The news this year was disturbing as alerts came into the CPU announcing that one newspaper editor had been beheaded by armed men wielding an axe; another was viciously beaten unconscious by drug traffickers; and another killed by a bomb thrown at his head as he got out of his car. Each of these incidences took place in the past six months in Bangladesh and dozens more have gone unreported.

According to international press freedom figures for 2004, five out of the 10 Commonwealth journalists killed were from Bangladesh alone and sixty others were threatened in less than one month. This year Bangladesh was by far the most dangerous Commonwealth country for journalists.

The government of Bangladesh continues to claim that there is no press freedom problem within the country. Yet, CPU colleagues based in Bangladesh say their fear is as rife as the corruption and lawlessness within the country.

"a number of the attacks have been orchestrated entirely by far-left movements, which after years of armed struggle have turned themselves into criminal gangs," writes Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in a report written on 28 June 2004.

According to RSF, more than 20 physical attacks have been linked to the BNP this year and the majority of them have not been investigated, allowing attackers to thrive with impunity.

"Deep political divisions in the country and within the journalism community also contribute to the climate of fear," reports the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), in their 2004 publication The World's Worst Places to Be a Journalist.

"Despite promises from government officials to apprehend those responsible for assaults, the majority of attacks on journalists go unpunished," reports CPJ.

This pattern in Bangladesh has continued from 2003 when violence escalated and more than 51 Bangladeshi journalists were physically attacked, 12 suffered murder attempts and 50 were threatened with death, according to statistics by RSF.

Bangladesh is the most extreme case and sadly shows little improvement. In fact, the lack of change resonates across the Commonwealth as a whole, as it appears that the overall number of threats and the number of casualties is similar to last year.

Ten journalists have been killed in 2004, comparable to nine deaths in 2003, and the worst purveyors of press freedom continue to be in East Asia, including Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

At least 200 journalists were jailed and in many cases tortured throughout the whole of Asia. As issues such as the conflict in Kashmir, stasis in the peace talks in Sri Lanka and corruption grip the region.

Within the Asian Commonwealth, the press in India suffered a number of attacks in the South, including Kerala where a number of attacks against journalists have recently been reported by the Kerala Union of Working Journalists. Also, in the state of Tamil Nadu an editor was detained without explanation under the anti-terrorist legislation. A number more have been killed in the north-western state of Jammu, Kashmir including Asiya Jeelani, a freelance reporter and human rights activist working in northern Kashmir. In Pakistan, reporter Sajid Tanoli a reporter with the regional Urdu-language daily Shumal, was shot and killed in the Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province. The Urdu press within the country still continue to suffer the brunt of all attacks and threats in Pakistan.

However, in a victory for press freedom in Pakistan, editor Munawar Moshin Ali, of the English-language daily Frontier Post was released from his life sentence in prison in Peshawar after the High Court on 12 November acquitted him of blasphemy charges imposed in 2003.

When the CPU visited Pakistan in October 2004, journalists were quite frank with us, explaining that they often find themselves working within the limits of self-censorship.

According to a worldwide press freedom index conducted by RSF, countries including Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Maldives ranked fairly close to Zimbabwe, one of Africa's most conflicted Commonwealth countries.

In Zimbabwe journalists continue to tell the CPU that they are working within the confines of self-censorship and are struggling in an environment of extreme fear and threat under President Robert Mugabe and the Zanu-PF ruling party. The government there has also imposed highly stringent media registration laws which mean heavy fines and prison sentences for journalists who are operating without permission from the state.

The press in other Commonwealth countries within Africa, including the press in Nigeria say they face consistent campaigns of intimidation and harassment from the authorities and police. In September two staff members of Insider Weekly - known for reports of corruption within the government - were arrested during a 12-hour raid on the paper by secret service agents and were held temporarily. Other staff went into hiding. The Committee to Protect Journalists also reported their concern over and SSS raid followed by the arrest of Isaac Umunna, an editorial consultant to the private, Lagos-based weekly Global Star as well as the general editor of Africa Today, a monthly news magazine based in London.

