winning press freedom conference

Some 30,000 journalists are expected to travel to Beijing to cover the Games.

If we pay attention to what has happened in Western countries in similar events, we must take for ranted that perhaps hundreds of those journalists will be arrested during those two weeks in August.

But unlike Western countries, there is no established infrastructure to coordinate the legal defense of those arrested professionals in China.

That’s why World Press Freedom Committee Chairman Richard Winfield launched an attorney-recruiting campaign during the Paris Conference.

Wanted: Attorneys to the Rescue during the Olympics
By Richard N. Winfield

WPFC is spearheading a hotline for journalists who are arrested or detained in China. We’re getting a broad group of organizations to work out a system whereby legal counsel will be available for those journalists who run into a legal emergency in China.

Four years ago, the United States’ Republican Party held its political convention in New York City in 2004. There, eight journalists spent up to 24 hours in detention.

We got lawyers for them and none was charged. Since 1972, every four years, there are always defense lawyers available to win the release of journalists during these conventions.

We’re hoping to apply this strategy to the Beijing Olympics. This is not an easy time to select Chinese lawyers. This is a politically sensitive matter, and government approval may be needed.

The lawyers will be intimidated. And then there is the question how will we pay them? The sheer number of them will be amazing.

Of the 2,000 journalists covering the New York convention, eight were arrested. It’s conceivable that 240 could be arrested out of the expected 30,000 in two weeks of the Olympics. We hope to get the names of lawyers who are independent, experienced and willing to take the risk to take on this task. If you know of any, please give the names via email to freepress@wpfc.org, or someone from World Association of Newspapers.

And then I have these questions: Are you organizing solidarity issues for your Chinese journalist colleagues? We’ll try to get you released, if you’re a foreign correspondent.

If there are illegal searches and illegal behavior arrests, we’d like to know what we can do. Resources are limited, but we wonder what is useful.

Those who would be arrested would be of Chinese descent people. The 30,000 journalists there will hire students as helpers and these students won’t be aware of the risks they’re taking. What you could do is educate foreign journalists.

Sharon Hom, Executive Director, Human Rights in China, moderator:
Domestic journalists are going to be at greatest risk. One thing we mentioned: with the new biometric face recognition, that matched with the cameras into a central server, plus the more than 3000 cameras for biometric recognition in public spaces, subways, etc., you need to be very aware even though the camera can identify you.

We’re interested in mapping where they are. If you see it, tell us the location, we’ll let the people know where they are, and they’ll not be just in the Olympics venues. Next, there’s a group in Hong Kong trying to support lawyers, and we will need back-up attorneys to defend Chinese lawyers who will be harassed.

Another Chinese speaker:
Lawyers in China have a different situation, they can be arrested for defending someone. They often are arrested and convicted themselves. There is no rule of law there. Everyone has to step into line with the rulings of the Party. For instance a person was given a seven-year sentence and no one can do anything about it.

Hom again:
We have to be very careful about the risk of interviewing citizens. Don’t treat prominent figures with too much harshness, but focus on the smaller folk. Close surveillance is tough. If I make a call, because I’m being watched, the person’s phone doesn’t ring. When it comes to foreign journalists during the Olympic period, if they run into illegal treatment, they probably shouldn’t place hope in help from Chinese lawyers.

People should know where journalists are, what they’re doing, so that when they’re beaten up, it’s very difficult to gain redress of bad abuse in China. There are restrictions of what a journalist can do. It’s important for various governments not to restrict themselves to declarations and pontificating. Best hope for protection will be your governments to take strong positions. Any lawyers in China will suffer consequences.

Richard N. Winfield is Chairman of the World Press Freedom Committee.