Petitioners in Beijing (faces obscured) hold a banner demanding government intervention in their cases, Jan. 30 2017. Photo sent by Wu Jixin
Authorities in the Chinese capital have detained thousands of people who converged there to highlight grievances against government officials in their hometowns, sending them off to start the Year of the Rooster in a detention center. Continue reading
China Detains Thousands With Grievances as Year of Rooster Begins已关闭评论
Tagged detention, petitioner, Year of Rooster
A young girl dances with an American flag while women pray behind her during a protest against the temporary travel ban, at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Credit: REUTERS/Laura Buckman
On Monday, Tehran-born poet Kaveh Akbar began tweeting out poetry written by poets from the seven countries — Iran, Libya, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, and Syria — impacted by President Donald Trump’s executive order that temporarily bans immigrants from those countries. Continue reading
Read poems from the 7 countries affected by Trump’s immigration ban已关闭评论
Posted in Headlines, literature
Tagged immigration ban, Poems, Trump, US
Man using a laptop at a Beijing office of Sina Weibo, widely known as China’s version of Twitter, an early victim of President Xi Jinping’s ongoing campaign tighten online control, in April 2014 photo. AFP
The ruling Chinese Communist Party has published a warning to its officials using the popular chat app WeChat, banning them from making “off message” comments on social media. Continue reading
China Warns Officials to Stay on Message When Chatting Online已关闭评论
Posted in Headlines, Internet Freedom
Tagged censorship, Social Media, VPN, WeChat
Family members of Chinese human rights lawyers jailed since a July 2015 crackdown, in undated photo. Courtesy of an RFA listener.
Rights activists in China have launched a greetings card campaign for political prisoners around the country ahead of Chinese New Year celebrations on Jan. 30, as foreign diplomats paid visits to embattled activists faced with eviction in Beijing. Continue reading
Chinese Activists Send Cards to Hundreds of Prisoners of Conscience已关闭评论
Posted in Headlines, Human Rights Lawyer
Tagged Chinese New Year, greeting
NEW YORK—The arrests of several journalists covering protests in Washington, D.C., on felony riot charges is an alarming encroachment on the right of the press to document public demonstrations, PEN America said in a statement today.
Evan Engel of Vocativ, Alex Rubinstein of RT America, freelance journalist Aaron Cantu, and documentary producer Jack Keller were arrested while covering protests on the day of Donald J. Trump’s inauguration, along with at least two other independent journalists. They appear to have been caught up in mass arrests by police after some protesters committed acts of vandalism. Rubinstein, Engel, and Keller have stated that they identified themselves as press to the police, but were arrested anyway.
Felony riot charges carry a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $25,000 fine.
“Even a few weeks ago, the prospect of large numbers of journalists in America facing criminal charges, fines, and prison terms for doing their jobs would have seemed far-fetched,” said Suzanne Nossel, Executive Director of PEN America. “By slapping these journalists with felony charges, the U.S. Attorney’s office is intimidating the press at a time when mass protests are expanding and there is a pressing need for accurate reporting in the public interest. It is the obligation of our government officials to enable rather than impair that. The U.S. Attorney should drop these charges immediately.”
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PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect open expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible.
CONTACT
Sarah Edkins, Director of Communications: [email protected], +1.646.779.4830
Source: https://pen.org/press-release/journalists-arrested-riot-charges-dc/
Arrest of Journalists Intimidates Press at Crucial Moment for Reporting on Mass Protest已关闭评论
Posted in Headlines, PEN International News, Press Freedom
Tagged arrest, Journalist, PEN America, riot
Detained Chinese rights lawyer Xie Yang is shown with his daughter in an undated photo. Photo sent by an RFA listener
A rights group on Tuesday called for the immediate release of detained Chinese rights lawyer Xie Yang, detailing his lawyers’ reports of his torture in a police-run detention center in the central province of Hunan. Continue reading
Detained Chinese Rights Lawyer Files Complaint Over Torture in Detention已关闭评论
Posted in Headlines, Human Rights Lawyer, Subversion
A man surfs the Internet at a coffee shop in Beijing in a file photo. AFP
China says it will crack down in 2017 on the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) to get around the complex system of blocks, filters, and human censorship known as the Great Firewall that limits what its citizens can see online. Continue reading
China Shores up Great Firewall With New Rules Targeting VPNs已关闭评论
Posted in Headlines, Internet Freedom
Tagged censorship, VPN
Xie Yang, Chen Jiangang, January 21, 2017
Xie Yang and wife
Continued from Part One and Part Two
[The interview began at 2:49:55 p.m. on January 5, 2017.] Continue reading
Transcript of Interviews with Lawyer Xie Yang (3) – Dangling Chair, Beating, Threatening Lives of Loved Ones, and Framing Others已关闭评论
Posted in Headlines, Human Rights Lawyer, Subversion
