Article,
China jails 'blackmail' reporter
Al Jazeera English, (15 May 2008)2:43:06 AM GMT.
Abstract
A Chinese journalist who wrote about suspected wrongdoing by local
officials has been jailed for four years after being found guilty
of charges of blackmail and extortion.
A court in the city of Tengzhou in the northern province of Shandong
sentenced Qi Chonghuai after a day-long trial on Tuesday.
Qi had been accused of extorting money from local officials during
his reporting, but denied the charges.
His lawyer, Li Chunfu, who visited his client in jail on Wednesday,
said he planned to appeal the ruling.
"The court's decision was merely based on 29 people's accounts, but
all of them failed to show up at the court, which is a violation
of the law," he said.
"I believe they don't dare to show up because their accounts are full
of faults."
A freelance journalist who worked with Qi on the reports, was also
jailed two years on similar charges, added Li.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ) in a statement
supporting Qi said at least 26 local journalists were in Chinese
prisons because of their work.
'Brutal treatment'
"We condemn Qi Chonghuai's sentence and the brutal treatment he has
received throughout his detention," said Bob Dietz, the CPJ's Asia
programme coordinator.
Qi was arrested in June 2007 after he wrote about a Tengzhou official
beating a woman for coming late to work.
Qi's article on the beating was posted on the website of Epoch Times,
a US-based newspaper linked to the banned Chinese sect Falun Gong.
The Chinese Human Rights Defenders, an overseas-based group, in a
statement on Wednesday quoted Qi as saying that he was beaten and
threatened during his detention.
A report by the Paris-based rights group Reporters Without Borders
early this year said China has the biggest number of jailed journalists,
cyber dissidents, internet users and activists for freedom of expression.
Document AJAZEN0020080515e45f0002x
