China: RSF Calls on Beijing to Release Presenter Cheng Lei

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the Chinese regime to release journalist Cheng Lei, of Australian nationality, held incommunicado and without official reason since August 14.

The Australian Embassy in Beijing revealed on August 31 the arrest without official cause of the famous economic news presenter, Cheng Lei , an Australian of Chinese origin working for the state audio-visual group China Global Television Network (CGTN). The Chinese authorities have since confirmed that the journalist has been placed, for more than two weeks already, under “residential surveillance in a designated place” (RSDL), a euphemism which refers to incommunicado detention in “black prisons” where the detainees are. deprived of their rights and at risk of being subjected to torture.

“This baseless arrest is part of the policy of terror put in place by President Xi Jinping’s regime to force media workers to relay its propaganda”, indignant Cédric Alviani, head of the East Asia office Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which calls on democracies to “step up their pressure on the Beijing regime to release Cheng Lei and the 115 other jailed journalists and press freedom defenders “.

China is 177th out of 180 in the 2020 RSF World Press Freedom Index .

Copyright ©2016, Reporters Without Borders. Used with the permission of Reporters Without Borders(RSF), CS 90247 75083 Paris Cedex 02 https://rsf.org

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