SPEECH BY THOMAS S. SARAS, ON THE PRESS FREEDOM Day 2025
Dear friends, Brothers and Sisters in the Canadian Ethnic Press, First of all I want to thank you for being with us tonight, to celebrate the life and struggles of our brothers and sisters, our comrades in our struggles for justice and democracy and the protection of innocent non compact people.
2024, is a record-breaking year for press killings fueled largely by the Israel-Gaza war.
From the statistics of the CPJ we do have for last year 2024
Total number of journalists/ media workers killed worldwide 124 for 113
Total number of work-related journalists killing 103 against 81 before
Highest number of press members killed
By a single country in a year. (Israel) 85 2024 78 2023
Number of Palestinian Journalists/Media
Workers killed 82 2024 75 2023
Number of freelancers killed 43 2024, 24 previously
Among those numbers also included the journalists that murdered by the states as follows:
Haiti 2, India 1, Iraq 2, Israel 10, Mexico 1, Mozambique 1, Myanmar 3, Pakistan 3, Sudan 1.
Besides, in the compiled list of the Committee to Protect Journalists, the International Women’s Media Foundation and the Reporters Without Borders 361 journalist s were behind Bars worldwide at the end of 2024.
This number is up from 320 the number of 2023.
Today the list is referring to
JIMMY LAI, of (HONG KONG)
Since December of 2020 Jimmy Lai Ghee-ying has been jailed in solitary confinement in a Hong Kong maximum security prison. He is 77 year old media entrepreneur. According to his son he jailed for “his dedication to freedom, they have taken his away. For his bravery in standing in defense of others, they (the authorities), have denied him human contact.
SHIN DAEWE (Myanmar)
Award-Winning documentary filmmaker Shin Daewe was ordered a life sentence in 2024 on charges of illegal possession of an unregistered drine, she was ordered and received on line.
FRENCHIE MAE CUMPIO (Philippines).
Have been held in pretrial detention for five years. She was arrested by the authorities on charges of illegal firearms possession and terrorism financing, charges denied by her.
PHAM DOAN TRANG (VIETNAM)
Vietnamese author, journalist and activist Phan Doan Trang, 45 arrested in 2020 and accused of anti-state propaganda.
IHAR LOSIK (BELARUS)
Freeland journalist for Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty Belarus Service was detained in June 2020 in advance of Belarus elections of August. He was tried on Charges including organization of mass riots and incitement to hatred.
SEVINJ VAGIFGIZII, (AZEDRBAIZAN
Since 2023, Azerbaijan has implemented a major crackdown on independent press, criminally charging at least 16 journalists including Sevinj, the editor in chief of anticorruption investigative outlet Abzas Media.
BLADYSLAV YESYPENKO (RUSSIA)
Is one of at least 18 Ukrainian journalists from the occupied Crimea being held in Russia on politically motivated charges.
LI YANHE ( CHINA )
China remains the world’s leading jailer of journalists, holding at least 150 behind bars according to RSF and CPJ reporting in December of 2024.
Among them is Taiwan-based radio host and publisher Li Yanhe who was arrested two years ago during a trip to Shanghai.
MAKHABAT TAJIBEK KZY, AZAMAT ISHENBEKOV, AIKE BEISHAKEYEVA, (KYRGYZSTAN)
In February, Kyrgyzstan’s Supreme Court confirmed sentences against three journalists for charges of calling for mass unrest, claiming they were spreading false information and calling for riots. According to Amnesty International.
JOAKIM MEDIN (TURKEY)
Joakim Madin, is a special correspondent for the Swedish newspaper ETC. He has been held in a high-security prison in Silivri, Turkey by authorities of the dictator Erdogan of this Country. He was arrested earlier in Konstantinoupolis (known as Istanbul), whwile traveling to report on civil unrest in the city and was accused of insulting the dictator president of the country Recept Tayyip Erdogan, and also that he is belonging to an armed terrorist organization .
This is the main way the authorities in this country are arresting journalists that are reporting the truth and only the truth,
Thank you
