By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
BEIJING, China – The local Chinese government arrested Guan Jian, a reporter investigating allegedly corrupt real estate transactions in Taiyuan. He has been held incommunicado ever since. Jian’s son, Guan Yufei told Reuters that the family has not hear anything from Jian since police took him away. “His friends couldn’t reach him, his colleagues couldn’t either. At first we thought he had just gone on a reporting trip, but then after several days when he still wasn’t in touch, we got worried,” Guan Yufei said in a phone interview.
Police seized guan Jian’s work over bribery allegations, the official Xinhua News Agency said. He was arrested at a Taiyuan hotel by police officers from Zhangjiakou in the neighboring province of Hebei. Video footage recorded by the hotel’s security camera shows him being forcibly taken away in a car by five men.
It is the second case this month of a journalist being arrested because of reporting on alleged abuse of authority and corruption in Shanxi. CCTV reporter Li Min has been held since 4 December. Li Min, was investigating the prosecutors for a story when they traveled to Beijing to seize her, Chinese media said. According to local news reports, authorities have accused her of accepting gifts from the brother of a businessman involved in a corruption story she was working on. A lawyer working for Li’s family said that she appeared to be the victim of a “terrifying” abuse of power to silence her work.
Also, in 2007, a local journalist Lan Chenzhang was beaten to death at the site of a Shanxi mine accident. Police accused him of posing as a journalist to extort money from the mine owners. All cases highlight the risky situation that Chinese journalists find themselves when trying to report on corruption. “Abuse of authority by local officials is common in this region, which is biggest source of coal in China and is riddled with corruption,” Reporters Without Borders said. “It is becoming increasingly dangerous for journalists to investigate corruption allegations involving officials. We urge the central government to investigate these cases and punish those who are really guilty.”
For more information, please see:
Committee to Protect Journalists – Two Chinese journalists face corruption charges in Shanxi – 16 December 2008
Reporters Without Boarders – A second reporter arrested after investigating suspected corruption in Shanxi province – 5 December 2008
Reuters – Chinese reporter chasing corruption claims disappears – 15 December 2008
South China Morning Post – A cleaner press needed, as well as a freer one – 17 December 2008
