Press watchdog puts Hungary's PM Orban on 'predators' list

Saudi Arabia's Mohammed bin Salman and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro are also mentioned on the list.
Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban.
By Nicholas Sherman

A press freedom watchdog, Reporters Without Borders, has for the first time ever Monday put a western leader on its "predators" list of world leaders who crackdown on press freedoms.

The report put Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on a list of 37 world leaders who "crackdown massively," according to the Associated Press.

Orban "has steadily and effectively undermined media pluralism and independence since being returned to power in 2010," the report said.

The watchdog argues Orban's "repressive methods include spying and threats that have sometimes led to abduction, torture, and other unthinkable acts."

The watchdog cites a digital security law that Orban and Hungary adopted in 2018 that so far has led to the prosecution of more than 70 journalists and bloggers in the country.

Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs struck back at the report Monday, calling it "Fake News Without Borders."

Orban is joined this year on the list by several world leaders, including Saudi Arabia's Mohammed bin Salman who was linked to the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, and Carrie Lam, the chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.