361 journalists jailed in 2024—CPJ census
……Africa records 67 jailed journalists
By George Mhango, Blantyre in Malawi
The Committee to Protect Journalists-CPJ has exposed Angola, Cameroon, Eritrea, Egypt, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Tunisia in Africa as among leading jailers of journalists on the globe in the just ended 2024.
According to a census published this week, Eritrea still remained the leading jailer in sub-Saharan Africa, with 16 journalists incarcerated between 2000 and 2005 still appearing on 2024 survey.
The census indicates that 67 journalists were jailed in Africa in connection with their work last year and most of them are facing anti-state, criminal defamation and false news charges.
“In 2023 about 68 were jailed as compared to 57 of them in 2022. Journalists detained in Rwanda and Senegal speak of mistreatment behind bars, including beatings,” the CPJ census reads.
Many of the journalists in CPJ’s 2024 census have been sentenced to spend significant parts of their lives in jail, and 10 have been sentenced to life; one has been sentenced to death.
A total of 54 are serving more than 10 years; 55 between five and 10 years, and 62 between one and five years.
The census says those held in Eritrea include some of the longest-known cases of journalists imprisoned around the world; no charges against them have ever been disclosed.
“Over the years, Eritrean officials have offered vague and inconsistent explanations for the journalists’ arrests—accusing them of involvement in anti-state conspiracies in connection with foreign intelligence, skirting military service, and violating press regulations. Officials, at times, even denied that the journalists existed,” the CPJ’s census notes.
The mention of Egypt, other countries in the census
The CPJ census further states that Egypt used enforced disappearances—a crime under international law—to intimidate and silence journalists before detaining them.
However, it is said that Egypt violated its own criminal procedure law with a two-year extension of the incarceration of Egyptian-British blogger Alaa Abdelfattah, who should have been released in September.
“In Angola, Carlos Alberto was still in jail on December 1 despite becoming eligible for parole the previous month after his three-year sentence for criminal defamation was reduced to 27 months under a 2022 amnesty law,” it says.
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has found that Lai, Zamora, Eritrean journalist Dawit Isaak, Rwandan journalist Théoneste Nsengimana, and Palestinian journalists Mohammad Badr and Ameer Abu Iram are among those being held in violation of international law, something that CPJ has repeatedly advocated on their behalf.
On the other hand, in Senegal, a CPJ investigation found that René Capain Bassène was jailed for life for a crime that witnesses said he could not have committed.
In fact, Tunisia uses new cybercrime law to jail record number of journalists, the CPJ census found out.
Misuse of cybercrime law to jail journalists
More than 60% of the journalists in CPJ’s 2024 census—228—are imprisoned under a range of broad anti-state laws frequently used to stifle independent voices.
According to the CPJ census often-vague charges or convictions for terrorism or “extremism” make up a significant portion of those cases in countries including Myanmar, Russia, Belarus, Tajikistan, Ethiopia, Egypt, Venezuela, Turkey, India, and Bahrain.
These accusations are commonly levelled against ethnic minority reporters whose work focuses on their communities, with authorities routinely citing journalists’ contact with militant groups – often necessary for news coverage – as evidence of membership in those groups.
Other frequently used charges are incitement, defamation, and false news. Tunisia uses new cybercrime law to jail record number of journalists.
In Ethiopia, five of the six journalists held by authorities are facing terrorism charges after covering the ongoing conflict in Amhara; the maximum penalty, if convicted, is death.
Cameroon and Rwanda each held five journalists, mostly on anti-state or false news charges and Senegal held one journalist.
Nigeria is using a cybercrimes law to prosecute its four imprisoned journalists for their reporting on alleged corruption. Despite reforms to the country’s Cybercrimes Act in February 2024, it continues to be used to summon, intimidate, and detain journalists for their work.
Burundi held one journalist, Sandra Muhoza, on CPJ’s census day. Her conviction on charges that included undermining the integrity of the national territory reflected a trend of anti-state charges against journalists in the East African nation.
The role of CPJ
To prevent arbitrary and retaliatory incarceration of journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists has since called for an end to the practice of detention without charge.
Initially, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights–to which the majority of the world’s leading jailers are signatories–provides that no one should be subject to arbitrary arrest or detention.
Detention is considered arbitrary when, among other things, a victim is not provided with a legal reason for their arrest nor brought before a judge within a reasonable time.
The Committee to Protect Journalists-CPJ also encourages other actors in the international community, beyond those mandated to address press freedom or free expression, to consider the significant impact the crackdown on journalists has on economic development, global security, electoral integrity, among others.
Additionally, the committee in its census has called for the repeal and reform of cybercrime laws that target journalists, saying cybercrime laws and similar legislation governing online content over the past decade increasingly use the guise of ‘fighting cybercrime’ to criminalize and jail journalists.
Adoption of anti-cybercrime by 40 states
The United Nations Convention against Cybercrime was officially adopted in December 2024 and will enter into force once being ratified or accepted by 40 member states.
As CPJ and other groups—including digital security experts, industry, and the United Nation’s own human rights office—have argued, the convention, first proposed by Russia, has broad provisions that risk subjecting journalists and other vulnerable groups to unwarranted investigations, prosecution, surveillance, and transnational repression for exercising fundamental human rights while using digital technology.
China, Israel, and Myanmar emerged as the world’s three worst offenders in another record-setting year for journalists jailed because of their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists’ 2024 prison census has found.
Belarus and Russia rounded out the top five globally, with CPJ documenting its second-highest number of journalists behind bars—a global total of at least 361 journalists incarcerated on December 1, 2024.
Malawi on the other hand uses the Electronic Transactions and Cyber Security Act to charge some journalists, something that points to a larger global trend of using cybercrime laws to target journalists.
This comes as on April 8, the police’s Cyber Crimes Division in Blantyre detained journalist MacMillan Mhone, over cyber spamming”, “publication of news likely to cause fear or public alarm”, and “extortion” under Malawi’s Electronic Transactions and Cyber Security Act.
Recently, International Press Institute-IPI called on the authorities in Malawi to stop weaponizing the law to undermine fundamental freedoms.
CPJ’s annual prison census is a snapshot of journalists jailed globally for their work. The CPJ has its main offices in New York, United States of America-USA.
Fast facts of 2024 African jailers
Egypt-17
Eritrea-16
Ethiopia 6
Cameroon-5
Rwanda-5
Tunisia-5
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