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Some government regulations to stop Covid-19\u2019s spread\u2014such as mask requirements or social distancing measures\u2014are reasonable and justifiable<\/a>. Personal freedom is not the only value worth defending. Protecting the lives and health of people, especially vulnerable people, warrants certain restrictions.<\/p>\n However, many civil authorities have gone beyond reasonable restrictions to measures such as arresting and imprisoning journalists and others for their statements or shutting down media outlets and other platforms. Such restrictions on free speech sometimes have been questionably justified as necessary to prevent the spread of false information about the pandemic.<\/p>\n These issues\u2019 significance extends far beyond both the current crisis and journalists\u2019 work. Governments with the power to intimidate people or prevent information from being shared can use such power outside public health crises to silence activists or critics, including those working to defend life. Peace, pro-life, and social justice activists are all vulnerable to such power\u2019s abuse. Even public health can suffer because of restrictions on free expression: governments can shut down criticisms of inadequate responses to crises.<\/p>\n Human Rights Watch, in a February 2021 report<\/a>, says that 51 governments have arrested, detained, or prosecuted thousands of people for criticizing the government response to the pandemic or other government policies. Covid-19-related public health measures have sometimes been invoked as reasons for this repression. The Committee to Protect Journalists estimated<\/a> that 274 journalists had been jailed as of December 1, 2020\u2014a new high since the 2016 peak of 272.<\/p>\n Different countries offer various examples of repression. In Russia, government officials prosecuted almost 200 journalists, activists, politicians and others between March and June 2020. Their alleged crime was spreading false information about Covid-19. The Chinese government reported in January 2021 that 17,000 people had been investigated the previous year for \u201cfabricating and spreading Covid-19-releated false information online.\u201d<\/p>\n Indian authorities arrested at least 640 people, including teachers, bloggers, and others, in the spring of 2020 for supposedly publishing false information about Covid. Turkey carried out a similar campaign in 2020 against \u201cprovocative Coronavirus posts\u201d on social media, detaining over 500 people. In Vietnam, officials required 650 Facebook users to remove pandemic-related posts and fined more than 160 of them.<\/p>\n Human Rights Watch also notes that at least 12 countries have shut down, suspended, or otherwise interfered with newspapers, television stations, and social media accounts because of pandemic-related reports. In Malaysia, an Al Jazeera documentary on migrant workers\u2019 plight during the pandemic was met with a police investigation<\/a> that included questioning of journalists, a raid on Al Jazeera\u2019s offices and two local television stations, confiscation of Al Jazeera computers, and refusal to renew two journalists\u2019 visas. A migrant worker featured in the documentary was deported.<\/p>\n Health workers have been among those targeted for repression. Nine medical staff in Egypt who complained about a lack of protective medical equipment and Covid testing were detained on charges including \u201cspreading fake news\u201d and \u201cmisusing social media.\u201d In May 2020, Dr. Ibrahim Bediwy warned about censorship in an online message that said \u201cAny doctor in the current situation is not safe.\u201d Bediwy was then arrested on terrorism charges and detained until January 2021.<\/p>\n Even wealth is not necessarily protection against repressive measures. Ren Zhiqiang, a prominent retired Chinese businessman, harshly criticized the government\u2019s pandemic response. He was then detained by authorities, expelled from the Communist Party, and, in September 2020, sentenced to 18 years in prison<\/a>. The sentence was supposedly for various financial crimes but may well have been punishment for his public comments.<\/p>\n Repression of speech sometimes has been violent or otherwise abusive. In India, police beat journalists<\/a> in Hyderabad and Delhi in March 2020 In April 2020, journalists in Haiti were attacked by unidentified men while investigating claims that the government\u2019s National Identification Office was violating social distancing guidelines. In Venezuela, police detained Iv\u00e1n Virg\u00fcez, a lawyer and human rights activist who had criticized the official pandemic response. While in police custody, Virg\u00fcez was kept handcuffed to a metal tube about two feet off the ground for two hours and denied use of a bathroom for over a day.<\/p>\n Perhaps the most notable example of abusive repression of journalism is the case of Mohamed Monir in Egypt. Monir\u2019s reporting included criticism of the government\u2019s pandemic response. Whether as retaliation for such criticism or for other reasons, Monir was arrested in June 2020<\/a> and charged with joining a terrorist group, spreading false news, and misusing social media. An older man with health problems, Monir spent over two weeks in detention and eventually died<\/a>\u2014of Covid-19.<\/p>\n Given Covid-19\u2019s terrible toll\u2014almost 2.7 million deaths<\/a>, as of this writing\u2014proper public health regulations are essential. However, justifiable concerns about Covid-19 should not be used to justify repressing dissent or criticism of civil authorities. Nor should concern about false information lead us to give government officials the right to decide which information is true or false and to enforce such decisions with harassment, fines, arrest, or imprisonment. Such policies are ripe for abuse and threaten all of us who wish to protect life and are willing to criticize those in power.<\/p>\n ========================<\/p>\n For more of our posts on the pandemic, see:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Mask Up: It\u2019s Pro-Life<\/a><\/p>\n The Random Death Sentence: COVID in Prisons and Jails<\/a><\/p>\n Sickness is the Health of the State? Civil Liberties and Conflict during a Pandemic<\/a><\/p>\n A Healing Metaphor: Pandemic as War<\/a><\/p>\n Post-pandemic: What Worries Me<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cMillions Who Are Already Hanging by a Thread\u201d: The Global Repercussions of Covid-19<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by John Whitehead Shortly after the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a global pandemic, activists and journalists raised concerns about how governments\u2019 response to the crisis might restrict freedom of expression and other civil liberties. More than a year later, we have a better sense of how the pandemic response has limited press freedom and… <\/p>\nPatterns of Repression<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nDefending Freedom of Speech<\/strong><\/h3>\n