(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN press release: **Updates IFEX alerts of 5 October, 21 September, 30 June, 22 June and 21 April 1998, 28 October, 6 June and 9 April 1997, 20 January 1995, 14 November and 18 October 1994** Paris,16 February 1999 For immediate release WAN Welcomes Release of Chinese Journalist The […]
(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN press release:
**Updates IFEX alerts of 5 October, 21 September, 30 June, 22 June and
21 April 1998, 28 October, 6 June and 9 April 1997, 20 January 1995, 14
November and 18 October 1994**
Paris,16 February 1999
For immediate release
WAN Welcomes Release of Chinese Journalist
The World Association of Newspapers has welcomed the release of
prominent Chinese journalist Gao Yu, whose case was the spark for a
massive international campaign against repression in China.
“We are delighted and gratified that the Chinese government has allowed
Gao Yu to leave prison on medical parole,” said the Director General of
WAN, Timothy Balding. The Association had campaigned for more than four
years for her release and a WAN delegation had raised her case with
Chinese officials, including Vice Premier Qian Qichen, during a visit to
China two years ago.
While welcoming the release, WAN also said Mrs. Gao’s freedom “does not
solve the underlying problem of freedom of expression in China.”
Mrs. Gao, the 1995 laureate of WAN’s Golden Pen of Freedom, was arrested
in October 1993 and sentenced a year later to six years imprisonment for
“divulging state secrets” overseas when she worked for the Mirror
Monthly, a Hong Kong-based magazine.
She had already spent 14 months in prison after the 1989 crackdown on
pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square. Mrs. Gao, who has a heart
problem, was due to finish her prison term in October 1999.
“Mrs. Gao should never have been imprisoned in the first place, and, in
fact, went to jail merely for reporting information that was already
part of the public record,” said Mr. Balding. “It is an act that
journalists elsewhere do every day without putting themselves in danger.
China will never enter the modern age until it allows its people the
basic human right of freedom of expression.”
“The Chinese government has rarely reacted positively to international
campaigns, but the release of Gao Yu may be an indication that even the
most repressive regimes can be influenced by international opinion,”
said Mr. Balding. “Her release before the completion of her sentence
highlights the need to continue such campaigns.”
The Paris-based WAN, the global association of the newspaper industry,
defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 15,000
newspapers and its membership includes 57 national newspaper publisher
associations, individual newspaper executives in 90 countries, 17 news
agencies and seven regional press groups.
