Remembering Their Names
An Exploration of the Growing Epidemic of Wrongful Imprisonment of Journalists by Brianna Bohling-Hall Abstract: This research note is about arrested, detained, or imprisoned journalists around the world as documented in major databases. In it, I examine the demographics and career-related categories of the journalists, followed by an examination of the countries with the highest number of arrests. I also elaborate on the different reasons that journalists have been imprisoned, cases in which a journalist has not been given a trial, human rights abuses that have been committed against them, and how wrongful imprisonment is becoming a growing threat to journalists in the modern world. Of note, it should be known that even during an armed conflict, International Humanitarian Law considers “directing attacks against journalists” a grave violation, including acts that deliberately target journalists or media facilities. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, an organization that monitors worldwide journalist arrests and fatalities, 2,232 journalists and media workers have been wrongfully imprisoned since the database was founded in 1992. The statistics for 2024 revealed higher numbers of journalist arrests than ever before given the ongoing war between Israel and Palestine and the growing conflicts with neighboring countries in the region. Most journalists who have been arrested during the Israel-Hamas War were detained for apparent “anti-state” sentiment, which is a common reason for arrest in various countries. Of the 2,232 wrongfully imprisoned, 1,320 were also charged with anti-state sentiment, with a large portion of arrests providing no explanation into what exactly the journalist Read more