2014-08-21
This screen grab taken from state television CCTV footage broadcast on May 13, 2014 shows Xiang Nanfu, apologizing on state television after being detained in Beijing.
AFP PHOTO / CCTV
The release of a Chinese freelance journalist after he “confessed” to his crimes on state television has sparked calls for international sanctions against Beijing, as activists hit out at a growing trend for televised confessions of those who fall foul of the authorities.
Xiang Nanfu, who had previously written stories for the overseas-based Chinese-language news website Boxun, was released on Tuesday on “parole,” although no trial was ever held, nor formal sentence passed.
The Paris-based media freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said the practice had been used in a number of high-profile detentions of journalists and commentators recently and constituted a violation of the detainees’ right to a fair trial.
“Reporters Without Borders calls on the European Council to sanction state-owned CCTV13’s executives for violating his right to a fair trial by broadcasting his forced confession in order to incriminate him,” the group said in a statement following Xiang’s release.
Xiang was initially detained on May 3 and accused of receiving money from overseas organizations, as well as contributing stories on government land grabs and black-market transplant organ trafficking, which had allegedly damaged China’s reputation, RSF said.
His televised confession that he “smeared the party and the government” was shown by state broadcaster CCTV on May 13.
As they released Xiang, police issued a statement saying that he was being released on parole—which often carries behavioral conditions like not speaking to foreign media—because of poor health and a “relatively good attitude.”
Veteran journalist Gao Yu was subjected to a similar televised confession just five days before Xiang’s.
The tactic, aimed at discrediting journalists and opinion-makers, was also used with journalist Chen Yongzhou in November 2013 and with big-name tweeter and businessman Charles Xue two months earlier, RSF said.
‘Intolerable’
“We call on the European Council to adopt sanctions against CCTV13 and its executives…for broadcasting these forced confessions,” the group said in a statement on its website.
“This is intolerable on the part of a news organization, even one controlled by the state.”
It said the EU has previously taken sanctions against Iranian officials after finding that they had denied detainees the right to a fair trial in a similar manner.
Hsu Wei-ch’un, who heads the nongovernmental group Taiwan Democracy Watch, said China’s use of televised confessions is often linked to high-profile individuals.
