China Free Press

Two-year jail sentences for two student magazine editors

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:47:49 PST

Reporters Without Borders condemns the two-year jail sentences that have been imposed on Sonam Rinchen and Yargay, two students who helped to edit the Tibetan student magazine Namchak. Two other editors of the magazine, who were arrested at the same time as them in March, are still awaiting trial.

More Tibetan journalists arrested in Qinghai province

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:41:34 PST

Reporters Without Borders has just learned of the arrests of two Tibetan journalists in Xining, in the province of Qinghai (eastern Tibetan plateau). Buddha and Kalsang Jinpa, who wrote for and edited the Tibetan-language magazine Shar Dhung-Ri (The Eastern Conch Hill), have been held since June and July respectively on separatism charges because of their articles about Tibet and the March 2008 unrest in particular.
The press freedom organisation urges the Qinghai authorities to release them without delay.

Microblogging websites to recruit censors to step up pressure on netizens

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:39:54 PST

The ranks of China’s censors are visibly growing along with measures aimed at monitoring the public’s communications and personal data. The authorities have just announced that China’s microblogging websites – sites offering Twitter-style services – will be told to appoint “self-discipline commissioners” to be responsible for censorship.
In a parallel development, the authorities have announced that, to combat curb mobile phone spam and fraud, anyone wanting to buy a mobile phone that uses pre-paid SIM cards will now have to show identification.

Journalist arrested for writing book about the Sanmenxia dam

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:35:27 PST

China’s colossal Sanmenxia dam has a new victim – Xie Chaoping, a journalist who was illegally arrested without a warrant in the northeastern city of Weinan on 19 August after writing a book about the fate of those displaced by the dam. He is now reportedly being held by the Public Security Department in Beijing.
Much has been written about this dam, a major source of environmental damage and human suffering, but it seems the authorities do not welcome any investigative reporting on the subject by Chinese journalists.
Reporters Without Borders calls on the Beijing authorities to release Xie Chaoping at once. It is deplorable that a journalist who tried to cover subject of general interest is being treated as if he were a criminal.

Police Toss Out Arrest Warrant for Chinese Reporter in Hiding

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 22:23:13 PST

For China’s investigative journalists, who grapple with heavy-handed censors and accusations of bribe-taking, the case of a Shanghai-based reporter appears to offer a positive turn.

The episode did not start auspiciously for the reporter, Qiu Ziming, 28. He went into hiding this week after county police in Zhejiang Province announced they were seeking his arrest for reporting on accusations of insider trading at a paper company in a four-part series in The Economic Observer, a well-regarded weekly.

But on Wednesday, Mr. Qiu’s colleagues sprang into action, publishing articles on the Internet and e-mailing links to a satirical wanted poster. Even the state-owned broadcaster, CCTV, ran a segment that revealed how the company, which went public in 2004, had used its political connections to exact revenge.

Jail terms for three Uyghur webmasters accused of jeopardising state security

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 23:54:46 PST

Reporters Without Borders condemns the jail sentences that were imposed on three Uyghur webmasters in a trial held behind closed doors in Urumqi on or around 20 July. The webmasters – Dilshat Perhat, Nureli and Nijat Azat – were accused of endangering state security by posting content that the Chinese government regards as politically sensitive.
Calling for their immediate release and the quashing of their convictions, Reporters Without Borders accuses China’s authorities of persecuting its Uyghur minority,
“Despite the lack of information about the trial, the government’s intention was clear, to shut down the spaces available for expression,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The three webmasters have been unjustly punished and their sentences are disproportionate. These attempts to intimidate must stop.”

Business reporter taken off “most wanted” list

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 23:51:34 PST

Reporters Without Borders welcomes the Zhejiang provincial government’s order to the Suichang police to withdraw its warrant for the arrest of Economic Observer reporter Qiu Ziming and calls for the incomprehensible 15-year jail sentence imposed on online journalist and blogger Gheyret Niyaz in Xinjiang on 23 July to be overturned on appeal. (More information about the trial: http://en.rsf.org/china-uyghur-jour...)
“We welcome the apology that the Suichang police have given to Qiu Ziming and we call for a transparent investigation into why he was placed on a national list of wanted criminals,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We also call for the immediate release of Gheyret Niyaz, who was convicted on charges of contributing to a website that incited violence and providing foreign journalists with information about the July 2009 riots in Xinjiang.”

