In its annual census the New York-based organization counted 361 people as being in prison on December 1, 2024, its highest total since 2022, when 370 were counted.

China, Israel, and Myanmar -- with 50, 43 and 35 journalists detained, respectively -- "emerged as the world's three worst offenders in another record-setting year for journalists jailed because of their work," CPJ said.

The organization said China's "pervasive censorship" made it difficult to determine the exact number of journalists jailed there and highlighted rising cases in Hong Kong, notably the continued imprisonment of media tycoon Jimmy Lai.

Lai has been jailed since December 2020 and is one of the most prominent figures to be prosecuted under Hong Kong's national security law, which was imposed following huge pro-democracy protests in the city.

The 77-year-old is currently on trial over charges of colluding with foreign forces -- which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

"These numbers should be a wake-up call for us all," CPJ's chief executive Jodie Ginsberg said in a statement.

"A rise in attacks on journalists almost always precedes a rise in attacks on other freedoms -- the freedom to give and receive information, the freedom to assemble and move freely, the freedom to protest."

CPJ said that Israel, a multi-party democracy, had rarely appeared on the annual prison sentence before the outbreak of the Gaza war in 2023.

It nonetheless "catapulted to second-place last year as it tried to silence coverage from the occupied Palestinian territories," CPJ said, noting all journalists detained by Israel were Palestinians.

Asia remained the region with the highest number of jailed journalists, with Vietnam (16), Afghanistan (2), Bangladesh (4), India (3) and the Philippines (1) adding to China and Myanmar's world-leading figures.

"Journalists who were merely seeking to expose corruption and wrongdoing, or the devastating impact of climate change on local communities, have found themselves thrown behind bars," CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi said in a statement.

"There is no way to suppress the truth forever, it is high time for Asian governments to realise this and stop targeting journalists."