Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) yesterday named the world’s 40 worst “predators of the press” including politicians, religious leaders and militias to mark World Press Freedom Day.
“They are powerful, dangerous, violent and above the law,” the Paris-based watchdog group said. “These predators of press freedom have the power to censor, imprison, kidnap, torture and, in the worst cases, murder journalists.”
Seventeen presidents and several heads of state are on the list, including Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, Cuba’s Raoul Castro and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.
New entrants on the annually updated list of “predators” included Taliban chief Mullah Omar.
The Taliban leader, “whose influence extends to Pakistan as well as Afghanistan, has joined the list because the holy war he is waging is also directed at the press,” RSF said.
Mullah Omar’s “thugs threaten local reporters who do not relay his propaganda,” while about 40 Taliban attacks directly targeted journalists and news media last year, it said.
Chechnya’s pro-Kremlin President Ramzan Kadyrov was also added to the list.
Under Kadyrov, the watchdog said “anyone questioning [his] policies ... is exposed to deadly reprisals,” citing the murders of reporter Anna Politkovskaya and human rights activist Natalia Estemirova.
“Often referred to as ‘Putin’s guard dog,’ Ramzan Kadyrov shares the Russian prime minister’s taste for crude language and strong action,” RSF said.
Yemeni President Ali Abdulah Saleh was branded a “predator” after Sanaa set up a special court for press offences in what RSF said was a bid “to limit coverage of dirty wars being waged in the north and south of the country.”
The entry on Saleh read: “Eight independent newspapers are currently subject to a printing ban for ‘separatism.’”
Private militias in the Philippines were also added following the massacre of about 50 people, including 30 journalists, by “the local governor’s thugs” in Maguindanao province in November.
Figures whose names have been removed from the “predator” list included Nigeria’s State Security Service, which RSF said has “has been reined in.” The Nigeria police force, however, “has emerged as the leading source of abuses against the press,” it said, with poorly trained police “encouraged to use violence against journalists.”
RSF also removed several Iraqi Islamist groups, arguing that while levels of violence remained high, journalists were no longer being singled out.
An RSF tally shows nine journalists have been killed this year and 300 media professionals are in prison.
CHINESE CONTROL
In related news, China said yesterday that it would target online information from “overseas hostile forces” in its next crackdown to tighten Internet controls, Xinhua news agency reported.
The announcement gave no details about which groups might be targeted.
The move is part of efforts to step up a crackdown on online smut, gambling, fraud and other offenses, said Wang Chen (王晨), chief of the Cabinet’s Information Office.
“We will strengthen the blocking of harmful information from outside China to prevent harmful information from being disseminated in China and withstand online penetration by overseas hostile forces,” Xinhua quoted Wang as saying.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
PUBLIC SAFETY: The premier said that security would be tightened in transport hubs, while President Lai commended the public for their bravery The government is to deploy more police, including rapid response units, in crowded public areas to ensure a swift response to any threats, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after a knife attack killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei the previous day. Lai made the remarks following a briefing by the National Police Agency on the progress of the investigation, saying that the attack underscored the importance of cooperation in public security between the central and local governments. The attack unfolded in the early evening on Friday around Taipei Main Station’s M7 exit and later near the Taipei MRT’s Zhongshan
ON ALERT: Taiwan’s partners would issue warnings if China attempted to use Interpol to target Taiwanese, and the global body has mechanisms to prevent it, an official said China has stationed two to four people specializing in Taiwan affairs at its embassies in several democratic countries to monitor and harass Taiwanese, actions that the host nations would not tolerate, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which asked him and Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to report on potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait and military preparedness. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) expressed concern that Beijing has posted personnel from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to its
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