Press Freedom: Reports Show Cameroon Still Amongst Top Jailers of Journalists

A recent report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has placed Cameroon amongst the top jailers of pressmen in the whole world.

Global statistics show that more than 293 Journalists around the world have been sent to jail for issues related to their jobs.

Records also show that the most intolerable region of Press Freedom in the World is the Sub-Saharan African Region. In Africa, the world jailers of Journalists is Eritrea, with over 16 journalists imprisoned in their jails.

Eritrea is closely followed by its neighbor Ethiopia with 9 jailed journalists, Rwanda with 7 jailed and journalists, and then Cameroon with 6 jailed journalists amongst others.

In Cameroon, journalists have suffered from massive persecution, with a good number of them facing death threats, or being forced out on exile. The Anglophone crisis has also exercised media stifling by the Cameroonian Government, with journalists often forced to take anonymous covers in reporting about the crisis.

Certain journalists like Samuel Wazizi (who died in detention) and Kingsley Njoka have especially suffered inhumane tortures at the hands of the military for issues related to their profession.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has revealed that the records for this year have increased significantly from what it was in 2020. 9 countries up from 6 in 2020 have jailed journalists, even though it is significantly down from the 12 in 2019.

Nevertheless, the People’s Republic of China has remained the worst jailer of journalists in the world this year. At least 50 journalists have been put behind bars by the Chinese Government, with the crackdown being at an all-time high.