Kaohsiung prosecutors yesterday raided four pirate radio stations and summoned a number of their hosts for questioning over reports that listeners had threatened to assassinate Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
According to a CNA report late last night, three program hosts were taken into custody on suspicion of violating the Telecommunications Law (電信法).
Cable news channels such as SETV and CTI aired live broadcasts at around 3pm yesterday showing prosecutors raiding the stations and confiscating their equipment.
The four stations were reportedly all pro-Taiwan independence.
Reports said that last week callers to the stations had encouraged others to end Ma's life.
Dai Jung-sheng (
He that said he had never encouraged his listeners to "assassinate Ma."
"I admit that some callers mentioned their plans to [assassinate Ma]. But I tried to stop them each time I heard such comments," Dai said.
"I think I have done my job as a radio host," he said.
Dai said he had scanned for the frequencies of other "underground stations" over the past few days and discovered that some of these stations were "missing" from the air.
"I don't know. I just couldn't hear anything from them. They have just disappeared," he said.
Dai said he welcomed different political voices on his program but he also complained about the prosecutors confiscating his station's equipment.
"We never encourage our listeners to harm or attack any specific person. People sometimes say stupid things when they are angry. But, we always try to ensure they only talk about it instead of carrying out their plans," Dai said. "That is never what we want."
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