World press protests China jailing journos

In a letter to the president, the Paris-based WAN and WEF called for the immediate release of journalists Qi Chonghuai and He Yanjie, who reported that a Tengzhou official had beaten a woman for arriving late for work. The reporters also posted photos of a luxurious Tengzhou government building on an official anti-corruption website.

Qi, who works for China Legal News in Shandong province, was sentenced to four years in prison and He, a free-lance journalist, received a two-year sentence, in a trial that was closed to the press. They were convicted for "fraud and extortion," charges that are used by authorities to silence critical journalists. Qi said he was beaten by police while in detention.

According to WAN, China remains the world's biggest jailer of journalists, despite its promise, made in its successful Olympic bid, to respect press freedom. At least 30 journalists and 50 cyber-dissidents are in Chinese prisons. WAN has called on the International Olympic Committee to hold China to its promises, and has called on all going to the Beijing Olympics -athletes, sponsors, media partners and others - to "exert serious pressure on the Chinese authorities to cease their flagrant and persistent abuses of human rights" and to release all jailed journalists.

More on the campaign can be found at www.wan-press.org/china/home.php.

The letter to President Hu can be read at www.wan-press.org/article17251.html.