Observatory for the protection of human rights defenders
Annual Report 2009 /Asia

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Repression against journalists denouncing human rights violations

Although temporary media regulations adopted for foreign journalists in January 2007, which were made permanent by a decision by the Chinese Government in October 2008, provided greater freedom for foreign journalists reporting in China, some of the latter continued to report “interference incidents”, including acts of intimidation and violence. In March 2008 for instance, several foreign journalists were prevented from working freely as they tried to cover the situation in the Tibetan regions, as illustrated by the arrest of a Finnish TV crew on March 17, 2008 in Xiahe (Gansu province), where there had been Tibetan demonstrations against the Chinese Government. The TV crew was threatened and its video recordings were confiscated despite its protests 9. On August 4, 2008, two accredited Japanese journalists, Messrs. Masami Kawakita, a photographer with the daily Chunichi Shimbun, and Shinji Katsuta, a reporter with Nippon Television Network, were violently removed from the street by Chinese paramilitary forces in Kashgar, Xinjiang province, as they were covering attacks on sixteen policemen a few days ahead of the Olympics in Kashgar. They were taken to an official hotel, where they were beaten and their equipment was broken. They were released two hours later with minor injuries 10.

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Lawyers under attack

In 2008, lawyers working on cases considered as sensitive by theauthorities such as defending political dissidents, human rights defenders, members of the Uighurs or Tibetan minorities and Falun Gong practitioners continued to face repression and various obstacles in performing their professional duties.

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