Reporters Without Borders names 40 press freedom 'predators'

Forty international figures and groups have been labelled 'predators of press freedom' by international organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

The RSF annual list, released on World Press Freedom day (3 May), includes many of the same culprits from last year, especially in Latin America and Africa.

But, says RSF, power relationships have been 'evolving' in the Middle East and Asia.

It lists 40 politicians, government officials, religious leaders, militias and criminal organisations "that cannot stand the press, treat it as an enemy and directly attack journalists. They are powerful, dangerous, violent and above the law".

RSF labelled 'private militias' as a predator in the Philippines, referencing what has been called one of the worst threats to press freedom in the history of the world's press.
 
"It was hard not to put the Philippines' private militias top of the list after the local governor's thugs massacred around 50 people, including 30 journalists, in Maguindanao province on 23 November 2009," the organisation says.

"The ensuing convoluted judicial proceedings betray a lack of political will to try those responsible, whose political support is too important for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Impunity is prevailing yet again."

Full list of 'predators' below, and profiled on an RSF map at this link. For further explanation of who has been removed and added to this list follow this link.

Abdallah ibn Al-Saud - Saudi Arabia King
Alexander Lukashenko - Belarus
Ali Abdallah Saleh - Yemen
Ali Khamenei - Iran
Bashar Al-Assad - Syria
Choummaly Sayasone - Laos
ETA - Spain
Executive Force - Palestinian territories
FARC - Colombia
Gotabhaya Rajapakse - Sri Lanka
Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov - Turkmenistan
Hu Jintao - China
Ilham Aliev - Azerbaijan
Islam Karimov - Uzbekistan
Islamist militias - Somalia
Israel Defence Forces - Israel
Issaias Afeworki - Eritrea
Kim Jong-il - North Korea
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - Iran
Mswati III - Swaziland
Muammar Gaddafi - Libya
Mullah Mohammad Omar - Afghanistan
Nepalese armed groups - Nepal
Nong Duc Manh - Vietnam
Nursultan Nazarbayev - Kazakhstan
Ogbonna Onovo - Nigeria
Organised crime - Italy
Paul Kagame - Rwanda
Private militias - Philippines
Ramzan Kadyrov - Russia
Raúl Castro - Cuba
Robert Mugabe - Zimbabwe
Sinaloa, Gulf and Juárez Cartel - Mexico
Teodoro Obiang Nguema - Equatorial Guinea
Than Shwe - Burma
The Palestinian Authority's security forces - Palestinian territories
Vladimir Putin - Russia
Yahya Jammeh - Gambia
Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali - Tunisia President
'Black Eagles' - Colombia

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