(WAN/IFEX) – U.S. President Bill Clinton was urged by the World Association of Newspapers to call for the unconditional release of journalists jailed in China when he visits Beijing later this week. In a letter to Mr Clinton, WAN President Bengt Braun specifically asked the president to raise the case of Gao Yu with Chinese […]
(WAN/IFEX) – U.S. President Bill Clinton was urged by the World Association
of Newspapers to call for the unconditional release of journalists jailed in
China when he visits Beijing later this week.
In a letter to Mr Clinton, WAN President Bengt Braun specifically asked the
president to raise the case of Gao Yu with Chinese authorities, along with
the cases of at least 15 other journalists in Chinese prisons.
“We feel the case of Gao Yu symbolises the injustices perpetrated against
those who dare to call for greater freedoms, and respectfully urge you to
raise her case specifically with the Chinese authorities,” wrote Braun,
whose association represents more than 15,000 newspapers in 90 countries..
Gao Yu, a winner of the WAN Golden Pen of Freedom and the UNESCO/Guillermo
Cano World Press Freedom Prize, remains in detention despite persistent
international pressure for her release. The 50-year-old journalist was first
detained during the 1989 pro-democracy movement and held for 14 months,
before her release on the grounds of ill-health. She was next arrested on 2
October 1993, two days before she was to depart for the United States to
start a one-year research fellowship at Columbia University’s Graduate
School of Journalism.
Gao Yu’s family was informed in November 1994 that she had been sentenced to
six years in prison for “leaking state secrets” about China’s structural
reforms in articles for the pro-Beijing Hong Kong magazine “Mirror Monthly”.
She was permitted no counsel during the trial, to which her family was also
refused access.
“While recognising the importance of building closer business links with
China, we firmly believe that this cannot be at the expense of fundamental
human rights. I strongly urge you to call for the unconditional release of
Gao Yu when you meet with Chinese officials,” Braun wrote to Mr Clinton.
WAN also called for the release of at least 15 journalists who remain in
Chinese prisons, many in harsh conditions without access to proper medical
care.
