China is global leader in imprisoned journalists for a second consecutive year, watchdog group finds

China held at least 47 journalists in jail this year, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, just shy of the 48 it had in prisons in 2019

About half this year are Uygurs reporting on conditions in Xinjiang, a CPJ official says

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Workers walking by the perimeter fence of what is officially known as a vocational skills education centre in Dabancheng in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, about half the reporters in jail in China this year are Uygurs from the region. Photo: Reuters

Published: 1:05pm, 15 Dec 2020Updated: 11:30pm, 15 Dec 2020

China has topped the global ranking of imprisoned journalists for a second year in a row, according to new analysis by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a press freedom watchdog.

At least 47 journalists were imprisoned in the country as of December 1, including those jailed this year as well as those serving longer sentences, according to a CPJ report published on Tuesday. Last year, that number was 48, according to CPJ, which is based in New York.

Around half of those imprisoned this year were Uygurs living in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, said Steven Butler of CPJ, which assembles the yearly data based on public records, media reports and calls to local officials, prosecutors and prisons.

“Many of these journalists [in Xinjiang] are in jail for things like being ‘two faced’, which means, of course, in name supporting the Communist Party but [being] accused of undermining it in secret,” said Butler, the group’s Asia programme coordinator.

Under President Xi Jinping, China has stepped up restrictions on free speech, the report found. Photo: Xinhua

China’s place atop the rankings comes as global figures reached a new high, with at least 274 journalists around the world in prison this year for their work, eclipsing a previous record of 272 set in 2016.

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