Reporter¿s
Sans Frontiere¿s Red Card to Five World Cup Participant Countries
The World Cup is football¿s biggest
celebration. We certainly don¿t want to spoil it. But we have to note that five
countries which have qualified are major enemies of human rights, democracy and
freedom. Saudi Arabia, China, Russia, Tunisia and Turkey deserve a red card for
the torture, acts of violence and atrocities that go on there. In these
countries, journalists and dissenters are imprisoned, tortured and sometimes
killed. This we must not forget. Even during a football
match."
Each year, Reporters Without Borders publishes a list
of "predators of press freedom. Because the enemies of freedom of
expression have faces, the organisation has singled out 38 people and groups -
heads of state and government, warlords and leaders of criminal gangs. As the
whole world prepares to thrill to the talent of the footballers and the
exploits of their teams, Reporters Without Borders wants to remind people that
the authorities in these countries are "predators" who terrorise
dissidents.
In Saudi Arabia, the media is tightly controlled and
anyone who criticises the government, the royal family, the religious
authorities or rulers of friendly foreign countries goes straight to jail.
Since the Internet arrived in the country in 1999, it has been closely
monitored by a department of the King Abdul Aziz City for Science and
Technology, that watches which sites are consulted and blocks access to those
considered contrary to good morals or to Islam. The country¿s ruler, Prince
Abdullah ibn al-Saud, is one of the predators of press freedom listed by
Reporters Without Borders.
In China, the authorities have begun a purge of the media as next year¿s
crucial congress of the ruling Communist Party approaches. At least five senior
editors were sanctioned and a dozen media outlets censored last year. Reporters
Without Borders regularly expresses indignation at such action against
journalists and other Chinese citizens who try to challenge the monopoly that
the state and the Communist Party have on information and to break the grip of
censorship.
In recent weeks, the arrest of a journalist, the closure of a magazine and the
prosecution of Falungong followers for distributing banned material to the
media, as well as a wave of repression in the Xinjiang region, have once again
shown that the Chinese government is imposing its control of the media by
force. At least nine journalists and 22 cyber-dissidents are currently
imprisoned in China. President Jiang Zemin is a designated predator of press
freedom.
In Russia, where murders of journalists and physical attacks on them are
increasing, legal harassment of some media has forced the country¿s entire
press to censor itself. The government is pushing ahead with its takeover or
dismantling, through powerful state organisations, of national privately-owned
media belonging to press "oligarchs."
In Chechnya, new restrictions on journalists have severely
curbed freedom of information, which had already been reduced by very
cumbersome accreditation procedures. In several of the autonomous Russian
republics, the authorities have stifled all criticism as elections approach.
President Vladimir Putin is one of the predators of press freedom condemned by
Reporters Without Borders.
In Tunisia, opponents of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali¿s regime are under
more and more pressure, including on their families. Two journalists are
currently imprisoned. In recent years, many journalists have been obliged to
work for the foreign media, create news sites on the Internet or even go into
exile because they cannot operate as journalists in their own country. Sihem
Bensedrine, who runs the online newspaper Kalima, was jailed for several weeks
last summer after being subjected to a range of pressures. Government control
of the means of