Monday Map: Journalists in Prison

by Matt Kelley · 2009-06-15 05:59:00 UTC
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The recent incarceration of American reporters Euna Lee and Laura Ling in North Korea has drawn the world's attention to their unjust 12-year sentences for illegal entry into the country. The imprisonment of reporters for pursuing the truth is as old as tyranny - and it's still too common around the world. The pair joins a group of more than 125 reporters in prisons and jails around the world for simply reporting news. Today's map, from the World Press Freedom Committee, shows you where they are.

In Iran, where the state has attempted to stifle international media reports of widespread protests this weekend, Adnan Hassanpour was sentenced to death in 2007 after he reported on violent protests in Iran's Kurdish region. His sentence has been commuted to life, but he remains behind bars. Reporter Roxana Saberi spent four months in Iranian prison for espionage changes this year before she was freed.

Chinese writer and human rights activist Yang Maodong has been in prison since 2006 for "publishing without authorization." He covered cases of government graft and incompetence, and now he has been tortured severely in prison and his family has been targeted by the state as well.

Among the world's worst offenders are China, Cuba, Burma, Eritrea, North Korea, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, according to Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The best way for you to help end the incarceration of reporters is to spread the word about these cases of injustice and call on world officials to act to protect freedom of the press. Sign a petition here calling on U.S. officials to work for the release of Euna Lee and Laura Ling. Follow Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists on twitter to get up-to-the-minute updates on press freedom around the world.

Matt Kelley is the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project and a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow him on Twitter @mattjkelley.
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