PARIS: Sixty-six journalists were killed and more than 1,000 arrested this year, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Thursday, naming cities in Syria, Egypt and Libya among the world's most dangerous places for the media.
"For the second year running, Pakistan was the single deadliest country with a total of 10 journalists killed, most of them murdered. China, Iran and Eritrea continue to be the world's biggest prisons for the media," the group added.
The press freedom group for the first time compiled the world's 10 most dangerous places for the media -- ranging from the Egyptian capital Cairo, to Misrata in Libya and the Khuzdar district in Pakistan.
RSF said a tumultuous year, which included the Arab Spring uprisings and the felling of several veteran Arab dictators, saw a 16 percent rise compared to last year in the number of journalists arrested worldwide.
"Street protests in other countries such as Greece, Belarus, Uganda, Chile and the United States were responsible for the dramatic surge in the number of arrests, from 535 in 2010 to 1,044 in 2011," RSF said in a statement.
It said 20 journalists were killed in the Middle East and an equal number in Latin America "which is very exposed to the threat of criminal violence.
RSF said the world's deadliest places for journalists this year also included Ivory Coast's economic capital Abidjan, where a bloodbath after contested polls claimed around 3,000 lives; Mexico's drug-infested Veracruz state, and the islands of Luzon and Mindanao in the Philippines.
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@MarkH: comments more than 2 - 3 lines .. .people dont read. Be concise and effective.
@KH Mian: uh Western media reports pretty much anything they want and don't even get a fine, let alone prison time or physical harm. They get away with pretty much anything and are far from shy about thrashing the topics you refer to. In fact, it's one of their most favorite things to do. You simply have no idea what you're talking about. You, just like many others, are completely ignorant of the West and how things work. I constantly see things mentioned by Pakistanis that are the complete opposite of how things are run and state it as fact. You're not doing yourselves any favors in the being taken seriously area of things. You know nothing and expect to be treated like you do. That's how everything blows up in your face in a humiliating fashion rather frequently. Don't try to make assumptions based off of how things happen in Pakistan. They're completely different worlds and that is no exaggeration.
And is it first for common people?
Are Journalist are supper human?
@Noor: As usual, focus always remain on negatives while positive things rot
Non-sense!
It was not because they were journalists.
Though not highlighted in media, Pakistan one of the best humanitarian countries in the world.