Tactic
Detention and violence
Arrest, detention, prosecution, imprisonment, physical harm or killing of journalists, where police, soldiers, officials or others acting for a government carried out, ordered or authorised the act. Harm by private people is recorded only when a government actor was involved.
The earliest incident in the record using this tactic is dated 9 March 1913.
The ladder for detention and violence: where this tactic has led, stage by stage
The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.
Incidents by country and year
Argentina, RSF 2026 rank: 98th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 March 1976 | Argentina's military junta threatens journalists with prison for reporting on its opponents | Eliminate | Jorge Rafael Videla | Reversed (10 December 1983) |
Azerbaijan, RSF rank: not recorded
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 September 2015 | Azerbaijan: investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova sentenced to 7.5 years | Eliminate | Ilham Aliyev | Reversed (25 May 2016) |
Bangladesh, RSF 2026 rank: 152nd of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 February 2025 | Journalists beaten in Bangladesh in separate incidents as interim government drafts new cyber laws | Punish | Muhammad Yunus | Ongoing |
Belarus, RSF 2026 rank: 165th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Belarus jails journalist Pavel Sheremet over his reporting for Russian television station ORT | Punish | Alexander Lukashenko | Sustained |
| 18 May 2021 | Belarus blocks Tut.by and arrests its editors as 'extremist' | Silence | Alexander Lukashenko | Sustained |
| 8 February 2023 | Belarus: journalist Andrzej Poczobut sentenced to eight years | Eliminate | Alexander Lukashenko | Reversed (28 April 2026) |
Canada, RSF 2026 rank: 20th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 September 1939 | Canada: War Measures Act regulations authorize review of hundreds of newspapers and ban political organizations | Silence | William Lyon Mackenzie King | Sustained (31 December 1945) |
| 20 July 2021 | Court orders RCMP to stop restricting press access at Fairy Creek logging blockades | Restrict | John Horgan | Reversed (20 July 2021) |
Chile, RSF 2026 rank: 70th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 September 1973 | Chile's military government shuts opposition radio stations and newspapers after the 1973 coup | Silence | Augusto Pinochet | Sustained (1 March 1990) |
China, RSF 2026 rank: 178th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 May 2020 | China: citizen journalist Zhang Zhan imprisoned for Wuhan reporting | Eliminate | Xi Jinping | Ongoing |
Egypt, RSF 2026 rank: 169th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 December 2013 | Egypt arrests and later convicts three Al Jazeera journalists on terrorism-related charges | Punish | Adly Mansour | Reversed (23 September 2015) |
Eritrea, RSF rank: not recorded
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 September 2001 | Eritrea: independent press closed and journalists jailed without trial | Eliminate | Isaias Afwerki | Ongoing |
Ethiopia, RSF 2026 rank: 148th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 September 2025 | Ethiopia arrests at least six journalists including Sheger FM staff over election-year coverage | Punish | Abiy Ahmed | Ongoing (22 September 2025) |
Germany, RSF 2026 rank: 14th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 October 1962 | West Germany: police raid Der Spiegel's offices and arrest its editors over a defense article | Punish | Konrad Adenauer | Unknown |
Guatemala, RSF 2026 rank: 128th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 June 2023 | Guatemala convicts investigative journalist Jose Ruben Zamora on money-laundering charge | Eliminate | Alejandro Giammattei | Ongoing |
Haiti, RSF 2026 rank: 107th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Haiti's Duvalier government arrests and deports Radio Haiti-Inter staff, driving its director into exile | Eliminate | Jean-Claude Duvalier | Reversed (1 February 1986) |
Hong Kong, RSF 2026 rank: 140th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 December 2025 | China (Hong Kong): conviction and 20-year sentence of the media owner Jimmy Lai under the National Security Law, 2025 to 2026 | Eliminate | John Lee | Sustained (8 February 2026) |
India, RSF 2026 rank: 157th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 February 2026 | India: one-year prison sentence for the journalist Ravi Nair in a criminal defamation case, February 2026 | Punish | Narendra Modi | Unknown (10 February 2026) |
