JEDDAH, 13 November 2006 — The Reporters Without Borders has released its annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index for 2006. In its fifth annual report of country rankings, new countries have moved ahead of some Western democracies while “the most repressive” countries are still the same ones.

The three worst violators of free expression remain North Korea (168), Turkmenistan (167) and Eritrea (166).

In the Middle East, some countries improved in rank and some declined. Except for Yemen (149) and Saudi Arabia (161) both of which dropped four places from last year, all the Arabian Peninsula countries considerably improved their rank. Kuwait (73) kept its place at the top of the group ahead of the UAE (77) and Qatar (80). Lebanon has fallen from 56 to 107 in five years as its media — once considered among the freest and experienced in the region — continues to suffer from the country’s instability and the region’s political turmoil. The same thing applies to the Palestinian Authority (134).

Israel, which claims to be a democratic and free society, came 135. Arab countries that remain at the bottom of the index are Iraq (154), Syria (153), Libya (151) and Tunisia (148). Egypt (133) has improved 10 places from last year. Other Arab countries fall somewhere between either improving a few places or declining a few.

The decline in Saudi Arabia’s rank is surprising considering that journalists believe that media freedom has improved in the past few years. The report claims that in Saudi Arabia there are no independent media, that there are many red lines journalists cannot cross and that foreign journalists can rarely get entry visas.

“I think that before 9/11 the press freedom was limited but after 9/11 it has expanded. We are now living the spring of media especially under the reign of King Abdullah and the new administration at the Ministry of Information and Culture,” said Halema Moudhafar, head of the women’s section at Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.

“The margin of freedom whether in the press and even in the official TV channels has widened but it cannot be noticed quickly. The report would not have realized the changes fast enough,” said columnist and former editor-in-chief of Al-Watan newspaper, Qenan Al-Ghamdi.

“What is important is that this freedom is put in an institutional framework so that it is clear and comforting, but we cannot allow complete freedom without regulations within our moral and religious guidelines. There is no absolute freedom, even the most free countries have regulations,” he said.

Conservatives have opposed the recent “open and permissive” Saudi media and expressed their opinions on Internet sites and attacked Minister of Information and Culture Iyad Madani. Supporters of the minister have responded by launching an online petition backing him. The Internet is a new avenue for expression in Saudi Arabia for all spectrum of opinions and beliefs.

Reporters without Borders also released a list of 13 Internet enemies in 2006 which included Saudi Arabia.

The report states that Saudi Arabia does not hide its online censorship. Its filters clearly tell Internet users that certain websites are banned. Censorship concentrates on pornographic content, but it also targets opposition websites, Israeli publications, or sites dealing with homosexuality.

“Some of the sites blocked are neither offensive nor oppositional and yet are blocked whereas you see some conservative-based political sites are left alone,” said Moudhafar. “I think there is randomness and confusion in terms of blocking sites and today with technology and satellites people can bypass the restrictions. I’m with blocking morally offensive sites but not the others,” she added.

Al-Ghamdi agrees that blocking sites is fruitless and ineffective. “I think the policy of blocking sites should be reviewed. I’m with blocking sites that are morally and religiously offensive but anything that nurtures thought and culture and debate should be encouraged. Blocking sites is not in the interest of Islam or thinking. People should be able to access different opinions. The negative outcome from oppression is worst than freedom,” he said.