1. Eritrea
Deciding between North Korea and Eritrea for the first place among the 11 countries without freedom of speech or press almost came down to a coin toss. At the end, the deciding factor was the number of jailed journalists. Eritrea currently has 17 journalists in prison on various charges (in a country with fewer than 6 million inhabitants), while the saving grace for Kim Jong-un’s regime was the lack of data. According to the CPJ’s sources (which can’t be confirmed due to lack of information) at least five journalists have died in prison since 2001. Eritrea’s president Isaias Afewerki, who has been in power since the country’s independence in 1993, has banned all privately owned media from operating and only state-run news outlets are allowed to report on the news.
