News: Journalist tried for posting “alarmist” reports on foreign websites

Posted byYan Sham-ShackletonPosted inZhong Guo, Middle Kingdom
CHINA
Journalist tried for posting
"alarmist" reports on foreign websites
Reporters Without Borders voiced deep
concern today about the current crackdown on independent reporters
after Li Changqing, the former deputy editor of Fuzhou
Daily, was tried yesterday on charges of publishing "fabricated"
and "alarmist" reports on websites based abroad.

No verdict was announced at the end of the trial, and Reporters
Without Borders called for his acquittal.

"Exposing corruption or providing information about public health
crises is part of a journalist’s work," the press freedom
organisation said. "Denying the media the right to investigate such
issues means treating them as mere mouthpieces of the
government."

Arrested on 3 February 2005, Li was
initially accused of "subverting the state" but, according to his
lawyer, Mo Shaoping, the prosecutor had no evidence to support this
accusation so Li was finally charged with fabricating an alarmist
report about dengue fever in the eastern city of Fuzhou that was
posted on the Boxun.com website. The Washington Post
quoted Mo as saying the report was written by the site’s editors
using information provided by Li.

According to his family, Li is really being punished for writing
articles supporting a Chinese official, Huang Jigao, who wrote an open
letter in 2004 criticising local government corruption.<!–
D(["mb","
\n
\nMo said the verdict ought to be announced by 15 February.
\n
\nA total of 32 journalists and some 50 cyber-dissidents are currently\nimprisoned in China. On 17 January, three journalists were given\nsentences of up to 10 years in prison for writing about land\nconfiscations in the southeastern province of Zhejiang. See:
\nhttp://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article\u003d16192
\n

\n

——————-

\n

CHINE
\n

\n

Un journaliste jugé pour avoir diffusé\ndes informations "alarmistes" sur Internet
\n
\nLi Changqing, ancien directeur adjoint de l\’information du\nquotidien Fuzhou Daily, a été jugé, le 19 janvier 2006,\npour avoir diffusé des informations "fabriquées" et\n"alarmistes" sur des sites Internet basés à\nl\’étranger. Le verdict n\’a pas été communiqué à l\’issue du\nprocès. Reporters sans frontières demande l\’acquittement du\njournaliste et se déclare extrêmement préoccupée par la\nrépression qui s\’abat actuellement sur les reporters\nindépendants.
\n
\n"Dénoncer la corruption ou informer le public sur des crises\nsanitaires fait partie du travail d\’un journaliste. Refuser aux\nmédias le droit d\’enquêter sur ces affaires revient à les\nconsidérer comme de simples porte-voix du pouvoir", a commenté\nl\’organisation.
\n
\nLi Changqing, arrêté le 3 février 2005, a d\’abord été accusé\nde "subversion de l\’Etat". Son avocat, Mo Shaoping, a\nexpliqué que cette accusation n\’a pas pu être maintenue par le\nprocureur, faute de preuves. Le journaliste a donc finalement été\ninculpé pour avoir "fabriqué" des informations\n"alarmistes"  dans un article faisant état de cas de\ndengue dans la ville de Fuzhou (sud-est du pays) publié sur le site\n“,1]
);
//–>

Mo said the verdict ought to be announced by 15 February.

A total of 32 journalists and some 50 cyber-dissidents are currently
imprisoned in China. On 17 January, three journalists were given
sentences of up to 10 years in prison for writing about land
confiscations in the southeastern province of Zhejiang. See:
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=16192

Published by Yan Sham-Shackleton

Yan Sham-Shackleton is a Hong Kong writer who lives in Los Angeles. This is her old blog Glutter written mostly in Hong Kong from 2003 to 2007. Although it was a personal blog, Yan focused a lot on free speech issues and democratic movement in Hong Kong. She moved to the US in 2007.

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