Number of journalists jailed worldwide dropped in 2007: CPJ

The number of journalists behind bars decreased from 134 in 2006 to 127 at the end of 2007, according to a year-end report issued by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Wednesday. China incarcerates the most journalists with 29 currently in prison, followed by Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, and Azerbaijan. The report also found that the proportion of journalists jailed without criminal charges - one in six - increased for the third straight year. Eritrea and Cuba accounted for most of those cases, but the US is also currently holding two journalists without charges: Al-Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Haj, who has been detained at Guantanamo Bay for over five years, and AP photographer Bilal Hussein, who has been held in a US detention facility in Iraq for 19 months. In November, the US Defense Department said that the US military will recommend that Hussein be charged in Iraqi courts with collaborating with Iraqi insurgents.

Number of journalists jailed worldwide dropped in 2007: CPJ jurist.law.pitt.edu Thu, Dec 6, 2007