It seems that Apple supplier Foxconn is so terrified of Steve Jobs that it is resorting to heavy tactics to protect his security.

The outfit which paid the family of one of its employees $44,000 after he mysteriously committed suicide after an interview with Foxconn security over some missing iPhone prototypes has now been accused of beating up journalists. Tipped by a worker outside the Longhua complex that a nearby Foxconn plant was manufacturing parts for Apple too, the hack visited to the facility in Guanlan, which makes products for a range of companies.

While he stood on the public road taking photos of the front gate and security checkpoint, a guard shouted at him. When the hack tried to leave in a taxi the guard blocked the vehicle and ordered the driver to stop. He said that if he did not stop then Foxconn would take away his taxi license. The correspondent got out and insisted he was within his rights as he was on the main road. The guard grabbed his arm. A second guard ran over, and with a crowd of Foxconn workers watching, they tried dragging him into the factory.

The reporter asked to be let go. When that didn't happen, he jerked himself free and started walking off. The guard kicked him in the leg, while the second threatened to hit him again if he moved. A Foxconn security car came along but the reporter refused to board it and called the cops. When the coppers arrived the guards apologized and the matter was settled. The reporter left without filing a complaint, though the police gave him the option of doing so.

The copper shrugged that while the reporter had not broken the law Foxconn had a special status here.

More here.