Authorities blocked AP photographer Greg Baker from photographing Beijing Christian activist Hua Huiqi because he was not carrying his temporary residence registration form. Baker was seeking to enter a courtyard home to photograph Hua Huiqi, who had been beaten. When Baker argued he had all the legally required documentation with him, and that he could not have gotten his visa without having first registered his residence with police, he was told he “had to prove” he had registered.
Immigration police pulled two reporters away from the emergency ward at Tiantan hospital where they were reporting on the beating of Christian activist Hua Huiqi. At the time, Hua Huiqi was unconscious; it seemed he was being denied treatment. The police were polite, but spent half an hour examining passports and press cards, and lecturing the reporters on a rule about carrying their police residence registration. “They knew they couldn’t stop us from doing what we were doing. It seemed designed to take the journalist away from the story,” said South China Morning Post reporter Didi Kirsten Tatlow.
Finnish Broadcasting Co. correspondent Katri Makkonen and a colleague were blocked by authorities from filming petitioners in Fengtai, and then barred from filming in Tiananmen Square. Authorities originally said the reporters were allowed to film the Fengtai petitioner area as long as they avoided the hutong next to the courthouse. But other police continued to block their camera. After the journalists left, police phoned their taxi driver to find out where they were headed next. When they arrived in Tiananmen Square the journalists were approached by police who said they’d been instructed to look for the “Finnish journalists”. The journalists were told they are not allowed to film in Tiananmen Square, and were warned they could be threatened or harmed in the square. At both locations authorities repeatedly asked for their passports and press cards, and spent about 15 minutes taking down details. “It was obvious that the police knew that they couldn’t detain us but still tried in every way to stop us from working. It was pretty amazing that they tracked down the cab driver and then even alerted the police on Tiananmen,” said Makkonen. The previous day her cameraman had been turned away from Fengtai because he was allegedly blocking traffic.
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China deplores the killing in Yangon of Kenji Nagai, a journalist with Tokyo’s APF News.
We condemn the use of violence against civilians by Myanmar security forces and the suppression of information on the internet and in other media.
The FCCC urges the authorities in Yangon to respect the rights of journalists and the need for a free flow of information.
The world has been shocked by video and photos coming out of Myanmar; it is thanks to the efforts of brave people like Kenji Nagai and many citizen journalists that we have been able to see them. The FCCC hopes that an investigation will be carried out into the death of Mr. Nagai and those responsible be brought to justice.
The FCCC offers its sincere condolences to Mr. Nagai’s family, friends and colleagues.
