（纽约—多伦多—斯德哥尔摩2008年3月17日讯）加拿大、美国和中国作家今天加入谴责对来自西藏的新闻和信息流的“封闭限制”。据报道，在拉萨和其它藏区城市的一周抗议及镇压，已经导致死亡达百人之多。加拿大笔会、美国笔会和独立中文笔会的代表警告说：新闻封锁、通讯干扰和审查，除掉了对人权侵犯的关键阻碍，增加了官方犯错的嫌疑；他们要求中国政府：向国际新闻工作者提供立即不受妨碍的途径，使他们得以进入西藏自治区和青海、甘肃、四川、云南等省的传统藏区；恢复电话和国际互联网通讯；终止其当地审查来自藏区的国际新闻供应和国际互联网报道。
长期以来，中国政府就阻止国际新闻工作者自由报导来自西藏的消息。例如，CNN报导说，在过去十年中，其工作人员仅两次获准进入藏区，而且对交谈和采访从未不受紧控。自上周佛教喇嘛举行和平示威、抗议继续限制西藏宗教和文化以来，没有任何国际新闻工作者获准入藏，或获准从那里发出报道。自那时以来，拉萨及其它藏区的电话和互联网服务据报明显受干扰，当暴力扩散和死亡人数上升时，阻碍了第一手报道及其它信息的传播。同时，重视上周拉萨事件的卫星广播，据报在北京及中国其它城市中受到干扰，美国《洛杉矶时报》、英国《卫报》等全部新闻网站被封闭，使中国公民对此正在扩散的悲剧一团漆黑。
“这正使我们想起，十九年前三月份在拉萨和六月份在北京所发生一切。”独立中文笔会秘书长张裕博士回忆说：“由于政府对新闻的限制，当1989年拉萨事件的血腥真相在该地区外罕为人知时，中国人民毫无准备，无法防止几个月后在北京及各地复制类似流血事件。当全世界如今再次因中国许诺新闻自由和开放而注视着北京时，容许这样的历史重演是不可原谅的。”
加拿大笔会会长纳鲁法·柏兹拉强调：“‘同一个世界，同一个梦想’是北京奥运会的主题口号，但是对藏人的持续粗暴的压迫，拒绝他们的人权，以及现在对骚乱的暴力镇压，表明不给藏人如此梦想，而且还不许世界其他人知情。”
美国笔会会长弗朗辛·普罗斯说：“中国政府曾向世界承诺，直到奥运期间对媒体报道和记者行动都没有限制──一个以它在西藏的行径完全破坏了的承诺。即使根据从西藏传出的有限信息也很清楚，中国政府对最初明显是和平示威的活动反应过度。中国政府对新闻报道的封闭限制，只会引人怀疑其行动超出了保护公共安全的必要，而集聚对自由言论和异议的再次暴力镇压。”
美国笔会、加拿大笔会和独立中文笔会，属于国际笔会在全世界的145个分会。国际笔会致力推进世界各地作家间的友谊和理性合作，为言论自由奋斗，代表世界文学的良知。2007年12月10日，三笔会启动了“我们为言论自由准备好了”的奥运会倒计时行动，抗议中国监禁包括三位藏人在内的至少38名作家和新闻工作者，寻求终止在该国的互联网审查以及对自由写作的其它限制
。更多信息请参阅： www.pen.org ，www.pencanada.ca和www.chinesepen.org。
。更多信息请参阅：
联系人：
加拿大笔会伊莎贝尔·哈里（Isobel Harry），(416) 703-8448 ext. 22, [email protected]
美国笔会拉里·赛姆斯（Larry Siems），(212) 334-1660 ext. 111, [email protected]
独立中文笔会张裕, +46-8-50022792, [email protected]
加拿大笔会伊莎贝尔·哈里（Isobel Harry），(416) 703-8448 ext. 22, [email protected]
美国笔会拉里·赛姆斯（Larry Siems），(212) 334-1660 ext. 111, [email protected]
独立中文笔会张裕, +46-8-50022792, [email protected]
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information contact: Larry Siems, PEN American Center, (212) 334-1660 ext. 105, [email protected]
Isobel Harry, PEN Canada, (416) 703-8448 ext. 22, [email protected]
Yu Zhang, Independent Chinese PEN Center, +46-8-50022792, [email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information contact: Larry Siems, PEN American Center, (212) 334-1660 ext. 105,
Isobel Harry, PEN Canada, (416) 703-8448 ext. 22, [email protected]
Yu Zhang, Independent Chinese PEN Center, +46-8-50022792, [email protected]
PEN to China: Let free press tell true story in Tibet
New York, Toronto, Stockholm, March 17, 2008 – Writers from Canada, the United States, and China joined today in denouncing suffocating restrictions on the press and on the flow of information from Tibet, where a week of protests and repression has reportedly resulted in as many as 100 deaths in Lhasa and other Tibetan cities. Warning that news blackouts, communications interruptions and censorship remove a critical deterrent to human rights abuses and increase suspicions of official wrongdoing, the representatives of PEN Canada, PEN American Center, and the Independent Chinese PEN Center demanded the Chinese government provide immediate and unfettered access to the Tibet Autonomous Region and all traditionally Tibetan areas in Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu and Yunnan provinces to international journalists; restore phone and Internet access; and end all domestic censorship of international news feeds and Internet reports from Tibet.
