Nearly half of the 44 journalists imprisoned in China in 2023 were Uyghurs, according to a report released Thursday.
Data from the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ — which offered a global snapshot of journalists jailed for their work as of December 1 — found China had the most media workers imprisoned.
The high proportion of Uyghurs detained in the country highlights the intersection between Beijing’s poor press freedom record and its human rights abuses against the majority-Muslim ethnic group, analysts said.
An examination of the cases of the 19 Uyghurs held showed that critics of the Chinese government often face charges of separatism and terrorism.
Multiple governments have accused China of committing genocide against Uyghurs and other ethnic groups in the northwestern region of Xinjiang. The U.N. Human Rights Office has warned that Beijing may be perpetrating crimes against humanity against Uyghurs.
Beijing denies any wrongdoing in Xinjiang, which some Uyghurs prefer to call the Uyghur Region or East Turkistan.
