freedom watchdog said yesterday.
Many of those imprisoned face “anti-state” charges or are accused of producing “false news,” said a report by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, which also cited Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Eritrea, Vietnam and Iran for their jailing of journalists.
The group said that it counted at least 48 journalists jailed in China, one more than last year, as Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) ramps up efforts to control the media.
That put China ahead of Turkey, which has 47 imprisoned journalists, and was its largest number over the previous three years.
However, Beijing defended its press freedoms, saying that the Chinese government was simply carrying out the rule of law.
“No one is above the law,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) told a media briefing, before advising reporters to consider what “illegal things” the 48 jailed journalists did.
The report also said that the situation in Turkey, which had 68 journalists jailed last year, is not really an improvement, but “reflects the successful efforts by the government of [Turkish] President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to stamp out independent reporting and criticism.”
The Turkish government has shut down more than 100 news outlets and filed terrorism-related charges against many of their staff, putting many reporters out of work and intimidating others, the group said.
“Dozens of journalists not currently jailed in Turkey are still facing trial or appeal and could yet be sentenced to prison, while others have been sentenced in absentia and face arrest if they return to the country,” the group said.
Authoritarianism, instability and protests in the Middle East led to a rise in the number of journalists locked up in the region, with Saudi Arabia on a par with Egypt as the third-worst jailer worldwide, each with 26 imprisoned, the report said.
In Saudi Arabia, no charges have been disclosed against 18 of the journalists behind bars, the group said, expressing concern over reports of “beating, burning and starving political prisoners, including four journalists.”
Several of the arrests in Egypt came ahead of protests against corruption in September, which included calls for Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi to resign.
Campaigners have said that the global total of 250 jailed journalists remains disturbingly high, even if it is slightly less than 255 last year and the record of 273 in 2016.
The report said that the group “believes that journalists should not be imprisoned for doing their jobs.”
It cited the case of Chinese freelance journalist Sophia Huang (黃雪琴), who was arrested in October after writing about marching with pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
Globally, the number charged with “false news” rose to 30, from 28 last year. This charge is used most frequently in Egypt, but has also been leveled against journalists in Russia and Singapore.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary