Unurtsetseg Naran, editor of Mongolia\u2019s Zarig news site, was jailed for nearly five years in a closed-door trial last week. Before the hearing, while under house arrest, she explained how she has fallen victim to her country\u2019s crackdown on press freedom<\/p>\n
As the police arrived at the door of our newsroom to march us out of the office, I wrote on the wall: \u201cFreedom is precious.\u201d Our news site was taken down from the internet and my colleagues and I set up a protest in front of the State Great Khural, the Mongolian parliament. Afterwards, a contact told me the government was looking to \u201cshut me up\u201d<\/a>. I did not suspect that by \u201cshut up\u201d they meant imprison.<\/p>\n I have been a journalist in Mongolia for nearly 20 years. I started my career as the country was emerging from the democratic transformation that followed decades of state communism and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Corruption was endemic and there was no tradition of real journalism.<\/p>\n