'Disturbing' rise in journalist murders in 2018, says RSF

More than half of all journalists killed in 2018 were deliberately targeted, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Tuesday, noting the high-profile murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The killing of some 63 professional journalists around the world marked a 15 percent increase on last year, RSF said, and the number of fatalities increases to 80 when including all media workers and citizen journalists.

A further 348 journalists are behind bars and 60 more held hostage.

"The hatred of journalists that is voiced ... by unscrupulous politicians, religious leaders and businessmen has tragic consequences on the ground, and has been reflected in this disturbing increase in violations against journalists," RSF Secretary-General Christophe Deloire said in a statement.

The remarks come following the murder of Khashoggi, a journalist and contributor to The Washington Post, who was killed shortly after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is widely believed to have ordered the murder.  

Khashoggi was named Time magazine's "Person of the Year" last week, an honour he shared with other persecuted journalists described as "guardians" of the truth.

RSF issued an "incident report" on Saudi Arabia's press freedom and threat to the kingdom's already poor ranking in the World Press Freedom Index, amid international anger over the murder of Khashoggi.

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Saudi Arabia is ranked 169 out of 180 countries, in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index, according to RSF, which predicts a further fall in the upcoming 2019 index, due to the "gravity of the violence and abuses of all kinds against journalists".

"RSF has noted a steady increase in abuses against journalists since Mohammad bin Salman's appointment as crown prince in June 2017. Khashoggi's murder in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October has shown that, despite a facade of modernism, the regime stops at nothing to silence critical journalists," the group said.

The media watchdog said the number of journalists and bloggers in Saudi prisons has doubled since MbS became crown prince in 2017, most of which were detained during the end of that year.

The RSF statement came as a journalists' rights group launched a campaign at the United Nations seeking a convention to protect media workers' rights worldwide.

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