Tibetan Writer’s Trial Postponed

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 23:36:48 PST

The trial of a Tibetan writer who has criticized Chinese policies in Tibet in a recent book may be postponed, according to the International Campaign for Tibet, an advocacy group. The group said in a statement on Thursday that it was unclear whether a postponement of the trial for the writer, whose name is Tragyal, would suggest that the authorities were questioning the premise of the trial or whether they were looking for more evidence. Mr. Tragyal was detained in April in Xining, after the publication of his book, “The Line between Sky and Earth.”

China to Build State-Run Search Engine

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 23:29:14 PST

In an apparent bid to extend its control over the Internet and cash in on the rapid growth of mobile devices, China plans to create its own government-controlled search engine.

The new venture would be fresh competition for Baidu.com, a private company that runs China’s dominant search engine. Baidu has seen its market share grow since Google retreated from the mainland earlier this year.

China sets prison terms for 3 Uighur Web managers

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:47:03 PST

New York, August 2, 2010—Three Uighur-language website managers were sentenced Friday to prison terms of three to 10 years after being found guilty under broad charges of “endangering state security.” The men had been jailed after ethnic rioting in July 2009 in Urumqi, capital of the far-western, predominantly Muslim, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.

Nijat Azat, who managed the website Shabnam, was sentenced to a 10-year prison term; Dilixiati Paerhati, whose ran the website Diyarim, was given a five-year term; and the webmaster of Salkin, who goes by the single name Nureli, was sentenced to three years.

China sentences Uighur journalist to 15 years

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:06:58 PST

New York, July 26, 2010—The 15-year jail sentence imposed by a Chinese court on Uighur journalist and website manager Gheyrat Niyaz is unjustly harsh and should be overturned immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The fact that Niyaz was convicted under sweeping “endangering state security” charges is an indicator of how far the government will go to silence journalists who speak critically about sensitive issues in the county, CPJ said.
According to international media reports, Niyaz was punished because of an August 2, 2009, interview with Yazhou Zhoukan (Asia Weekly), a Chinese-language magazine based in Hong Kong. In the interview, Niyaz said authorities had not taken steps to prevent violence in the July 2009 ethnic violence that broke out in China’s far-western Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. At the time, media reports said about 200 people were killed in the violence.

Uyghur journalist and website editor sentenced to fifteen years in jail

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 08:18:31 PST

Reporters Without Borders said it was outraged at the harshness of a 15-year prison sentence handed down today to journalist Gheyret Niyaz by a court in Urumqi, in Xinjiang province.

He was arrested in October 2009 following ethnic unrest in Xinjiang in July 2009 and found guilty of “threatening national security” after criticising Chinese official policy towards the Uyghurs, sending news about the riots to foreign journalists and contributing to a website accused of inciting violence.

“We are utterly astonished at the outcome of this trial,” the worldwide press freedom organisation said. “Gheyret Niyaz did indeed make some criticism of Chinese policy in his region, but he is neither a criminal nor a dissident. He is seen by Uyghurs based abroad as supporting China’s administration of Xinjiang and even shares some of the Chinese government’s views of the summer 2009 unrest.

Uighur journalist goes on trial in China a year after unrest

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 03:07:27 PST

The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Chinese government to dismiss charges against Gheyret Niyaz, a Uighur journalist and website manager, and release him from prison. According to the Uyghur American Association (UAA), Niyazi will be tried in Urumqi, the capital of China’s far-western Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region on July 28.

As CPJ reported October 2009, Niyaz faces charges of “endangering state security” stemming from ethnic unrest in Xinjiang in July 2009. Niyaz, who had worked for state newspapers Xinjiang Legal News and Xinjiang Economic Daily, also managed and edited the website Uighurbiz until June 2009. Authorities have blamed local and international Uighur sites for fueling the violence between Uighurs and Han Chinese in the predominantly Muslim Xinjiang region.

Authorities turn their sights on microblogging

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 14:57:42 PST

Reporters Without Borders is concerned about a new crackdown on social-networking tools, especially microblogging services. Dozens of microblog accounts went down yesterday including those of blogger Yao Yuan and lawyer Pu Zhiqiang, who was interviewed by the Associated Press. Four of the leading Chinese microblogging services, Netease, Sina, Tencent and Sohu, were yesterday displaying messages saying they were down for maintenance or had inexplicably reverted to an earlier “beta” testing phase.
“This latest censorship attempt shows that the Chinese authorities, who are obsessed with maintaining political stability, mistrust microblogging and its potential for spreading information and mobilising the public,” Reporters Without Borders said.
“Nonetheless, despite the massive resources that the regime deploys to control the Internet, it is impossible to keep track of all the flow of information on Twitter and its Chinese equivalents,” the press freedom organisation added. “Microblogging is also used by the government itself as well as by millions of Chinese who have nothing to do with dissidents.”

