一位乌兹别克斯坦记者自1999年以来一直遭受监禁。一位苏丹主编因批评官方政策被捕。美国在纪念世界新闻自由日之际，强调指出类似新闻记者们的困难处境。
5月3日是世界新闻自由日，美国国务院敦促外界关注记者遭受的关押和人权践踏，包括新闻检查、袭击、威胁、囚禁以及其他压制手段，而记者的处境一直没有得到改善。
保护记者委员会说，乌兹别克斯坦记者贝克亚诺夫是世界上被监禁时间最长的记者之一。贝克亚诺夫是乌兹别克斯坦一家被取缔的报纸的编辑。保护记者委员会说，贝克亚诺夫因捏造的罪名，已被乌兹别克斯坦当局关押了十年以上。
有关当局认为，贝克亚诺夫的健康状况急剧恶化，目前急需治疗。
负责民主、人权和劳工事务的美国助理国务卿马里诺斯基对美国之音说，去年世界各地有70多位记者在工作时被杀害，还有近200位记者被监禁。
马里诺斯基说，在叙利亚、也门、布隆迪、土耳其和利比亚等地，记者的处境尤其危险。
A journalist jailed in Uzbekistan since 1999. A Sudanese editor-in-chief arrested after she criticized official policies. Both are among the journalists whose plights are spotlighted by the U.S. for World Press Freedom Day.
The State Department is marking World Press Freedom Day, May 3, by drawing attention to the ongoing detentions and alleged human rights abuses against journalists that it has previously identified as being “censored, attacked, threatened, imprisoned, or otherwise oppressed because of their reporting” and whose situations have not yet improved.
Among those featured is Muhammad Bekjanov, one of world’s longest-imprisoned journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The group said Bekjanov, the editor of a now defunct opposition newspaper, has been jailed by Uzbek authorities for over a decade on “trumped up charges.”
Authorities believe his health has severely deteriorated and that he is in urgent need of medical care.
Tom Malinowski, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor told VOA that more than 70 journalists were killed around the world, last year, while “doing their jobs,” and nearly 200 were imprisoned.
He cited Syria, Yemen, Burundi, Turkey and Libya as examples of places that are especially dangerous for the press now.