In record year, China, Israel, and Myanmar are world’s leading jailers of journalists - Committee to Protect Journalists 1/24/25, 10:29 AM In January 2024, Rwandan YouTuber Dieudonné Niyonsenga, who also goes by Cyuma Hassan, told a court that he was detained under “inhumane” conditions in a “hole” and was frequently beaten. Niyonsenga’s application to have his trial reviewed was rejected and he continues to serve a seven-year sentence. Nigeria is using a cybercrimes law to prosecute its four imprisoned journalists for their reporting on alleged corruption. Despite reforms to the country’s Cybercrimes Act in February 2024, it continues to be used to summon, intimidate, and detain journalists for their work. Burundi held one journalist, Sandra Muhoza, on CPJ’s census day. Her conviction on charges that included undermining the integrity of the national territory re$ected a trend of anti-state charges against journalists in the East African nation. Floriane Irangabiye, sentenced to 10 years for the same charge in 2023, was freed in August 2024 following a presidential pardon. Similarly, in 2020 four journalists with the outlet Iwacu were sentenced to 2 ½ years for attempting to undermine state security, after reporting on clashes with rebels, and freed on a presidential pardon in December of that year. Senegal also held one journalist: Bassène, jailed since 2018 and whose life sentence was upheld by an appeals court in 2024. Bassène did not appear in CPJ’s previous prison censuses because research at that time could not con#rm that his detention was connected to his work. Latin America and the Caribbean Six journalists were held in Latin America and the Caribbean on December 1: three in Venezuela, and one each in Nicaragua, Cuba, and Guatemala. All except Guatemala’s Zamora, who was jailed in 2022, were detained in 2024. "is comparatively low number, however, should not be seen as a positive indicator of media freedom in a region where political instability and authoritarian rule fuel crackdowns on the press. Haitian authorities, for example, don’t hold any journalists in jail, but at least nine have been killed there since 2022 – mostly by criminal gangs – and CPJ’s 2024 Global Impunity Index found Haiti to be the top country where murderers of journalists were most likely to go unpunished. Venezuela’s government responded to nationwide protests after President Nicolás Maduro’s disputed election victory in July 2024 by intensifying its repression of journalists and fostering a climate of fear and self-censorship by framing critical coverage as terrorism or a threat to national security. In Nicaragua, Elsbeth D’Anda was taken into custody after reporting on rising food prices on his television show on pro-government Channel 23 – highlighting the government’s intolerance of even mild scrutiny. In Guatemala, the judicial persecution of Zamora re$ects how legal systems are used to silence journalists and the ongoing erosion of press freedom in the country. Freedom, achieved https://cpj.org/thematic-reports/in-record-year-china-israel-and-myanmar-are-worlds-leading-jailers-of-journalists/ Page 19 of 27