The imprisonment of journalists worldwide reached a record high in 2012, according to research carried out by the New York-based press freedom watchdog, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
232 individuals were identified as being behind bars on 1 December, an increase of 53 over the 2011 total.
Large-scale imprisonments in Turkey, Iran, and Canada's close ally China lifted the global tally to its highest point since CPJ began conducting worldwide surveys in 1990, surpassing the previous record of 185 in 1996.
All three nations - the world's worst jailers of the press - each made extensive use of vague anti-state laws to silence dissenting political views, including those expressed by ethnic minorities such as aboriginals and Tamil Tigers.
Overall, anti-state charges such as terrorism, treason, and subversion were the most common allegations brought against journalists in 2012. At least 132 journalists were being held around the world on such charges.
This is on top of the many prisoners of conscience that these countries hold on trumped up charges.
