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35 Leaders, Groups Listed as ‘Predators of Press Freedom’ & When Taliban Attack, Media Loses

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11.02.2016 at 05:38pm

35 Leaders, Groups Listed as 'Predators of Press Freedom'

Voice of America

Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, Turkish President Erdogan, Saudi Arabia's King Salman, and the so-called Islamic State Terror Group are on the list of "Predators of Press Freedom" released by Reporters without Borders to mark the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016.

Turkish President Erdogan, Saudi Arabia's King Salman, and the Islamic State Terror Group are recent additions to the list of "Predators of Press Freedom" released by Reporters without Borders to mark the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists Wednesday.

Reporters Without Borders listed 35 politicians, religious leaders, militias, and criminal organizations in a unique online gallery with "hunting permits" for each, detailing how and to what extent they "prey" on the media.

Some leaders, such as Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, are accused of "carefully orchestrated censorship and economic asphyxiation" of the press, while others, such as Islamic State and a number of African dictators, are outright accused of murdering journalists.

But beyond literal murders, the "kill tally" listed on each predator's profile also documents how many media outlets they have shut down. For example, the state of emergency declared in Turkey after the military coup in July gave President Recep Tayyip Erdogan the power to shut down more than 100 newspapers, magazines, TV channels, and radio stations, in addition to arresting more than 200 journalists.

China's Xi Jinping also makes the list, having been declared a predator since 2013. One hundred journalists and bloggers are currently jailed, making China "the world's biggest prison for media personnel", according to Reporters without Borders.

Though Reporters without Borders only tallies four journalists currently imprisoned in Russia, Vladimir Putin has also been on the list since 2000, and the report claims there is currently less freedom of expression in Russia than any time since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Burundi's Pierre Nkurunziza was only listed a predator in the past year, but has shut down all independent media and put over 100 journalists in exile since a coup attempt in May 2015.

Non-governmental groups such as al-Shabab in Somalia, which has murdered "several dozen" journalists, the Los Zetas criminal cartel in Mexico charged with the killings or disappearances of dozens of journalists, the Ansarullah Bangla Team a radical Islamist movement in Bangladesh that killed four bloggers in 2015 are listed.

As well as Pakistan's Intelligence Agencies that have murdered at least three journalists, Yemen's Houthi rebels who have held at least 13 media workers hostage in Sanaa, the Taliban that has killed seven journalists in 2016 in Afghanistan, and Islamic State, which has beheaded at least three journalists in Syria in addition to murdering dozens of journalists and media workers in Iraq and Syria.

“These predators are the ones who most trample on media freedom and commit the worst atrocities against journalists without being held to account,” RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. “The way to break the vicious cycle of impunity is to appoint a United Nations special representative for protecting journalists.”

The International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists is recognized by the United Nations every November 2nd.

"I pay tribute to the courage of all media personnel who put their lives on the line for the sake of truth," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said in a statement. "And I call for immediate action to secure justice in cases where journalists were attacked, harassed or killed."

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When Taliban Attack, Media Loses

Ayesha Tanzeem

Voice of America

This was the second time Zarghooda Hasan lost everything at both of her radio stations — Kaihan, for youth and Shaista, for women.

The first time was in 2015, when Taliban militants overran Kunduz city, the provincial capital of Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan. The Taliban looted most of her brand new equipment, worth $100,000 in personal investments and grants.

She restarted operations with borrowed equipment from other stations and a $10,000 grant from the United Nations Development Program. All of that is now gone as well.

Hasan did not know whether the Taliban or criminals taking advantage of the chaos looted her equipment last month. All she knew was that nothing but a power generator and a bit of furniture was left.

Before the Taliban’s almost 10-day assault on Kunduz city in early October, the city boasted 13 radio stations and four TV stations. Most of them were destroyed in the fighting and subsequent looting. Many employees escaped the city and did not know whether they would have a place to work when they returned.

They included Mosaa Forotan, a cameraman and editor at Roshan TV. He was at work when the Taliban entered the city. As the sound of gunfire and rockets came closer to his TV station, he decided to leave and took a transmitter with him. That was the only piece of equipment that survived.

Shahbaz Sabir, the provincial coordinator of the Afghanistan Journalists Safety Committee, had heard gunfire for most of the night of October 3. Rather than thinking of an escape route, he started planning for a safehouse for journalists. By the time the sun came up, it was clear that the Taliban had attacked the city from all sides. He set up camp in the Sar-e-Daura area of the city and eventually around 60 journalists joined him there.

The first thing they needed was a way to tell their families and colleagues that they were okay. So he arranged for pre-paid mobile phone cards for many of them. The next challenge was to provide safe accommodation and food for his colleagues.

As night approached, the National Directorate of Security, Afghanistan’s intelligence agency, came to his rescue and offered to provide them shelter at one of their posts.

Last year, the Taliban went house to house, looking for government employees and civil society members. No one knew what the Taliban would do if they came across a journalist given that they had become increasingly hostile towards local media. Journalists had been labeled puppets of infidels in the past.

Several weeks after the attack, the city has been cleared but the surrounding districts continue to have heavy Taliban presence. Hasan has restarted her stations with one transmitter she had stashed at home and another borrowed from someone.

Other TV and radio stations have done the same, but fears of yet another Taliban assault remain.

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