World Press Freedom Day is took place on May 3. Many activists took this day to protest agains the jailing of Shi Tao. Journalist, poet, and essayist Shi Tao was imprisoned for writing an e-mail about media restrictions in the run-up to the 15th anniversay of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
China currently has the largest recorded number of imprisoned journalists and cyber-dissidents in the world. As of July 2006, Amnesty International had documented at least 54 Chinese Internet users believed to be imprisoned for such acts as signing petitions, calling for an end to corruption, disseminating health information, or planning to establish pro-democracy groups. Shia Tao was arrested in November 2004 after sending the email through his Yahoo account to a U.S.-based pro-democrazy website in April 2004. A court sentenced him to 10 years in prison. The Chinese Constitution provides for freedom of speech and press for all citizens. However, China's vaguely-worded legal definition of what constitutes a "state secret" gives authorities broad discretion to detain people who peacefully exercise their right to freedom of expression.
I am currently getting as much signatures as I on a petition to send later to the Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China. Shi Tao is an innocent prisoner who should be released.
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1 comment:
Is the petition online anywhere?
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