The Chinese government has long prevented international journalists from reporting freely from Tibet. For instance, CNN reports its crews have been allowed into the region only twice in the past 10 years and never without tight controls on conversations and interviews. No international journalists have been allowed to enter or report from Tibet since Buddhist monks staged peaceful demonstrations last week to protest continuing restrictions on religious and cultural activities in Tibet, and there have been reports of significant interruptions of telephone and Internet service in Lhasa and other Tibetan areas since thn, impeding the flow of first-hand reports and other information as violence spread and the number of deaths rose. Meanwhile, satellite broadcasts focusing on events in Tibet this past week have reportedly been jammed in Beijing and other Chinese cities, and entire news sites such as the LA Times and The Guardian have been shut down, leaving China’s citizens in the dark about the unfolding tragedy.
“This is reminding us of what happened both in Lhasa in March and in Beijing in June 19 years ago,” recalled Dr. Yu Zhang, Secretary-general of Independent Chinese PEN Center. “As the truth of bloody Lhasa event in 1989 was little known beyond the region due to the governmental restrictions on the press, Chinese people could prepare nothing to prevent the similar bloodshed from being reproduced in Beijing and elsewhere in China a few months later. It is unforgivable to allow history to repeat itself when the whole world is now watching Beijing for its promise of the press freedom and openness once more.”
“’One World, One Dream’ is the motto of the Beijing Olympics,” noted Nelofer Pazira, president of PEN Canada. “But it seems that Tibetans are not included in that dream, as the denial of their human rights and now this violent crushing of these protests indicate. And the rest of the world is not being allowed to know that.”
“The Chinese government pledged to the world that there will be no restrictions on media reporting and movement of journalists up to and including the Olympic Games a pledge thats completely undermined by its conduct in Tibet, said Francine Prose, President of PEN American Center. Even with the limited information emanating from Tibet, it is clear the Chinese government has responded aggressively to what apparently began as peaceful demonstrations. The Chinese governments suffocating restrictions on news reporting only fuel suspicions that its actions go beyond what is necessary to protect public safety and amount to another violent crackdown on free expression and dissent.
PEN American Center, PEN Canada, and the Independent Chinese PEN Center are among the 145 worldwide centers of International PEN, an organization that works to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere, to fight for freedom of expression, and represent the conscience of world literature. On December 10, 2007, the centers launched We Are Ready for Freedom of Expression, an Olympic countdown campaign to protest Chinas imprisonment of at least 38 writers and journalists, including three Tibetans, and to seek an end to internet censorship and other restrictions on the freedom to write in that country. For more information, please visit www.pen.org, www.pencanada.ca, and www.chinesepen.org.