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Human Rights Issues -- February 2002
Macau Police accused of violence and detained reporters (February 17, 2002) (Article 19)
Macau Police accused of violence and detained reporters (February 17, 2002) (Article 19)
The chairman of the National People's Congress of the Mainland Authority, Mr. LI Peng, paid an official visit to Macau on February 16 2002 and five members of the April 5th Action Group arrived to protest against Mr. LI asking for his role in the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. However, those protesters were arrested. At the meanwhile, three Hong Kong journalists covering the event were unreasonable detained, involving two staff of the TVB and the reporter of Sunday Morning Post.
According to South China Moring Post on February 17, 2002, Mr. CHU Wai-kit, the TVB cameraman claimed that he was beaten by an officer and his camera was damaged. He said that the Macau police demanded him to hand over the tape while he disagreed. Then, he was detained for an hour. Moreover, his colleague, reporter Ms. WONG Chun-mei, said that she was dragged away by five officers. Another Sunday Morning Post reporter, Mr. CHEUNG Chi-fai, also claimed that he was badly treated by the Macau police officers and detained more than 45 minutes.
However, the spokesman for the Macau Security Forces said that the case under investigation while adding that the police had already reminded the journalists that it was illegal to take film or take pictures inside the restricted area.
Hong Kong News Executives' Association declared that using violence on reports
to disrupt normal reporting activities under any circumstances should be condemned,
while the Hong Kong Journalists' Association demanded the Macau Government investigate
the incident.
Release of the HK businessman convicted of smuggling Bible in mainland (February 12, 2002) (Article 18)
Mr. LAI Kwong-keung, a Hong Kong businessman convicted of smuggling Bibles into the Mainland China from Hong Kong was sentenced on January 2002 to two years and fined 150,000 yuan (HKD$141,000) for the "illegal sale of overseas publications" after he was caught for transporting 33,000 Bibles into the Mainland. The incident led to the widespread concern that even the United States President George W. Bush had lobbied China to release Mr. LAI. After that, the court ruled that he could serve part of his sentence "under surveillance" outside jail for medical reasons.
According to the official Xinhua News (South China Morning Post, February 10, 2002), the Mainland authority respects the freedom of religion and it allowed only state-sponsored churches but will not permit independent groups that threaten public order and communist rule.
After his release, Mr. LAI defended the Shouters, the underground evangelical
group to whom he was delivering the Bible. He said that Shouters were not a
cult which was only merely one of the Christian groups working in China and
believing in the same Christian God. He also requested the Mainland authority
to release the detainees with the similar charges.