{"id":7523,"date":"2016-09-07T23:10:02","date_gmt":"2016-09-08T03:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/?p=7523"},"modified":"2016-09-08T00:15:56","modified_gmt":"2016-09-08T04:15:56","slug":"ngo-calls-for-release-of-5-chinese-citizen-journalists-arrested-during-g20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/ngo-calls-for-release-of-5-chinese-citizen-journalists-arrested-during-g20","title":{"rendered":"NGO calls for release of 5 Chinese citizen journalists arrested during G20"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"5-chinese-citizen-journalists-arrested-during-g20\"

Citizen journalists Huang Qi (left), Li Zhaoxiu (right) followed by several plainclothes agents (background), on Sept 5, 2016. Photo: RSF<\/p><\/div>\n

Five women citizen journalists reporting for the independent news website 64Tianwang were kidnapped by Chinese police during the G20 summit in the southeastern city of Hangzhou, leaving their families without news of their loved-ones.<\/p>\n

The NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called for their immediate release and the withdrawal of all charges against them.<\/p>\n

The authorities carried out several waves of arrests of dissidents and human rights activists as the G20 leaders were meeting in Hangzhou. They also abducted citizen-journalists, including the five 64Tianwang reporters, who were providing direct or indirect coverage of the summit.<\/p>\n

Other journalists such as Li Zhaoxiu and 64Tianwang founder and editor Huang Qi were forced to \u201ctake a holiday,\u201d an expression that designates the various methods used by the authorities to restrict movements, including arbitrary detention, temporary internal exile and house arrest.<\/p>\n

Yang Xiuqiong, a citizen journalist who covered the arrest of ten \u201cpetitioners\u201d (ordinary citizens campaigning about grievances) in a train on the evening of 2 September, has been reported missing by her family and colleagues. She also commented on these arrests for the Radio Free Asia websiteRadio Free Asia website.<\/p>\n

The authorities also kidnapped Lin Xiurong (a citizen journalist who reported that Hangzhou\u2019s stadium had been turned into a detention centre for petitioners), Yuan Ying (who went to Beijing to observe a demonstration by some 2,000 petitioners outside the Communist Party\u2019s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection), Jiang Chenfen (who had reported being the victim of restrictions on her movements) and He Yazhen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe demand that the authorities release these five citizen journalists, who did nothing more than cover situations they observed at first hand, and we demand that they refrain from bringing any charges against them,\u201d said Benjamin Isma\u00efl, the head of RSF\u2019s Asia-Pacific desk.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also draw the attention of the Hangzhou summit\u2019s participants to these courageous citizen journalists, who do not hesitate to put their lives in danger to tell the world about the Chinese people\u2019s constant battles to defend their rights and fundamental freedoms.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever an international event is held in China \u2013 whether the Olympic Games, the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen or the G20 summit, the authorities violate the rights of thousands of people and arrest dozens of citizen journalists, bloggers and online information activists. Beijing must stop organizing these systemic information blackouts.\u201d<\/p>\n

When reached by RSF, 64Tianwang editor Huang Qi said he feared for his detained reporters because \u201cin 18 years of activity, no 64Tianwang journalist has ever agreed to sign a confession drafted by the authorities.\u201d In China, detainees are usually punished more severely if they refuse to sign confessions.<\/p>\n

Source: http:\/\/www.mizzima.com\/news-international\/ngo-calls-release-5-chinese-citizen-journalists-arrested-during-g20<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Five women citizen journalists reporting … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,167],"tags":[1467,1787,93,1788],"views":5131,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7523"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7523"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7526,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7523\/revisions\/7526"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}