Journalists boycott Chongqing newspaper

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 01:05:30 PST

On June 28, more than one-hundred Chinese journalists and scholars signed an open letter pledging a professional boycott of the Chongqing Morning Post, a commercial spin-off of the official Chongqing Daily, after the newspaper issued a statement on June 24 refuting alleged “fake reports” about police investigations of three of its employees suspected of sharing “unacceptable” content in the wake of a police raid of the Hilton Chongqing.

Journalists signing the statement argued that the June 24 statement by the Chongqing Morning Post violated the spirit of professional solidarity by attacking colleagues who were merely exercising a professional obligation to report the story of the police investigation.

According to a June 24 story from China’s Economic Observer newspaper, a reporter with the Chongqing Morning Post was sentenced to labor re-education after posting “unacceptable speech” on the Tianya Forum in the wake of the raid on the Hilton Chongqing.

The Economic Observer also said two other reporters from Chongqing Morning Post were taken in for questioning by police after sharing “unacceptable content” (不当内容) through the QQ instant messaging service.

As dissidents move online, governments fight back

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 10:05:15 PST

A new show on PBS says the problem with the rise in cyber dissent is that governments like Iran are "pretty good at social media too."

A new show on PBS says the problem with the rise in cyber dissent is that governments like Iran are "pretty good at social media too."
Social media and cyber dissidents have exerted a increasing influence on global politics over the last few years—Twitter, for instance, was widely utilized by protesters and journalists during Iran’s 2009 post-election Green Movement, and China has been locked in conflict with Google over allegations of censorship and hacking. “Ideas in Action” with Jim Glassman, a half-hour weekly show on PBS, is airing an episode this weekend called “Cyber Dissidents: How the Internet is Changing Dissent.” Already online, the show details how authoritarian regimes are working hard to quash this rising form of opposition.

Police detain China writer over upcoming book

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 05:03:02 PST

A best-selling author who is a fierce critic of the Communist Party said he was taken into custody by police Monday and threatened with a stiff prison term if he goes ahead with plans to publish a book critical of Premier Wen Jiabao.

Yu Jie said he was questioned at a police station near his Beijing home for four hours by agents that included plainclothes officers from state security forces.

"The state security people said Wen Jiabao isn't a normal citizen, he's the premier, so criticizing him hurts the nation's interests and security," Yu told The Associated Press. "(They said) I could be given a heavy sentence like Liu Xiaobo."

China Puts Best Face Forward With News Channel

Sun, 04 Jul 2010 07:56:31 PST

The Xinhua News Agency, China’s dominant news service and the propaganda arm of the Communist Party, introduced a 24-hour English-language news channel and is preparing to open a prominent newsroom in Times Square, part of an expensive push to increase the reach and influence of the Chinese news media overseas.

The announcement is the strongest sign yet that China intends to spend billions of dollars over the next few years to create a global media empire that can match the country’s rising economic and diplomatic power and more effectively project its views to an international audience.

Beijing officials have long complained that China is often portrayed unfavorably in the Western media and that what it considers biased news coverage has hurt the country’s interests abroad.

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“We’ve criticized them a lot because they’re a propaganda tool,” said Clothilde Le Coz, the Washington director of Reporters Without Borders. “So the fact that they want to expand in the U.S., we’d like to see what that would look like.”

Reporter punished for online remarks on Hilton Chongqing raid

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 22:14:45 PST

According to a story from China’s Economic Observer, a reporter with the Chongqing Morning Post has been sentenced to labor re-education after posting “unacceptable speech” on the Tianya Forum in the wake of the recent raid on the Hilton Chongqing.

The Economic Observer also said two other reporters from Chongqing Morning Post, a commercial spin-off of the official Chongqing Daily, were taken in for questioning by police after sharing “unacceptable content” (不当内容) through the QQ instant messaging service.

Google Says West Should Press China On Censorship

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 13:21:43 PST

The world’s largest search engine is asking U.S. and European governments to put more pressure on China to stop censoring the Internet.

Google’s top attorney, David Drummond, described the practice as an unfair barrier to free trade and said Western governments should defend the flow of information the same way they do products. The West has complained to the World Trade Organization that China sells its goods below cost and undermines competitors.

He said government talks are “the only way that it’s going to change, that this tide of censorship or this rising censorship is going to be arrested.”