Khamenei, Salman, Assad, and Erdogan Among 'Enemies of Press Freedom'

Reporters Without Borders has released a list of individuals it deems enemies of press freedom worldwide, coinciding with November 2nd, the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists. Among those listed are the leaders of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Turkey. The international non-governmental organization states that those on its annual list imprison, torture, and kill journalists, censor media, and suppress the flow of information with 'ferocity.' This list includes 35 heads of state, religious and political leaders, as well as criminal and extremist groups. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is one of these figures, with Reporters Without Borders claiming that under his leadership, government officials and allies engage in 'relentless harassment' of journalists and citizen-journalists. Under Khamenei's rule, at least 400 journalists and media activists have been convicted, and over 500 have been forced to flee the country. Since 2015, at least 40 journalists have been interrogated, and 15 have been imprisoned, with a total of 24 independent journalists currently in prison. In a report released in September regarding 'media freedom' in 2015, Iran ranked 169 out of 180 countries. A year prior, only seven countries had worse conditions than Iran. The list of enemies of press freedom also includes several allies and governments close to Iran: Bashar al-Assad, the President of Syria, the Houthis in Yemen, Nicolás Maduro, the President of Venezuela, and Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia. Additionally, leaders of some regional critics or rivals of Iran are also on the list, including the King of Saudi Arabia, the President of Turkey, and the King of Bahrain. Reporters Without Borders states that currently 10 journalists and bloggers are imprisoned in Saudi Arabia, while in Turkey, over 200 journalists have been detained since the coup attempt, and 124 media outlets have been shut down. In Russia, four journalists are imprisoned under Putin's presidency. However, the situation in Syria is significantly worse; nearly 200 journalists have been killed since the start of the civil war, with both the government and armed groups involved in these killings. Approximately 30 journalists are also imprisoned in Bashar al-Assad's jails. Other enemies of press freedom in the past year include the North Korean leader, the Los Zetas drug cartel in Mexico, the so-called Islamic State in Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Afghanistan, the Pakistani security services, the Taliban, and the President of China. The International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists has been added to the UN calendar to raise public awareness of the low rate of legal action and condemnation regarding crimes and violence against journalists and media. The release of the Reporters Without Borders list coincides with a report from a UN research, educational, and cultural organization stating that every five days, a journalist is killed worldwide due to their professional activities; last year alone, 115 journalists were killed globally.