RSF Condemns Arrest of Ethnic Mongolian Journalist
Reporters Without Borders condemns a decision by the Chinese authorities to place a journalist known by the name of Naranbilig under house arrest for a year after holding him for 20 days in Inner Mongolia.
"With just three months left to the Beijing Olympic Games, the authorities continue to jail people who express independent or critical views in different parts of the country," the press freedom organization said. "Whether it is a Mongol journalist or a writer in Hubei province, they are silenced with the same determination. Far from view, the repression continues as the games draw near."
Naranbilig, an independent journalist and human rights activist of Mongol origin, was arrested on March 23 at his home in Hohhot, the capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
His family was not informed of his arrest until he was released on bail of 1,850 euros and placed under house arrest for one year beginning on April 12. The police searched his home, confiscated his computer and many personal documents.
The author of dozens of books and essays about the Mongol minority, Naranbilig edited a monthly magazine called "Golonte" (Family Hearth) that was banned in 2006 after only five issues. An ambassador of Mongol culture and traditions, he represented the Southern Mongolian nomad community in the World Alliance of Mobile Indigenous People (WAMIP).
According to the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Centre (SMHRIC), he was arrested in an attempt to suppress the issue of minorities in Inner Mongolia, as has already been done in Xinjiang, in the north, and Tibet, in the west.
Inner Mongolia's leading political prisoner, the Mongol journalist Hada, has been detained since 1995 and is serving a 15-year sentence for "separatism" and "spying." His family recently complained about the appalling conditions in which he is being held and the deterioration in his health.
"With just three months left to the Beijing Olympic Games, the authorities continue to jail people who express independent or critical views in different parts of the country," the press freedom organization said. "Whether it is a Mongol journalist or a writer in Hubei province, they are silenced with the same determination. Far from view, the repression continues as the games draw near."
Naranbilig, an independent journalist and human rights activist of Mongol origin, was arrested on March 23 at his home in Hohhot, the capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
His family was not informed of his arrest until he was released on bail of 1,850 euros and placed under house arrest for one year beginning on April 12. The police searched his home, confiscated his computer and many personal documents.
The author of dozens of books and essays about the Mongol minority, Naranbilig edited a monthly magazine called "Golonte" (Family Hearth) that was banned in 2006 after only five issues. An ambassador of Mongol culture and traditions, he represented the Southern Mongolian nomad community in the World Alliance of Mobile Indigenous People (WAMIP).
According to the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Centre (SMHRIC), he was arrested in an attempt to suppress the issue of minorities in Inner Mongolia, as has already been done in Xinjiang, in the north, and Tibet, in the west.
Inner Mongolia's leading political prisoner, the Mongol journalist Hada, has been detained since 1995 and is serving a 15-year sentence for "separatism" and "spying." His family recently complained about the appalling conditions in which he is being held and the deterioration in his health.
posted by Marco Polo at
Friday, May 09, 2008
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