AZERBAIJAN IS WORLDS SECOND WORST

COUNTRY FOR PERSECUTING JOURNALISTS

Study by Till Bruckner, PhD
tillbruckner@gmail.com
Rabat/Morocco, 21 December 2014
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), China is the worlds worst jailer of
journalists. Why? Because China has more journalists in jail than any other country.
COUNTRY
China
Iran
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Vietnam
Syria
Egypt
Burma
Azerbaijan
Turkey

JOURNOS IN JAIL
44
30
23
17
16
12
12
10
9
7

CPJ RANK
1
2
3
4
5
6 (tie)
6 (tie)
8
9
10

Source of data and graphic: Committee to Protect Journalists report, 17 Dec 2014
https://www.cpj.org/reports/2014/12/journalists-in-prison-china-is-worlds-worst-jailer.php

But which countries persecute journalists most?

Absolute figures cannot tell us which countries persecute journalists most.
Given that China is in the unfortunate habit of throwing troublesome journalists into jail, its bound
to come out of the top of the list because its total population is so large: over 1.3 billion people.
China currently has 44 journalists behind bars. Thats exactly 44 too many. But lets put this figure
into context. China has one imprisoned journalist behind bars per 30.8 million inhabitants.
Presumably, a high number of journalists remain free to walk the streets.
How do the other countries in CPJs tragic top ten perform on a per capita basis?
COUNTRY IN JAIL CPJ RANK POP
POP/JAILED REAL RANK
China
44 1
1356
30.8
10
Iran
30 2
81
2.7
4
Eritrea
23 3
6
0.3
1
Ethiopia
17 4
97
5.7
6
Vietnam
16 5
93
5.8
7
Syria
12 6 (tie)
18
1.5
3
Egypt
12 6 (tie)
87
7.3
8
Burma
10 8
56
5.6
5
Azerbaijan
9 9
10
1.1
2
Turkey
7 10
82
11.7
9
Jail numbers taken from CPJs website. Population data from CIA World Factbook.
Eritrea is the worlds worst persecutor of journalists, with one journalist behind bars for every
260,000 people. (I guess that means not a single journo there remains free.) I wont discuss Eritrea
further because its already notorious for being ueber-oppressive. Its also already a global pariah:
nobody sane would think of organizing an international music or sporting event there.

The worlds second worst country for persecuting journalists is Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijans media persecution in context

With a population of less than ten million people, Azerbaijan currently has nine journalists in jail,
according to CPJ figures. Thats one per 1.1 million inhabitants.

Eritrea

0.3

Azerbaijan

1.1

Syria

1.5

Iran

2.7

Burma

5.6

Ethiopia

5.7

Vietnam

5.8

Egypt

7.3

Turkey

11.7

China

30.8
0

10

15

20

25

30

35

How does Azerbaijans government compare to other oppressive regimes?

Azerbaijans government jails over twice as many journalists as Iran on a per capita basis. Its
also far worse than Syria, Burma or Ethiopia countries whose regimes are fighting bloody
domestic insurgencies.
Azerbaijan jails 28 times as many journalists as China does. If China was as oppressive as
Iran, it would have 1,232 journalists behind bars today, instead of 44.
In a regional context, Azerbaijan also performs dismally. Uzbekistan a country that has
become a byword for oppression has four journalists behind bars, one per seven million
inhabitants. On this sad metric, Azerbaijan out-oppresses Uzbekistan by a factor of six.
If every country in the world persecuted journalists as badly as Ilham Aliyevs regime in Baku
does, over six and a half million journalists would be in jail globally. The actual worldwide
total, according to CPJ, is 220.

CPJs list of the nine journalists behind bars in Azerbaijan, complete with the stories of how they
ended up there, can be found here: https://www.cpj.org/imprisoned/2014.php
CPJs list does not include Khadija Ismayilova, who was only arrested on 05 December 2014:
http://occrp.org/free-khadija-ismayilova/

Azerbaijan jails 28 times more journalists than China does.

Is such a country fit to host the 2015 European Games?
Note: This document, or any part thereof, may be freely reproduced and/or distributed in any form. The author wishes to
make clear that he has no sympathy for the (slightly less) oppressive government of neighbouring Armenia either, and has
no financial or family ties with members of the Armenian community. Tweet with the hashtags #FreeKhadija #Baku2015