Jonathan, Narinjara News, 17 January 2025

Myanmar (Burma) ranks as the third worst country in the world for imprisoning journalists, according to a report prepared by the New York-based media rights body Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

The CPJ’s 2024 prison census, released on 16 January, lists China as the worst offender, followed by Israel and Myanmar, where Belarus came in fourth and Russia in fifth position in this category.

The census reveals that a total of 361 journalists are currently imprisoned globally where  35 of them are detained in Myanmar.

Since the 2021 military coup which ousted Myanmar's democratically elected government in Naypyitaw, the military junta has been imprisoning journalists with various anti-state allegations.

The military regime has cracked down on Myanmar's media groups, imprisoning and sentencing dozens of journalists to add the number of political prisoners up to 28,000 since it seized political power.

The imprisoned journalists are often tried by the military tribunals, denied legal representations, and also sentenced to multiple years under anti-state laws, including charges of terrorism, fake news and incitement, added the CPJ report.