Turkey has been ranked the world’s ninth largest jailer of journalists in 2023, according to the annual report of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
With 13 journalists currently in jail, Turkey shares ninth spot on the list with Egypt, the report found. The country was ranked fifth in the CPJ’s report last year, and held the top spot for jailing journalists in 2016 and 2017. In 2019, the country was identified as having the highest number of imprisoned female journalists.
While Turkey’s 13 imprisoned journalists represent a sharp drop from the 40 documented in CPJ’s 2022 census, the New York-based press watchdog specifically highlighted that two fact-finding visits to Turkey in late 2023 found that the lower number of journalists in prison did not reflect an improvement in the country’s press freedom environment.
“Many journalists released in 2023 remain under judicial supervision, meaning they must report to the police and may be banned from traveling abroad, or are free pending investigation or trial,” CPJ said, recalling that Hatice Duman, who has spent the longest time behind bars of any female journalist in the world, remained imprisoned serving a life sentence. Duman has been behind bars since April 2003 on charges that include propaganda and being a member of the banned Marxist Leninist Communist Party (MLKP).
The report highlights China as the country with the highest number of journalists behind bars, and notes a significant increase in the number of imprisoned journalists in Israel compared to previous years. For the first time, Israel was ranked sixth on the list. The CPJ also noted that more than 80 journalists have been killed since the start of the Gaza war on 7 October.
In its press release on the report, the organisation said that the majority of imprisoned journalists face anti-state charges such as disinformation and terrorism in retaliation for their critical reporting.