President Joe Biden marked the 2024 World Press Freedom Day by calling for the release of imprisoned journalists around the world, including three American reporters who are currently behind bars in Russia and Syria.

“Journalism should not be a crime anywhere on Earth — on World Press Freedom Day, the United States calls for the immediate and unconditional release of all journalists who have been put behind bars for simply doing their jobs,” Mr Biden said in his commemoration statement on Friday.

According to VOA, at least 320 journalists were imprisoned around the world while doing their jobs in 2023 alone, citing the Committee to Protect Journalists. This included three Americans, Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, who are currently being held in Russia and Austin Tice in Syria.

Mr Gershkovich has been in Russian prison since March 2023 after he was arrested and charged with spying for the United States, a claim that Washington has repeatedly denied.

He is the Russian correspondent for American outlet, the Wall Street Journal.

Meanwhile, Ms Kurmasheva, an American-Russian national and a Prague-based editor for VOA’s sister outlet Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, has been detained in Russia for more than six months now on allegations that she failed to self-register as a “foreign agent”.

Ms Kurmasheva is also being accused of spreading false information about the Russian military. She travelled to Russia in May 2023 for a family emergency when she was arrested while trying to leave the country and subsequently had her passport confiscated,” VOA reported.

The United States government has said multiple times that it is in negotiations with the Russian government to find diplomatic solutions to secure the release of Americans wrongly jailed in Russia.

“We call for the protection of journalists everywhere, including during military operations,” Mr Biden added.