The number of imprisoned journalists in China is as high as 121, making it the world's largest journalist prison for five consecutive years.

Reporters Without Borders: A total of 779 journalists will be imprisoned around the world in 2023, with China ranking first in the world
The international non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) released a report, counting that a total of 779 journalists were imprisoned around the world in 2023, with sentences ranging from 1 week to 20 years, and 547 of them will "live their lives" in prison. Celebrate New Year”. China once again became the country that imprisoned the most journalists, with 121 people imprisoned.
Reporters Without Borders has been publishing relevant data continuously since 2000. They said that "reporters without borders will only add journalists to the list if they confirm that their death or imprisonment is related to their journalistic activities" and that those on the list will be verified. Since at least 2019, China has become the country that imprisons the most journalists in the world.
However, based on data from Reporters Without Borders alone, China has surpassed Syria since 2016 to become the world's largest prison for journalists and continues to do so today. The reason for this result is not only related to the Chinese authorities’ escalating news control year by year, but also an important reason is the large-scale arrest of Uyghur journalists. According to the report "China's Journalism Retreat" released by Reporters Without Borders in 2021, the Chinese authorities began to suppress Uyghurs in the name of "anti-terrorism" in 2016. In 2021, when the report was released, "71 Uyghur journalists were behind bars." , accounting for more than half of the journalists detained in China.”
In addition, Reporters Without Borders also stated that in addition to these 121 journalists, 14 journalists were detained for more than 48 hours in 2023, but were released before the end of the year.
The countries after China are Myanmar (69 people), Belarus (39 people), Iran (21 people) and Turkey (5 people).
Christophe Deloire, Secretary-General of Reporters Without Borders, said, "Every jailed journalist is, by definition, a journalist who has been prevented from working. But this also means that a journalist will be intimidated in the future." Hundreds, if not thousands, of colleagues also feel threatened overhead. As a result, millions of people may have their rights to press and information violated. Behind these data are human tragedies and political vengeance. I salute the courage of these journalists , regardless of their gender, they dared to come forward despite the dangers imposed by authoritarian governments. I am grateful to the team at Reporters Without Borders, especially our journalists in more than 130 countries, for doing everything possible to secure their release."