President HU Jintao
People’s Republic of China
General Office of Communist Party of China Central Committee
Fu You Jie
Xicheng District
Beijing, 100017
China
November 7th, 2005
Your Excellency,
We are a group of ten serving and former chairpersons of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, comprising 60 percent of all living chairpersons since the HKJA was founded in 1968. We are writing to express our grave concern over the detention for the past 200 days of Hong Kong journalist Ching Cheong, and in particular over the decision of the Beijing National Security Bureau on August 5th 2005 to formally accuse Mr. Ching of spying. We are also worried that there have been no further public development in Mr. Ching’s case since August.
We urge the Chinese government to release Mr. Ching forthwith if there are no legitimate grounds under internationally accepted norms to detain him, and otherwise to deal with the case in an open and fair manner which is consistent with the rule of law. We also call on the authorities to ensure that Mr. Ching’s civil rights are upheld and allow him to meet with his family, lawyers and Hong Kong government representatives – a demand that regrettably has been ignored despite repeated calls since his detention on April 22nd.
We urge you to reconsider Mr. Ching’s case, for the sake of justice and given the adverse publicity that it has generated for the People’s Republic. We believe that Mr. Ching’s early release would signal that the Central Government is willing to allow greater freedom of expression and the free flow of information that is so vital for economic development and prosperity.
Yours sincerely,
Ms. CHEUNG Ping Ling
Ms. MAK Yin Ting
Ms. LI Yuet Wah
Mr. LIU Kin Ming
Ms. LAI Pui Yee
Ms. Emily LAU
Mr. WONG Kwok Wah
Mr. Cliff BALE
Mr. Barry WAIN
Mr. Nick GRIFFIN