U.S. tied with Burma in jailing journalists

Isn’t freedom of speech one of the cornerstones of democracy? Tell that to the imprisoned journalists in Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. is tied with Burma and placed sixth in nations who jail journalists: “…the U.S. is detaining four Iraqi journalists and a Sudanese cameraman working for Al-Jazeera at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba, the prison for U.S.-declared suspects in the war on terrorism.”

New York (dpa) – The United States and Burma, a country ruled by a military regime, placed sixth this year in a list of countries that put the most journalists behind bars, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Wednesday.

The U.S. and Burma each detained five journalists, CPJ said.

China topped the list for the seventh consecutive year with 32 imprisoned journalists. Cuba followed with 24, Eritrea with 15, Ethiopia with 13 and Uzbekistan with six.

CPJ said a total of 125 writers, editors and photojournalists were imprisoned in 2005 around the world, three more than last year.

The group said the U.S. is detaining four Iraqi journalists and a Sudanese cameraman working for Al-Jazeera at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba, the prison for U.S.-declared suspects in the war on terrorism.

“This is a country where we are trying to foster democracy,” CPJ director Ann Cooper said in reference to the Iraqi reporters. “Detaining people in this fashion and holding them for weeks and months without no charges against them – that is not a lesson in democracy.”

Cooper said it was the first time that the U.S. is holding journalists without formal charges even though it made the list in past years.

CPJ...

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