The number of journalists imprisoned worldwide reached 145 this year, the highest figure since 1996, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported yesterday.

The group said in a report published on its website that the number of journalists jailed in 2010 rose by nine compared with 2009. Iran and China each detained 34 journalists, accounting for nearly half the total, according to the New York- based organization, which advocates for imprisoned and threatened journalists.

The crackdown on journalists in Iran went beyond the post- election arrests in 2009, the report said, and showed a “sustained assault on critical voices that continues to this day.” In China, the rise in imprisonments was “propelled” by detention of Uighur and Tibetan journalists beginning in 2009 and continuing this year, the report said.

“The increase in the number of journalists jailed around the world is a shocking development,” Joel Simon, the group’s executive director, said in the report. “It is fueled largely by a small handful of countries that systematically jail journalists — countries that are at war with information itself.”

Eritrea, Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, and Uzbekistan followed Iran and China on the list of 28 countries that jailed journalists, the report said. One of those imprisoned in China is Liu Xiaobo, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this year.

The number of reporters, editors and photojournalists in jails reached a 14-year high even after accounting for 17 Cuban journalists who were freed this year after being held since 2003, the report said. The group recorded 185 journalists behind bars in 1996.

The committee collected its data through coordinators who monitor the press in Africa; Asia; North, Central and South America; Europe and Central Asia; and the Middle East and North Africa. It also relies on contacts in countries around the world.