Iran has highest number of exiled journliasts worldwide

Committee to Protect Journalists reports that at least 29 Iranian editors, reporters, and photographers have had to flee into exile in the past year.

The Committee maintains this is “the highest annual tally from a single country in a decade.”

The CPI report states that at least 85 journalists were forced to leave their country in the past year to flee threats and imprisonment. Iran along with Somalia and Ethiopia has the highest number of fleeing journalists in the world.

CPJ also reports that at least half of the Iranian journalists who fled Iran following the disputed presidential elections are currently in Turkey living in “precarious situations.” They are reportedly threatened by individuals believed to be working for the Islamic Republic regime saying their kin back in Iran will suffer if the journalists speak publicly about political issues.

According to a chart published in the CPJ report, the US has accepted the highest number of exiled journalists with 140 while Kenya, UK, Sweden, Turkey and Canada follow with each respectively accepting 57, 34, 26, 23 and 22.