Jailed Chinese journalist awarded world press freedom prize

Jun 4, 2007, 12:43 GMT

Cape Town - A Chinese journalist serving a 10-year sentence for drawing attention to his government's crackdown on reportage of the Tiananmen Square massacre anniversary in 2004 was awarded the Golden Pen of Freedom award in Cape Town Monday.

Shi Tao was jailed for writing an email about state restrictions on reporting on the anniversary of the massacre. Internet services provider Yahoo provided Chinese authorities with information leading to his arrest and sentencing, the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) said in presenting the award to Shi's mother, Gao Qinsheng.

The presentation of the annual award, presented on the opening day of the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum in Cape Town, coincides with the 18th anniversary of the June 4, 1989 events in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

'Even today, most Chinese know nothing about what happened that day. The Communist regime continues to prevent the Chinese media from talking and writing about it openly and honestly and will go to great lengths to silence any such revelations and to severely punish those who make them,' George Brock, WAN president said.

'Shi Tao, whom we are honouring here today, has learned this to his own great cost. He revealed what the state did not want known and he pays the price in prison today,' he added.

WAN also announced a campaign for the release of Shi and dozens of other journalists and cyber-dissidents in Chinese jails.