The International
Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns China’s
use of orders and charges against journalists after journalists and members of the
public were refused entry to the trial of blogger Duan Lei in Shandong province on July 17.
Duan faces
criminal charges of “endangering social stability” for an article published on
July 3 in which he detailed alleged corruption of a Communist Party Committee
Secretary in Cao County.
In what
would be considered a case of alleged defamation under civil legislation, Duan
could face imprisonment if convicted.
Bloggers and online media reporters in
China
have faced a major clampdown by authorities this year, following the
introduction in January of a policy to curb online
content deemed “vulgar” or “pornographic”.
On July
16, a blogger and signatory to the democratic reform and human rights-focused Charter
08 petition was reportedly detained by Mawei District Police in Fujian Province
in relation to comments he posted online about the failure of police to
properly report the suspicious death of a woman in hospital in February 2008.
Five bloggers including human rights activists Fan Yanqiong
and Wu Huaying were reportedly detained in late June for commenting on the same
incident.
Meanwhile, on July 21, the Central Propaganda Department forbade all
media from publishing anything referring to corruption allegations against the
eldest son of President Hu Jintao. The order followed publication of an article
headlined “Hu Jintao’s son linked to African corruption probe” in the UK-based The Telegraph on July 17.
The Telegraph reported
that three people had been arrested on charges of fraud, corruption and bribery
involving a government contract with the state-owned Chinese company Nuctech. The
President’s son, Hu Haifeng, was the president of Nuctech until last year. He
was subsequently appointed as Party secretary of Tsinghua Holdings, which controls
Nuctech.
The IFJ is told that no media outlet
in China
has reported the case since the ban was imposed.
“China’s
continuing efforts to control and silence reporting on matters of public
interest only underline how far China has to go in achieving a free and
independent media,” IFJ General Secretary Aidan White
said.
The IFJ
calls on China’s
Central and provincial governments to end all forms of restrictions on the media,
including arbitrary detentions and arrests of journalists and bloggers.
For further
information contact IFJ Asia-Pacific
on +612 9333 0919
The IFJ
represents over 600,000 journalists in
120 countries worldwide