Search, stage: eliminate
The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.
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China (Hong Kong): conviction and 20-year sentence of the media owner Jimmy Lai under the National Security Law, 2025 to 2026
On December 15, 2025, the High Court of Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China with its own courts, convicted Jimmy Lai, founder of the newspaper Apple Daily, on two counts of "conspiracy to commit collusion with foreign force…
Detention and violence · Stage Eliminate · Head of government John Lee · Sustained
China: editor Dong Yuyu is sentenced to seven years for espionage over meals with a diplomat
A Chinese court sentenced Guangming Daily editor and columnist Dong Yuyu to seven years in prison for espionage after his 2022 arrest while having lunch with a Japanese diplomat, a case his son called purely political.
Secrets and espionage laws · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Xi Jinping · Ongoing
Iran: journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi are sentenced to 13 and 12 years
Iranian journalists Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, who broke the story of Mahsa Amini's death in police custody, were sentenced to 13 and 12 years respectively on national-security-linked charges tied to their reporting, and later re…
Secrets and espionage laws · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Ebrahim Raisi · Ongoing
Guatemala convicts investigative journalist Jose Ruben Zamora on money-laundering charge
A Guatemalan court convicted El Periodico founder Jose Ruben Zamora of money laundering and sentenced him to six years in prison, months after his newspaper, known for investigating government corruption, was forced to close; press-freedom…
Detention and violence · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Alejandro Giammattei · Ongoing
Russia: Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich sentenced to 16 years
Russia arrested Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in March 2023 on an espionage charge his employer called fabricated, held him for about 15 months before a closed trial, and sentenced him to 16 years before releasing him in a…
Detention and violence · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Vladimir Putin · Reversed
Russia: journalist Maria Ponomarenko is sentenced to six years for reporting on a Mariupol strike
A Russian court sentenced journalist Maria Ponomarenko to six years in prison and a five-year ban on journalism under a law criminalizing "false information" about the military, after she published a Telegram post about an airstrike on a M…
Insult and defamation laws · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Vladimir Putin · Sustained
Nicaragua strips 94 political opponents, including journalists, of citizenship
A Nicaraguan appeals court stripped 94 government opponents, including exiled journalists Carlos Fernando Chamorro and Alvaro Navarro, of their citizenship, days after President Daniel Ortega released 222 political prisoners to the United…
Expulsion and visa denial · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Daniel Ortega · Sustained
Belarus: journalist Andrzej Poczobut sentenced to eight years
Belarus sentenced Polish-Belarusian correspondent Andrzej Poczobut to eight years in prison on charges of inciting hatred and calling for sanctions, after holding him since March 2021. He was freed five years later in a multi-country priso…
Detention and violence · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Alexander Lukashenko · Reversed
Belarus: journalist Andrzej Poczobut is sentenced to eight years for inciting hatred
A Belarusian court sentenced dual Belarusian-Polish journalist Andrzej Poczobut to eight years in prison on charges of inciting hatred and calling for sanctions, and he was freed three years later as part of a multi-country prisoner exchan…
Insult and defamation laws · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Alexander Lukashenko · Reversed
Russia: journalist Ivan Safronov is sentenced to 22 years for treason
A Russian court sentenced military correspondent Ivan Safronov to 22 years in prison for treason, accusing him of spying for a foreign state, in a case his supporters linked to his 2019 reporting on Russian arms sales to Egypt.
Secrets and espionage laws · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Vladimir Putin · Ongoing
Vietnam: journalist Pham Doan Trang is sentenced to nine years for anti-state "propaganda"
A Vietnamese court sentenced Pham Doan Trang, founding editor of the independent outlet The Vietnamese, to nine years in prison for distributing anti-state "propaganda" under a national-security provision of the country's penal code.
Secrets and espionage laws · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Nguyen Xuan Phuc · Sustained
China: citizen journalist Zhang Zhan imprisoned for Wuhan reporting
China detained citizen journalist Zhang Zhan for posting independent video reports from Wuhan during the early COVID-19 outbreak, later convicting her of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" and, after her release, detaining her again…
Detention and violence · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Xi Jinping · Ongoing
Saudi Arabia's government kills journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside its Istanbul consulate
Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed by Saudi agents inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul; the CIA concluded the crown prince ordered the killing, which Saudi Arabi…
Detention and violence · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud · Unknown
Myanmar sentences two Reuters journalists to seven years under the Official Secrets Act for reporting on a massacre
A Myanmar court sentenced Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo to seven years under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act after police handed them classified documents at a dinner shortly before their arrest, while they were investiga…
Secrets and espionage laws · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Aung San Suu Kyi · Reversed
Azerbaijan: investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova sentenced to 7.5 years
A Baku court convicted investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova on business and tax charges and sentenced her to seven and a half years in prison, in a case CPJ said was payback for her reporting on official corruption.
Detention and violence · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Ilham Aliyev · Reversed
Thailand: magazine editor Somyot Prueksakasemsuk is sentenced to 11 years under the lese-majeste law
A Thai court sentenced magazine editor Somyot Prueksakasemsuk to 11 years in prison under Article 112 of the penal code, the country's lese-majeste law barring insults to the royal family, over two articles he published under a pen name.
Insult and defamation laws · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Yingluck Shinawatra · Upheld by a court
North Korea: American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee are sentenced to hard labor
A North Korean court sentenced Current TV journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee to twenty years of "reform through hard labor" after their arrest for crossing the border from China without authorization, and both were released months later f…
Secrets and espionage laws · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Kim Jong Il · Reversed
Investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya is shot dead in Moscow; a former police officer is later convicted of organizing the killing
Anna Politkovskaya, a Novaya Gazeta journalist known for reporting critical of Russia's conduct of the war in Chechnya, was shot dead in her Moscow apartment building; a Moscow court later convicted a former police officer of organizing su…
Detention and violence · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Vladimir Putin · Upheld by a court
Eritrea: independent press closed and journalists jailed without trial
Eritrea's government closed every private newspaper and jailed at least nineteen journalists, including Dawit Isaac of the paper Setit, without charge or trial in September 2001, after suspending the constitution. Several have never been p…
Detention and violence · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Isaias Afwerki · Ongoing
Nigeria's military government convicts journalists by special tribunal over coup-plot reporting
A special military tribunal convicted four Nigerian journalists as accessories to a supposed 1995 coup plot after they reported on it, sentencing them to lengthy prison terms with no right of appeal, under the military government of Genera…
Detention and violence · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Sani Abacha · Reversed
Haiti's Duvalier government arrests and deports Radio Haiti-Inter staff, driving its director into exile
Under President Jean-Claude Duvalier, Haitian authorities arrested and deported staff of Radio Haiti-Inter, an independent station that had reported critically on the government, forcing its director, journalist Jean Dominique, into exile…
Expulsion and visa denial · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Jean-Claude Duvalier · Reversed
Argentina's military junta threatens journalists with prison for reporting on its opponents
Hours after seizing power on March 24, 1976, Argentina's military junta, led by General Jorge Videla, issued Communiqué No. 19, threatening up to 10 years in prison for reporting favorable to groups it called subversive. Hundreds of journa…
Detention and violence · Stage Eliminate · Head of government Jorge Rafael Videla · Reversed