Top 10 Countries with the Least Freedom of Speech

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Despite living in our modern times where human rights and freedom of speech are regarded as something completely natural in western countries, it is not the case for many countries in the world. In fact, people from many countries in Asia, South America and Africa live in constant fear of retaliation, censorship, or sanctions from the government for simply expressing their opinions. With that in mind, check out below for the list of the top 10 countries with the least freedom of speech.

#10: Belarus

Belarus is one of the top countries with the least amount of freedom of speech. In fact, the President of Belarus, Alyaksandr Lukashenko, leads an authoritarian and austere regime that crushes all groups that promote political or societal dissent. The country elected him as President for the first time in 1994. He remains president to this day as the people constantly re-elect in. According to the country’s constitution this is legal as there are no term limits regarding the president. However, Lukashenko has prevented many leading opposition figures from running for presidents themselves. Therefore, he doesn’t have any opposition parties in the National Assembly of Belarus. He has essentially made himself leader for life.

In addition, the government holds national television under a tight control. They prevent negative views of the government from ever being represented on TV. However, with the advent of the internet, more and more citizens go online to get their access to the press and freedom of speech. However, the government is also trying to control access to the web in Belarus as well. In fact, the government has blocked several social networks. Furthermore, they also block any online opposition activists.^[1]Human Rights House Foundation -Belarus recognized as one of the worst countries in terms of freedoms of speech^[2]Human Rights Watch – Belarus

#9: Cuba

Cuba has made significant steps in becoming freer since Fidel Castro stepped down from the presidency in 2008 for his brother Raul. However, it still has a long way to go before the rest of the world really considers it to have right to true freedom of speech.

A one-party Communist political system rules Cuba. The party does not allow any other political organizations to rise up to oppose it. In fact, the ruling Communist party has made it illegal to even criticize them. They have used this tactic many times in order to intimidate anyone from starting opposing parties as well as to scary independent journalists who might express negative views of the country’s government.

Furthermore, the state runs the Cuban media. Therefore, most journalists and bloggers who want to have some sense of freedom of speech must work online. However, they must use websites that are hosted in overseas countries or within the embassies of foreign countries. However, this is very difficult for the common Cuban as the price of internet access is very expensive in Cuba. First, most people do not have access to the internet in their homes. Furthermore, the price for one hour at an internet cafe is roughly equivalent to a week’s salary.^[3]Amnesty International – Six facts about censorship in Cuba^[4]Freedom House – Cuba

#8: Saudi Arabia

Unlike many western countries, such as Denmark, that have a monarchy, Saudi Arabia has an absolute monarchy. The current rule of Saudi Arabia is King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud. Their legal system uses Islamic Sharia law and the Quran as its basis. It goes without saying, that all the people in the country must be Muslims by law. In fact, under no circumstances are Saudis allowed to practice any other religion. In addition, women are severely oppressed in the country. For example, before they were not allowed to drive a car or leave their home if they were not accompanied by a male relative.^[5]Freedom House – Saudi Arabia^[6]The Guardian – UN accuses Saudi Arabia of using terror laws to suppress free speech

It goes without saying that to criticize the government is a serious crime with heavy consequences. The government punishes any efforts to pass legislation that go against Sharia.
Furthermore, the members of the royal family have near full control of the country’s media. In fact, they have jailed many journalists for expressing opinions that were against the royal family. To keep up with current technology, in April 2014, the General Commission for Audiovisual Media announced that they would also monitor the contents of YouTube, in order to make sure that the videos broadcast there adhered to the government guidelines.

#7: Eritrea

Eritrea is a small east African nation. The one and only political party is the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice. President Isaias Afwerki is the head of the party and country and has been in power since 1993. Despite the country’s official name, political pundits have designated the country as “not free” for 19 consecutive year. In fact, Afwerki has maintained an authoritarian regime since 2000.

