（纽约—多伦多—斯德哥尔摩2008年7月2日）各笔会今天对南京记者孙林被判刑和本周北京数作家及笔会会员被关押骚扰以禁见美国国会到访议员表示失望。
孙林（笔名孑木）是海外中文网站《博讯新闻网》记者，在发表一些包括犯罪和警方暴行等敏感话题的文章后，于2007年5月30日被捕。他的妻子何芳也被指控并判缓刑。2008年6月27日，孙林以“聚众扰乱社会秩序罪”和“非法持有枪支罪”被判刑4年，宣判时其家人和律师均未到场。他在被捕前已记载了警方对他的多次骚扰。
同时，在美国国务卿赖斯和两位国会议员——新泽西州的克里斯多弗·H·史密斯和弗吉尼亚州的弗兰克·R·沃尔夫访华期间，几位律师和活动人士于6月29日被关押。当局这一行动，发生在北京律师李柏光和李和平前往华盛顿接受美国国家民主基金会的“民主奖”并会见布什总统后仅仅一周。第三位获奖的律师兼作家滕彪因被当局没收护照而无法前往美国。这三位及其他几人被美国会议员邀请共进晚餐并讨论中国人权问题。李柏光和滕彪是独立中文笔会会员。
据报道，李柏光在北京郊区怀柔被关押了三天，以阻止他回北京赴晚宴。滕彪最初也被关押在怀柔，但后来被送回北京软禁在家中。笔会接到报告称，其他律师和异议人士在此次晚餐会前也被骚扰。在其余五位受到警告不准出席晚餐会的人士中，有异议作家、独立中文笔会前会长、现理事刘晓波博士。
“我们非常感谢史密斯众议员和沃尔夫众议员为会见我们北京的同仁所做的努力，也愤慨于中国政府阻止此次会见的行动。”美国笔会自由写作项目主任拉里·赛姆斯说，“我们希望，美国正式抗议这种对中国公民旅行自由及其与外宾交流观点的权利的公然干涉。据我们了解，我们的同仁被告知，那是警方为奥运准备的一次有计划的操练。中国为确保主办奥运会曾对世界有明确承诺，在奥运会期间限制公民前往北京及会见外宾的行动，明显违背这些承诺和奥林匹克精神。”
笔会也得到确认，2008年6月5日被拘留的上海维权人士、网络作家和自由记者冯正虎，已于6月15日获释。他遭拘留被认为是因他发表并散发《不服上海法院裁判上访申诉案件汇编》及其它文章。6月18日，当局归还了他的四台电脑和509本他于6月4日发表的最新一期刊物。
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个分会之列。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，抗议中国监禁至少44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他限制。更多信息请参阅：www.pen.org/china2008, ，www.pencanada.ca和www.chinesepen.org。
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]
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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]
Chinese Journalist Sentenced, Others Prevented From Meeting U.S. Officials
New York, Toronto, Stockholm, July 2, 2008—PEN centers expressed disappointment today over the sentencing of journalist Sun Lin in Nanjing and the detention and harassment of several writers and PEN members to prevent them from meeting visiting U.S. Congressmen this week in Beijing.
Sun Lin (pen name Jie Mu), a reporter for the overseas Chinese web site Boxun News, was arrested on May 30, 2007 after writing articles on sensitive subjects including crime and police brutality. His wife, writer He Fang, was also charged and given a suspended sentence. On June 27, 2008, during a hearing in which neither his family nor lawyer were present, Sun was handed a four-year prison sentence for “gathering crowds to cause social unrest” and “illegal possession of firearms.” Before his arrest, he had documented several instances of police harassment.
Meanwhile, several lawyers and activists were detained on June 29 during visits by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and two U.S. Congressmen—Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ) and Frank R. Wolf (R-VA). The move comes just one week after Beijing-based lawyers Li Baiguang and Li Heping traveled to Washington, DC to accept the “Democracy Award” from the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy and meet with President Bush. Lawyer and writer Teng Biao, a third recipient of the prize, was not able to travel to the U.S. because authorities had confiscated his passport. The trio and several others were invited to dine with the congressmen to discuss human rights issues in China. Li Baiguang and Teng Biao are members of the Independent Chinese PEN Center (ICPC).
Li Biaguang was reportedly detained and held in Huairou, a Beijing suburb, for three days in order to prevent him from returning to Beijing for the dinner. Teng Biao was initially detained in Huairou as well, but later returned to his home in Beijing and placed under house arrest. PEN has also received reports that several other lawyers and dissidents were harassed in advance of the dinner meeting. Writer, dissident, and former president and current ICPC board member Dr. Liu Xiaobo was among the five others warned against attending the dinner.
“We are extremely grateful to Representatives Smith and Wolf for their efforts to meet with our colleagues in Beijing, and outraged at Chinese government actions to prevent that meeting from taking place,” said PEN American Center Freedom to Write Program Director Larry Siems. “We hope that the United States will formally protest this flagrant interference with the right of Chinas citizens to travel freely and share their views with international visitors, which we understand our colleagues have been told was a planned drill by police in preparation for the Olympics. China made explicit commitments to the world to secure the Olympic Games, and restricting the movements of citizens seeking to travel to Beijing and meet international visitors during the Games would clearly violate those commitments and the spirit of the Olympics.”
PEN has also received confirmation that Feng Zhenghu, a Shanghai-based rights defender, online writer and freelance journalist who was detained on June 5, 2008, was released on June 15. His detention was believed to have stemmed from a collection of articles he published and distributed alleging wrongful convictions by the Shanghai courts, along with other writings. On June 18, authorities returned his four computers and 509 copies of the latest issue of his journal, which was published on June 4.
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 44 writers and journalists 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/china2008, www.pencanada.ca, and www.chinesepen.org.
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