320 Journalists Jailed Globally in 2023 Including 107 Imprisoned in China

PEN America survey: “Many writers in Hong Kong charged under the 2020 National Security Law saw their trials begin in 2023.”

On Nov. 10, 2020, journalist Bao Choy Yuk-ling (front L2) stands with her supporters who display placards reading "Journalism is not a crime" outside the Fanling Magistrates' Court, in Hong Kong. Choy, a freelance journalist who worked with Hong Kong's public broadcaster RTHK on investigations into the Yuen Long mob attack on July 21, 2019, arrives for the hearing wearing a facemask. She was charged for making a false statement related to her investigation into suspected persons involved in the Yuen Long mob attack for an RTHK TV documentary. Sung Pi-Lung/The Epoch Times

According to statistics from PEN America, China (the CCP) imprisoned a total of 107 writers in 2023, making it the global number one for five years in a row. The survey pointed out that most of the writers imprisoned by the CCP were merely criticizing official policies or commenting on the current political and economic environment. Earlier, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released a report stating that China continued to rank first in the world in the number of journalists arrested in 2023, and it was also the first time that there were Hong Kong journalists imprisoned.

PEN America, headquartered in New York, USA, released the “Freedom to Write Index 2023” on May 1. The report, on a country-to-country basis, mentioned that China imprisoned a total of 107 writers in 2023, making it the number one in the world for five consecutive years.