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

13 March 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 serious concern at the continued jailing of journalist Shi Tao, winner of the 2007 WAN Golden Pen of Freedom.

According to reports, Mr Shi is serving a 10-year sentence on charges of "leaking state secrets" for writing an e-mail about state-imposed media restrictions in the run-up to the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square events. The e-mail was picked up by several overseas internet portals and by Chinese authorities after the American search engine company Yahoo! provided information that allowed the message to be traced to Mr Shi’s computer.

Mr Shi’s email included information that had been sent to his newspaper by state authorities, warning journalists of the dangers of "social destabilisation" and risks linked to the return of dissidents to China for the commemoration of the events.

The Golden Pen award, presented to Mr Shi’s mother in his absence on 4 June 2007 at the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum in Cape Town, South Africa, recognises Mr Shi’s outstanding defence and promotion of press freedom.

We respectfully call on you to accede to calls by the international community to release Mr Shi, including one made by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her recent visit to China.

Releasing Mr Shi would signal that China is taking steps to uphold the reforms it promised in its successful bid to host the Olympic Games this summer. The Organising Committee for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games issued the “Beijing Olympic Action Plan” in 2002, which 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.”

We respectfully call on you to do everything possible to ensure that Mr Shi 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, 12 news agencies and 11 regional and world-wide press groups. WAN is non-governmental and non-profit.