The International

Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is disturbed to learn of an attack on foreign

journalists who attempted to interview a prominent activist and lawyer in China’s

east.

CNN journalists Stan Grant and Steven Jiang reported on February 16 that guards threw stones and pushed

and shoved them after ordering them away from the entrance to Dongshigu Village, Shandong

Province, where human rights activist Chen Guangcheng and his wife are

under house arrest.

“I demanded to know the reason we were barred from the

village…the ‘big guy’ kept shoving Stan away from the checkpoint, as his partner

knocked [fellow journalist] Brad's camera over,” Jiang reported on CNN.com.

“When we tried to walk toward the village again, the two

guards picked up rocks - large and small - from the ground and hurled them at

us and the car, as they yelled ‘get out’ and ‘no filming’.

“Some of the rocks fell dangerously close to us.”

Chen

Guangcheng, a prominent blind activist and lawyer was charged with “damaging

property and organising a mob to disturb traffic” and served his full sentence

of four years and three months before he was released on September 9, 2010.

Since

his release, Chen and his wife have been denied contact with the outside world

against their wishes. A number of non-mainland journalists have been prevented

by local authorities from contacting Chen despite repeated attempts to do so.

The couples’ telephones were shut down and they are now under house arrest.

Chen

and his wife were reportedly beaten after a video showing his house arrest was

posted on YouTube last week by US-based rights group China Aid.

“It

is disturbing that China’s

authorities are using violent tactics to attempt to block journalists from

legitimately interviewing Chen Guancheng,” IFJ General Secretary Aidan White said.

“The

IFJ calls for access to the activist to be restored immediately.

“It

is also disgraceful that Chen Guangcheng remains under house arrest after

serving a harsh sentence on trumped-up charges – he must be allowed freedom of

movement and freedom of association.”

The Foreign Correspondents' Club of China warned on

Wednesday that "correspondents should be careful if they attempt to enter

the village of activist Chen Guangcheng in Shandong province”, the BBC reported.

The

IFJ delivered an open

letter to Chinese authorities protesting the restrictions on foreign media

access to Chen and Liu Xia, the wife of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo in

October 2010.

For further

information contact IFJ Asia-Pacific

on +612 9333 0919

The IFJ

represents more than 600,000 journalists in 125 countries

Find the

IFJ on Twitter: @ifjasiapacific

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