中文

His Excellency President Hu Jintao
President of the People’s Republic of China
Beijing, People’s Republic of China

18 February 2008

Your Excellency,

We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 102 countries, to express our serious concern at the jailing of cyber-dissident Lu Gengsong.

According to reports, on 5 February the Intermediate People’s Court of Hangzhou sentenced Mr Lu, a freelance writer and former lecturer, to four years in jail for “inciting subversion of state power”. Only Mr Lu’s immediate family were permitted to attend the court hearing.

Mr Lu was arrested in September 2007 after publishing extensively on graft, including a book entitled “Corrupted Officials in China”, which was published in Hong Kong in 2000. He has also reported on cases of illegal eviction.

We are seriously concerned that Chinese authorities are not respecting the commitments they made in the Olympic bid, and are increasingly clamping down on freedom of expression advocates and journalists.

We respectfully remind you that the Organising Committee for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games issued the “Beijing Olympic Action Plan” in 2002, which laid out guiding principles and a series of promises as part of Beijing’s preparation to be the host city. Specifically the Plan promised: “In the preparation for the Games, we will be open in every aspect to the rest of the country and the whole world. We will draw on the successful experience of others and follow the international standards and criteria.”

In accordance with this pledge and numerous international conventions, declarations and agreements - including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - we call upon the Chinese authorities to free all jailed journalists and cyber-dissidents ahead of the Olympic Games. According to reports, at least 30 journalists and 50 cyber-dissidents are currently held in Chinese prisons.

We respectfully call on you to take all necessary steps to ensure that Mr Lu and all others detained for exercising their right to freedom of expression are immediately released from prison and that charges against them are dropped.

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Gavin O’Reilly
President
World Association of Newspapers

George Brock
President
World Editors Forum

WAN is the global organization for the newspaper industry, with formal representative status at the United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe. The organization groups 18,000 newspapers in 102 countries, 12 news agencies and 11 regional and world-wide press groups. WAN is non-governmental and non-profit.