This autumn in Sierra Leone, Paul Kamara, and Editor of popular independent national daily For Di People was sentenced to two years imprisonment in October. Also, journalist Umaru Fofanah, working for the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone was "roughed up" by the head of presidential security while covering a meeting between the President and a UN representative. Also of grave concern to the CPU was the attack on the private-owned printing press of the daily newspaper the Independent in Banjul, The Gambia. It was the second time in six months that the press was the target of an arson attack.

"These frequent violent attacks on the private media is no doubt having a telling effect on the morale of the journalists... it has made us at the Gambia Press Union and indeed all Gambian journalists quite worried and is making members of the public quite wary of dealing with the private media," said Demba Jawo, President of the Gambia Press Union.

Likewise in Cameroon, the press appear to have fallen victim to repression enforced by an aging regime. In the run-up to the 2004 elections Cameroon witnessed the closure of five independent radio stations, including the BBC and two independent television stations in the North West province.

However, some countries within the Commonwealth have demonstrated a move toward greater press freedom over the past two years, most significantly perhaps in Mozambique when six people received long prison sentences in January 2003 at the end of an exemplary trial for the murder of journalist Carlos Cardoso.

I must also make mention of some of the worrying developments in the pacific, specifically in Papua New Guinea. The press in PNG suffered a worrying number of attacks in 2004. A female reporter was attacked in 2003 by soldiers at a military base. In February 2004, 15 men attacked a newspaper in Port Moresby setting fire to the editorial offices. Also, in a recent incident in November, six tribesmen attacked the vehicle of two female Post-Courier Newspaper reporters who were returning from covering by-election preparations. The CPU received monthly alerts from this region, explaining the difficult circumstance that journalists have had to endure in PNG.

Elsewhere in the Commonwealth, within countries which enjoy a relative level of press freedom, we have also seen some worrying developments in legislation. The most significant legislative threat to press freedom in 2004 was again linked to the Anti-terrorism legislation which cropped up in light of the conflict in Iraq.

In a number of Commonwealth countries including Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, the press is now vulnerable to state-led investigations enshrined in the anti-terrorism legislation. In Canada, police went as far as to raid the home of reporter Juliet O'Niell of the Ottawa Citizen causing outrage from the journalistic community and grave concern over the journalists' right to protect their sources.

While difficulties in the Commonwealth have dominated our attention at the CPU, it is impossible to overlook worldwide problems which have had a knock-on effect as Commonwealth correspondents travel to cover conflicts zones such as Iraq, Israel and Palestine. This year 24 journalists were killed in Iraq alone and 20 were killed in 2003. That number continues to rise month after month as the conflict ensues.

The CPU remains vigilant of its colleagues and friends throughout the Commonwealth who are tenaciously working day after day under such volatile circumstances. We welcome information and suggestions from our members on how we can help to better monitor and alleviate their struggles. Should you wish to contact the CPU with information or comments on how we can be of aid please contact the CPU cpu@cpu.org.uk

International Figures: RSF ranks Iraq and East Asia most deadly for journalists Source: RSF, 26 October

Press freedom is most threatened in East Asia including North Korea, Burma, China, Vietnam, and the Middle East, according to RSF's third annual world index of press freedom launched on 26 October.

In these countries, the report says, independent media either does not exist or journalists are persecuted and censored on a daily basis. Also, freedom of information and the safety of journalists are not guaranteed.

The report highlights Iraq as the most deadly place for journalists with 44 killed there since conflict began in March 2003.

Also Cuba is second to China for the highest number of imprisoned journalists and with 26 in jail serving sentences of between 14 and 27 years.

According to the RSF index, the greatest press freedom is to be found in northern Europe (Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Iceland, the Netherlands and Norway) and of the top 20 countries; only New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago and Canada are highlighted outside Europe.

RSF says that other small democracies appear high on the list for press freedom including, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Central America, Cape Verde and Namibia and Timor-Leste in Asia.

Also, of those listed, the countries who have shown a real improvement in press freedom include South Africa, Benin, Cape Verde, Namibia, Mauritius, Botswana, Mali and Ghana.

The list is complied by RSF partner organisations located in five continents, informed by 130 correspondents worldwide, including journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists, who answered 52 questions to indicate the state of press freedom in 167 countries.