China and Egypt jailed the highest number of journalists in 2015, according to a report released by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists on Tuesday. A total of 199 journalists were sent to prison for their work in 2015, a slight decline from the 221 jailed last year, Al Jazeera reported.
As many as 49 of these were jailed in China, which topped the list for the second consecutive year. Iran, Vietnam and Ethiopia imprisoned fewer journalists this year, but they continue to impose legal charges or harsh restrictions, including forced exile, the report added.
Explaining the situation in Egypt, the committee said that President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi uses the “pretext of national security to clamp down on dissent.” Cairo currently has 23 journalists in jail.
The report also draws attention to the worsening climate for press freedom in Turkey, which ranks fifth in the list, having jailed nearly double the number of journalists this year than it did in 2014.
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