Myanmar, RSF 2026 rank: 166th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 September 1988 | Burma's new military government tightens pre-publication press controls after seizing power | Silence | Saw Maung | Ongoing (1 January 1989) |
| 3 September 2018 | Myanmar sentences two Reuters journalists to seven years under the Official Secrets Act for reporting on a massacre | Eliminate | Aung San Suu Kyi | Reversed (7 May 2019) |
| 8 March 2021 | Myanmar junta revokes five outlets' licenses and raids newsrooms after coup | Silence | Min Aung Hlaing | Sustained |
Nigeria, RSF 2026 rank: 112th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 1995 | Nigeria's military government convicts journalists by special tribunal over coup-plot reporting | Eliminate | Sani Abacha | Reversed (15 June 1998) |
Philippines, RSF 2026 rank: 114th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 September 1972 | Philippines President Marcos closes every major news outlet under martial law | Silence | Ferdinand Marcos | Reversed (25 February 1986) |
| 13 February 2019 | Philippines: Rappler's Maria Ressa arrested over cyber libel case | Punish | Rodrigo Duterte | Reversed (14 February 2019) |
Poland, RSF 2026 rank: 27th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 December 1981 | Poland's martial law government shuts nearly all newspapers and interns journalists overnight | Silence | Wojciech Jaruzelski | Reversed (22 July 1983) |
Russia, RSF 2026 rank: 172nd of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 August 1986 | Soviet Union: arrest and seven-week detention of American correspondent Nicholas Daniloff in Moscow, 1986 | Punish | Mikhail Gorbachev | Reversed (29 September 1986) |
| 7 October 2006 | Investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya is shot dead in Moscow; a former police officer is later convicted of organizing the killing | Eliminate | Vladimir Putin | Upheld by a court (9 June 2014) |
| 29 March 2023 | Russia: Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich sentenced to 16 years | Eliminate | Vladimir Putin | Reversed (1 August 2024) |
Saudi Arabia, RSF 2026 rank: 176th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 October 2018 | Saudi Arabia's government kills journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside its Istanbul consulate | Eliminate | Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud | Unknown |
Serbia, RSF 2026 rank: 104th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 September 2025 | Serbian police strike, detain and disarm journalists covering anti-government protests | Punish | Aleksandar Vucic | Ongoing |
South Africa, RSF 2026 rank: 21st of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 July 1950 | South Africa's Suppression of Communism Act lets the government ban publications and restrict individuals | Silence | Daniel François Malan | Reversed (31 July 1991) |
| 19 October 1977 | South Africa bans The World and Weekend World newspapers and detains editor Percy Qoboza | Silence | Balthazar Johannes Vorster | Sustained (1 March 1978) |
South Korea, RSF 2026 rank: 47th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31 July 1980 | South Korea's martial-law government purges journalists who resisted press controls | Silence | Chun Doo-hwan | Reversed (1 June 1987) |
Tunisia, RSF 2026 rank: 137th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 January 2025 | Tunisia's cybercrime decree pushes jailed-journalist count to highest since 1992 | Punish | Kais Saied | Sustained |
Türkiye, RSF 2026 rank: 163rd of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 March 1913 | Ottoman Empire bars lawmakers and officials from editing newspapers and jails a leading editor | Silence | Mehmed V | Sustained (9 March 1913) |
| 1 November 2023 | Turkish authorities detain three journalists under 'disinformation' law | Punish | Recep Tayyip Erdoğan | Ongoing |
| 19 March 2025 | Türkiye: detention, injury and deportation of journalists covering protests, March 2025 | Punish | Recep Tayyip Erdoğan | Unknown (2 April 2025) |
United Kingdom, RSF 2026 rank: 18th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 August 2013 | United Kingdom detains journalist's partner under terrorism law and oversees destruction of Guardian hard drives holding Snowden files | Punish | David Cameron | Upheld by a court (19 January 2016) |
United States, RSF 2026 rank: 64th of 180
Venezuela, RSF 2026 rank: 159th of 180
| Date | Incident | Stage | Head of government | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 July 2024 | Venezuela detains, expels and restricts journalists after disputed 2024 election | Punish | Nicolas Maduro | Sustained |