Premier Wen Jiabao
State Council of the People’s Republic of China
Beijing, People’s Republic of China

22 January 2008

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 continued detention of journalist Hu Jia almost one month after his arrest.

According to reports, about 20 police officers arrested Mr Hu, a journalist, blogger and human rights activist, at his home in Beijing on 27 December 2007. Some of the officers reportedly remained at the house after Mr Hu had been taken away, disconnecting the Internet connection and phone line, possibly to prevent his wife, Zeng, who is also a human rights campaigner, from telling supporters what had happened. Mr Hu is reportedly charged with "subverting state authority". Both Mr Hu and his wife had been under a form of house arrest since 18 May.

Using his webcam, Mr Hu participated in a European parliamentary hearing in Brussels on 26 November 2007 on the human rights situation in China. At the hearing, he said: "It is ironic that one of the people in charge of organising the Olympic Games is the head of the Bureau of Public Security, which is responsible for so many human rights violations. It is very serious that the official promises are not being kept before the games."

We respectfully remind you that the Organising Committee for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games issued the "Beijing Olympic Action Plan" in 2002, which laid out guiding principles and a series of promises as part of Beijing’s preparation to be the host city. Specifically the Plan promised: “In the preparation for the Games, we will be open in every aspect to the rest of the country and the whole world. We will draw on the successful experience of others and follow the international standards and criteria.”

In accordance with this pledge and numerous international conventions, declarations and agreements - including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - we call upon the Chinese authorities to free all jailed journalists and bloggers ahead of the Olympics Games. According to reports, at least 30 journalists and 50 cyber-dissidents are currently held in Chinese prisons.

We respectfully call on you to take all necessary steps to ensure that Mr Hu and all other journalists and others detained for exercising their right to freedom of expression are immediately released from prison and that charges against them are dropped.

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, 12 news agencies and 11 regional and world-wide press groups. WAN is non-governmental and non-profit.