In 2009, 99 journalists were killed, 136 were jailed and 537 were arrested in the course of doing their jobs. Despite rights enshrined in national and international conventions, journalists still find themselves frequently in peril as they strive to report the truth.

That’s why the 2010 World Press Freedom Day on 3 May is dedicated to journalists in exile; journalists who have had to flee their homes because of their passionate belief that reporting what they see is the foundation of a healthy democracy.

Ehsan Maleki is an Iranian photojournalist who was arrested and forced to flee his country in the aftermath of the disputed 2009 June elections.

“After the election, the ministry in charge of foreign media correspondents officially banned us from reporting the protests, and my editor advised me to stay at home as it was too dangerous for photographers…. They said stay at home, but I couldn’t,” said Maleki in an interview with WAN-IFRA. “I then heard that one of my colleagues who had been arrested was tortured and appeared on television confessing he was a spy.”

Please support journalists all over the world striving to report the truth – sign the petitions here through our website.