The number of journalists imprisoned worldwide shot up more than 20 percent to its highest level since the mid-1990s, an increase driven largely by widespread jailings across the Middle East and North Africa, the Committee to Protect Journalists has found. In its annual census of imprisoned journalists, CPJ identified 179 writers, editors, and photojournalists behind bars on December 1, an increase of 34 over its 2010 tally.

Iran was the world’s worst jailer, with 42 journalists behind bars, as authorities kept up a campaign of anti-press intimidation that began after the country’s disputed presidential election more than two years ago. Eritrea, China, Burma, Vietnam, Syria, and Turkey also ranked among the world’s worst.

CPJ’s census found stark differences among regions. For the first time since CPJ began compiling annual prison surveys in 1990, not a single journalist in the Americas was in jail for work-related reasons on December 1. Imprisonments also continued a gradual decline in Europe and Central Asia, where only eight journalists were jailed, the lowest regional tally in six years. But those improvements were swamped by large-scale jailings across the Middle East and North Africa, where governments were holding 77 journalists behind bars, a figure that accounted for nearly 45 percent of the worldwide total. Asian and African nations also accounted for dozens of imprisonments.

While Iran’s 2009 post-election crackdown marked the beginning of widespread press imprisonments there, authorities have maintained a revolving cell door since that time, freeing some detainees on furloughs even as they make new arrests. Journalists freed on furloughs often post six-figure bonds and endure severe political pressure to keep silent or turn on their colleagues. “The volume of arrests, interrogations, and people out on bail is enormous,” said Omid Memarian, an exiled Iranian journalist. “The effect is that many journalists know they should not touch critical subjects. It really affects the way they cover the news because they are under constant fear and intimidation.” Among the 2011 detainees is Iranian editor Mohammad Davari, a CPJ International Press Freedom Award winner whose website exposed the abuse and rape of inmates at the now-closed Kahrizak Detention Center. More than half of the Iranian detainees are being held on antistate charges similar to those lodged against Davari.

The number of journalists jailed in the Middle East and North Africa jumped by about 50 percent over last year. The increase came not only in nations such as Syria, where a repressive regime was jailing eight journalists in a desperate bid to retain power by suppressing independent reporting. Imprisonments were also reported in the stable democracy of Turkey, which was holding eight journalists when CPJ conducted its survey. While stepping up their past practice of imprisoning Kurdish editors and writers, authorities have also begun targeting mainstream journalists engaged in investigative reporting. The detainees in Turkey include Ahmet Þýk and Nedim Þener, both prominent authors and newspaper journalists who critically probed government shortcomings. “After the imprisonment of these two journalists, it’s more threatening for all journalists,” said Erkan Saka, a political blogger and lecturer at Istanbul Bilgi University. “There is more self-censorship.”

In a related event, on Saturday speaking at a parliamentary meeting on Thursday, Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin said that the list compiled by Turkish Journalists' Union (TGS) showing 72 journalists in prison was not correct as according to the minister three people on the list do not exist, while six individuals on the list have never been arrested, and 48 of them are members of a terrorist organization.

“I personally researched this list, and I found very interesting data,” Ergin said and continued: “Let me talk about the first person on the list. That person received heavy imprisonment for murdering a person using a weapon that he or she grabbed from a police officer by force and for starting an armed fight against police and firing gun at them. That person’s file has been approved by the Court of Appeals. Now, they list this person as a journalist. The second person [has committed the crimes of] involvement in a protest where someone was kidnapped and taken to the house of a [terrorist] organization, using a gun and fake police ID during the protest, pretending to be police and being a member of the outlawed terrorist organization. The case of this person is final, and she/he has been given a life sentence.”