March 19 2008

Foreign journalist are being banned and harrassed in Tibet for trying to cover the ongoing protests and the ensuing military buildup. 

On 19 March The Foreign Correspondents Club of China stated that 30 foreign journalist have been blocked from reporting from Tibetan areas including in the cities of Lhasa, Beijing, Chengdu and Xining, and several locations in Gansu Province.

Chinese authorities have obstructed journalists trying to cover the protests in Tibetan areas. Others were taken by authorities for questioning on 18 March in Sichuan province (Tibetan region of Amdo and Kham). At present, there are no foreign journalist in the Tibet Automous Region and news from Lhasa is unobtainable while eyewitnesses report mass arrests.

Brutal military crackdowns on Tibetans are feared, especially after TAR Party Secretary Zhang Quingli's statement: "We are currently in an intensely bloody and fiery struggle with the Dalai Lama clique, a life or death struggle with the enemy... As long as we...work together to attack the enemy, then we can safeguard social stability and achieve a full victory in this intense battle against separatism."

*A Finish reporter Katri Makkonen who was detained near Labrang, Gansu province while trying to cover the unrest told the FCCC that she was threatened by police who demanded to see her footage: "You don't want to know what will happen if you don't show us the footage" she was told.

*On 18 March police detained Richard Spencer from The Daily Telegraph who called his detention 'threatening' in Luchu County, Gansu Province.

*Police turned back Jonathan Watts of The Guardian newspaper after he tried to enter an area where protests had taken place.

*Police stopped correspondents from ITV News near a town in Gansu Province on March 16. Police took their passport details and filmed them. They also recorded the driver's license of the taxi driver. Later, as the crew attempted to film a vigil in Beijing for Tibet, authorities stopped and manhandled them as others photographed them. Watch the Youtube video here.

Press freedom was a promise of the Olympic Games. Banning and intimidating journalists from the Tibet Autonomous Region and other Tibetan populated areas clearly is in breach of China's own temporary regulations, which were enacted on January 1, 2007 and will expire on October 17, 2008.

British and other foreign journalists are being intimidated in a systematic campaign to prevent them from reporting from areas where a military crackdown is imminent. The British Government must condemn such intimidation and demand China readmits journalists to the area immediately. This will deter China from launching a brutal crackdown.

Due to the urgency of the matter please email or fax

Rt Hon Andy Burnham MP,
Secretary of State for Culture,
Media &Sport,
Email: burnhama@parliament.uk
Fax: 020 7211 6249

Urge him to call on the Chinese Government to immediately allow access of journalists to all Tibetan populated areas.

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