The government does not allow independent media to operate in the country. Rather, the country controls all of the broadcasting outlets. In addition, the employees for the state media work in constant fear of arrest on the chance that one of their reports appears to be critical for the ruling party, or the president. Statistically speaking, Eritrea is the country with the most jailed journalists in Africa. Unfortunately, most of the time, they don’t even go to trial before being taken to prison.^[7]Freedom House – Eritrea^[8]Freedom House – Eritrea Freedom of the Press 2016

#6: China

The current head of China is President Xi Jingping. The Chinese Communist Party elected him in 2013. Since then he has headed a strong campaign against corrupt officials and business leaders both in China and abroad. This campaign has corroded the civil and political freedom of the Chinese people. In fact, the government now often checks many organizations and labor groups. This is because the Chinese Communist Party does not tolerate any form of organized opposition. Since 2014, the government has detained more than 200 activists.
Unfortunately, this does not come as too much of a shock as for more than a decade, China has ranked among the top three jailers of journalists in the whole world.^[9]Congressional-Executive Commission on China – Freedom of Expression in China: A Privilege, Not a Right

#5: North Korea

North Korea is one of the worst offenders of the right to freedom of speech. The Kim family has ruled the country for decades. The current leader is Kim Jong Un. He succeeded his father Kim Jong Il in 2011, who himself had succeeded his own father Kim Il-Sung in 1994. All three Kims held the position of the Supreme Leader of North Korea. The country runs as a single-party state called the Worker’s Party of Korea. Human rights activists around the world regard the country as the least free country in the world.^[10]Human Rights Watch – North Korea For example, only a few high-ranking officials even have access to the internet. In addition, academic freedom is non-existent.

Anyone who opposes the ruling Kim family are quickly and severely dealt with. This even goes to close family members. For example, around 2013, Kim Jong Un ordered his uncle, Jang Song Thaek to be executed. Afterwards, any mention of Jang was removed from every media archive. In addition, the name Jang now means a despicable human scum, who is worse than a dog.

 

#4: Ethiopia

Ethiopia has a very bad record with freedom of speech. This is best represented with the country’s recent Parliamentary election cycle in 2015. During this time, the ruling governing party was in a full out war with the few remaining independent publications. They arrested many journalists and intimidated the printing and distribution companies. Today, the few remaining international journalists who still work in Ethiopia are under strict surveillance and are often harassed.^[11]allAfrica – Ethiopia: Freedom of Expression in Ethiopia Then and Now^[12]Freedom House – Ethiopia

#3: Azerbaijan

The current ruler of Azerbaijan is the President Ilham Aliyev. He came into power in October of 2003 after succeeded his father. The country has a very poor record with regards to freedom of speech. In fact, the government controls all broadcasting and distribution of information in the country. In addition, the government has banned ll international broadcasters. Just in case any do manage to get in the country, the government makes sure to jam their satellite signals. In addition, any journalist that publishes news that is critical of the government will get instantly get harassed by the government officials. These harassment include lawsuits, evictions, and bans on foreign funding. In addition, the government has put into place a defamation law that can put offenders in prison for up to six-months.^[13]Freedom House – Azerbaijan

#2: Vietnam

Since 2006, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has ruled Vietnam. The ruling party is Vietnam’s Communist Party, which is also the only political party in the country. Vietnam has one of the worst freedom of speech records in the world. In fact, the government does not allow private printing companies or broadcast outlets.

Since the Media Law of 1999, all media in the country must serve as the mouthpiece of the government. In addition, the Central Propaganda Department holds mandatory meetings with all the media outlets. In these meetings they give them the topics that they should promote as well as those to completely avoid. It goes without saying that the government strictly forbids the media from talking about anything that defames the government, promotes the activities of activists, and advocates human rights. In addition, the government also controls Internet access in the country by blocking all websites that oppose the government.^[14]Human Rights Watch – Vietnam

#1: Iran

The Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been the head of Iran since 1989. While there is also a president of Iran, the real political power is in the hands of the Supreme Leader. As the Supreme Leader of Iran, Khamenei is the official head of state as well as the highest ranking religious and political authority in the country. He controls many different important government organizations such as the state run television, judicial system, as well as the military.

It goes without saying that Iran is another country that tightly controls the freedom of speech. In fact, the government takes great efforts to silence and scare dissident journalists. They have either jailed many of the country’s journalists or forced them to flee the country and hide in exile.  Furthermore, the government actively censors the internet by blocking millions of websites, such as news and social media sites, within Iran.^[15]Freedom House – Freedom of the Press 2017