Eritrea is the most censored country in the world, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. (North Korea and Saudi Arabia are second and third.)
On September 18, 2001, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki (in power since 1993) banned seven independent newspapers and imprisoned 11 senior government officials.
Five independent journalists arrested in 2001 may have died while in prison. Since then, only state media are allowed to disseminate news, and journalists working in the state press fear reporting anything critical of the ruling party.
Eritrea has jailed the most journalists on the continent, and many reporters have fled the country.
International correspondents are also banned, with the last expelled from the country in 2007.
Sources: Foreign Policy, Committee to Protect Journalists