Attacks on the Press - Committee to Protect Journalists

attacks on the press in 2009journalists in prison: chinaIn January 2003, Huang wrote inhis online column that he intendedto form a new opposition party, theChina Patriot Democracy Party.When he returned to China in August2003, he eluded public securityagents just long enough to visit hisfamily in Shandong province. In thelast article he posted on Boxun News,titled “Me and My Public SecurityFriends,” he described being followedand harassed by security agents.Huang’s appeal was rejected inDecember 2004. He was given a 22-month sentence reduction in July 2007,according to the U.S.-based prisoneradvocacy group Dui Hua Foundation.The journalist, who suffered from arthritis,was serving his sentence in PukouPrison in Jiangsu province.Kong Youping, freelanceIMPRISONED: December 13, 2003Kong, an essayist and poet, was arrestedin Anshan, Liaoning province.A former trade union official, he hadwritten articles online that supporteddemocratic reforms, appealed for therelease of then-imprisoned Internetwriter Liu Di, and called for a reversalof the government’s “counterrevolutionary”ruling on the pro-democracydemonstrations of 1989.Kong’s essays included an appeal todemocracy activists in China that stated,“In order to work well for democracy,we need a well-organized, strong,powerful, and effective organization.Otherwise, a mainland democracymovement will accomplish nothing.”Several of his articles and poems wereposted on the Minzhu Luntan (DemocracyForum) Web site.In 1998, Kong served time in prisonafter he became a member of the Liaoningprovince branch of the China DemocracyParty (CDP), an oppositionparty. In 2004, he was tried on subversioncharges along with co-defendantNing Xianhua, who was accused of beingvice chairman of the CDP branchin Liaoning, according to the U.S.-basedadvocacy organization Human Rightsin China and court documents obtainedby the U.S.-based Dui Hua Foundation.On September 16, 2004, the ShenyangIntermediate People’s Court sentencedKong to 15 years in prison, plusfour years’ deprivation of political rights.Ning received a 12-year sentence.Kong suffered from hypertensionand was imprisoned in the cityof Lingyuan, far from his family. Hereceived a sentence reduction to 10years after an appeal, according to theIndependent Chinese PEN Center. In2009, the group reported that his eyesightwas deteriorating.Shi Tao, freelanceIMPRISONED: November 24, 2004Shi, the former editorial director ofthe Changsha-based newspaper DangdaiShang Bao (Contemporary TradeNews), was detained near his homein Taiyuan, Shanxi province, in November2004.He was formally arrested and chargedwith “providing state secrets to foreigners”by sending an e-mail on his Yahooaccount to the U.S.-based editor of theWeb site Minzhu Luntan (DemocracyForum). In an anonymous e-mail sentseveral months before his arrest, Shitranscribed his notes from local propagandadepartment instructions to hisnewspaper, which included directiveson coverage of the Falun Gong andthe upcoming 15th anniversary of themilitary crackdown on demonstratorsat Tiananmen Square.The National Administration forthe Protection of State Secrets retroactivelycertified the contents of the e-mail as classified, the official XinhuaNews Agency reported.On April 27, 2005, the ChangshaIntermediate People’s Court found Shiguilty and sentenced him to a 10-yearprison term. In June of that year, HunanProvince High People’s Court rejectedhis appeal without granting a hearing.Court documents in the case revealedthat Yahoo had supplied information toChinese authorities that helped themidentify Shi as the sender of the e-mail.Yahoo’s participation in the identificationof Shi and other jailed dissidentsraised questions about the role that internationalInternet companies play inthe repression of online speech in Chinaand elsewhere.In November 2005, CPJ honoredShi in absentia with its annual InternationalPress Freedom Award for hiscourage in defending the ideals of freeexpression. In November 2007, membersof the U.S. House Committee onForeign Affairs rebuked Yahoo executivesfor their role in the case and forwrongly testifying in earlier hearingsthat the company did not know theChinese government’s intentions whenit sought Shi’s account information.Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft laterjoined with human rights organizations,academics, and investors to formthe Global Network Initiative, whichadopted a set of principles to protectonline privacy and free expression inOctober 2008.Human Rights Watch awarded Shia Hellman/Hammett grant for persecutedwriters in October 2009.Zheng Yichun, freelanceIMPRISONED: December 3, 2004Zheng, a former professor, was a regularcontributor to overseas news Websites, including the U.S.-based EpochTimes, which is affiliated with thebanned religious movement FalunGong. He wrote a series of editorialsthat directly criticized the CommunistParty and its control of the media.Because of police warnings, Zheng’sfamily remained silent about his detentionin Yingkou, Liaoning province,until state media reported that he hadbeen arrested on suspicion of incitingsubversion. Zheng was initially triedby the Yingkou Intermediate People’sCourt on April 26, 2005. No verdictwas announced and, on July 21, he wastried again on the same charges. As inthe April 26 trial, proceedings lastedjust three hours. Though officially300301