Journalists behind bars: 2015 report

Independent - 24 December 2015 - China and Iran top the list of the world’s leading jailers of journalists in a new annual report by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Eritrea, Ethiopia and Turkey also figured prominently on the list.
The report released last week says a quarter of the 199 journalists worldwide who were in prison as of Dec. 1 because of their work were in China. The Communist Party-run country under President Xi Jinping had 49 journalists behind bars, the highest number for China since the CPJ began its annual survey in 1990.
Washington Post reporter is among the 19 journalists that the CPJ lists as being behind bars in Iran, an Islamic republic under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani .
The CPJ report does not list journalists who are held by non-state groups such as the Islamic State but estimates that at least 40 journalists are missing in the Middle East and North Africa, with many thought to be held by militant groups.
A separate report released Tuesday by the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders lists 153 journalists currently imprisoned around the world, along with 161 'citizen journalists.' The report also says 54 journalists are currently being held hostage around the world, with the Islamic State group holding 18 in Syria and Iraq and the Houthi rebel group in Yemen holding 9.