NYT: U.S. Ranks Sixth Among Countries Jailing Journalists, Report Says

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/14/business/media/14journalists.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1134534545-RMiqbosm3noWxerUtNgrBA&pagewanted=print

U.S. Ranks Sixth Among Countries Jailing Journalists, Report Says

The United States has tied with Myanmar, the former Burma, for sixth place among countries that are holding the most journalists behind bars, according to a new report by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Each country is jailing five journalists. The United States is holding four Iraqi journalists in detention centers in Iraq and one Sudanese, a cameraman who works for Al Jazeera, at the United States Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. None of the five have been charged with a specific crime.

This year, China topped the list of countries with the most journalists - 32 - in jail, many of them for activity on the Internet. This is the seventh year in a row in which China has led the list.

Fifteen of the Chinese journalists are being held under national security legislation for writing critically about the Communist Party online, the report said.