China
China frees two journalists but jails anotherPosted Apr 2 2008
The Chinese government freed two journalists in the past two weeks, yet the arrests continue. A Hong Kong journalist was released by the Chinese government Feb. 6 after serving two years in a Guangdong Province jail for charges of spying. Ching Cheong, a journalist for the Straits Times of Singapore, was sentenced in 2006 for supposedly selling state secrets to Taiwan through a foundation acting as a front for the country's espionage agency. The Xinhua News Agency said the government released him early because he confessed to more espionage of which the government was previously unaware, says the New York Times.
Yu Huafeng, former president of a liberal newspaper in Guangzhou, Nanfang Dushi Bao, was released from prison two days after Cheong, reports Reporters Without Borders. Yu was arrested in Jan. 2004 along with the newspaper's managing editor, Li Minying, and were both charged with corruption. The organization reports that Yu was set up by local officials for publishing anti-government articles. Since then, Yu's sentence had been reduced from the original twelve to seven due to multiple appeals.
Hu Jia, a dissendent journalist, was not so lucky. Dragged from his home by Chinese state police last week, he was charged with inciting subversion. Along with his wife, Hu protested China's human rights abuses by blogging about them online during their house arrests.