Reporters
Sans Frontieres red card to 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.
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 communication has been tightened
to cut Tunisians off from the outside world. President Ben Ali is also a
designated predator of press freedom.
In Turkey, despite its promise to make democratic reforms to help its application to join the European Union, expressing opinions is still just as severely and routinely punished through an arsenal of repressive laws aimed at protecting the state from the demands of Kurds, Islamic fundamentalists and far leftists. Last year