MCLC: journalist still held after one week

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: pjmooney <pjmooney at me.com>
Subject: journalist still held after one week
***********************************************************

Source: Reporters without Borders (5/15/14):
http://en.rsf.org/china-chinese-journalist-still-held-15-05-2014,46286.html

Chinese journalist still held after one week

Journalist and activist Wu Wei, a former Beijing based reporter for the
South China Morning Post, reportedly arrested by Beijing police, has not
been heard from by family or friends for several days.

Several Hong Kong media outlets reported the arrest, based on messages
published on the Weibo social network, then relayed by journalist and
blogger Wen Yunchao. No information has been released on why she would
have been arrested. But the action may stem from her support for the
release of human rights advocate Pu Zhiqiang.

Reporters Without Borders demands an immediate explanation from the
Beijing government.

The news followed by one day the arrest of Xiang Nanfu, a regular
contributor to the Boxun news website. Several days before that came an
official announcement that journalist Gao Yu had been placed in criminal
detention. She has not been heard from for more than one week.“As in the
case of Gao Yu, the fact that a committed journalist such as Wu Wei has
not been heard from is of the utmost concern,” said Benjamin Ismaïl, head
of the press freedom organization’s Asia-Pacific desk. “All the more so
because the police are stepping up the pace of kidnap-style arrests as the
anniversary of the Tienanmin Square events approaches.”

Ismaïl added: “In the absence of charges against her, we demand that Wu
Wei be released immediately.”

Information concerning the journalist’s arrest had circulated on 13 May on
Weibo. But, at her family’s request, word of the detention did not
immediately circulate more widely.

In the run-up to the 25-year anniversary of the Tian’anmen
massacre,arrests of dissidents and censorship operations are on the
increase in China. The country is ranked 175th out of 180 countries in the
2014 Reporters Without Borders World press freedom index
<http://rsf.org/index2014/en-asia.php>.