Premier Wen Jiabao
State Council of the People’s Republic of China
Beijing, People’s Republic of China
Email: english@mail.gov.cn

17 July 2006

Dear Premier Wen,

We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 102 countries, to express our serious concern at the jailing of a journalist for posting essays on the internet.

According to reports, on 13 July Li Yuanlong, a journalist with the Bijie Daily newspaper in the southwestern province of Guizhou, was convicted of “inciting subversion of state sovereignty” by the Bijie City Intermediate People’s Court. Mr Li was sentenced to two years in jail.

State security agents arrested Mr Li at his office on 9 September 2005, after he posted essays on overseas websites banned in China. One of the articles, entitled “On Becoming an American in Spirit”, reportedly expressed his desire for democracy and freedom. Mr Li had also reported on the plight of marginalised farmers and laid-off workers.

According to reports, at least 51 cyber-dissidents and 32 journalists are currently imprisoned in China, where the press freedom situation has declined still further over the past year.

We respectfully remind you that the jailing of Mr Li is a clear breach of his right to freedom of expression, which is guaranteed by numerous international conventions, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 19 of the Declaration states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media, regardless of frontiers.”

We respectfully call on you to ensure that Mr Li is immediately released from prison and that all charges against him are dropped. We urge you to take all necessary steps to ensure that in future your country fully respects international standards of freedom of expression.

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Gavin O’Reilly
President
World Association of Newspapers

George Brock
President
World Editors Forum

WAN is the global organization for the newspaper industry, with formal representative status at the United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe. The organization groups 18,000 newspapers in 102 countries, 11 news agencies and nine regional and world-wide press groups. WAN is non-governmental and non-profit.