Chinese blog shut down just days after being nominated for free
expression contest
Reporters Without Borders today condemned the censorship of
pro-democracy writer Wang Yi’s blog (http://zhivago.tianyablog.com),
which was closed down just days after it was nominated for the
"freedom of expression" category in a blog contest (www.thebobs.de)
being organised by the German public radio station Deutsche
Welle.
"We call for the immediate reopening of this blog and we point out
that the Chinese constitution is supposed to guarantee free
expression," the press freedom organisation said. "In a country
where self-censorship reigns, we should salute the courage of the few
bloggers like Wang who dare to publicly protest against government
bans."
The company that hosts the Tianya website closed the blog down on the
orders of the Internet surveillance bureau in Hai Nan province
(southwest of Guangzhou). When Internet users now try to access the
blog, they see an error message saying it is "no longer
accessible."
A teacher at Chengdu university in the southwestern province of
Sichuan and member of the international writers’ association PEN,
Wang initially created the site to make all his writings available in
one place. He gradually turned it into a blog dealing with sensitive
subjects. One of his last articles was about a campaign by peasants in
Guangdong province to remove a village chief accused of
corruption.<!–
D(["mb","
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\r\nThe authorities had been trying for six months to block access to the\r\nblog. "As soon as I find a way to get round their filtering system,\r\nthe local police use a new technique to censor my blog," Wang said.\r\nHe added that he was "very annoyed" with the Tianya company and\r\nthe Hai Nan authorities for getting his blog shut down.
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\r\nReporters sans frontières condamne la censure du blog de\r\nl\’intellectuel démocrate Wang Yi (http://zhivago.tianyablog.com),\r\nfermé quelques jours seulement après sa nomination dans la\r\ncatégorie "liberté d\’expression" du concours de blogs\r\norganisé par la radio allemande Deutsche Welle\r\n(www.thebobs.de).
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\r\n"Nous demandons la réouverture immédiate de ce blog et\r\nrappelons que la Constitution chinoise est supposée garantir la\r\nliberté d\’expression. Dans un pays où l\’autocensure règne, il\r\nfaut saluer le courage des quelques bloggers qui, comme Wang Yi, osent\r\ns\’élever publiquement contre les interdits du pouvoir", a\r\ndéclaré l\’organisation.
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\r\nL\’hébergeur du site, Tianya, a fermé le blog sur ordre du bureau\r\nde la surveillance d\’Internet de la province de Haïnan (sud-ouest de\r\nCanton). Lorsqu\’ils tentent d\’accéder au blog, les internautes\r\nse voient retourner un message d\’erreur indiquant que l\’adresse\r\n"n\’est plus accessible".
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\r\nEnseignant à l\’université de Chengdu (province de Sichuan,\r\nSud-Ouest), figure démocrate et membre de l\’association\r\ninternationale d\’écrivains PEN, Wang Yi avait initialement créé\r\nce site pour y regrouper ses écrits. Il l\’a progressivement\r\ntransformé en un blog, traitant de sujets sensibles. L\’un de ses\r\nderniers articles abordait la campagne menée par des paysans de la\r\nprovince du Guangdong pour démettre de ses fonctions le chef de leur\r\nvillage, accusé de corruption.”,1]
);
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The authorities had been trying for six months to block access to the
blog. "As soon as I find a way to get round their filtering system,
the local police use a new technique to censor my blog," Wang said.
He added that he was "very annoyed" with the Tianya company and
the Hai Nan authorities for getting his blog shut down.
Yan Sham-Shackleton Online 