Free journalists and netizens held for referring to 1989 Tiananmen massacre

On the eve of the 21st anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, Reporters Without Borders calls for the immediate release of the journalists and netizens who have been jailed for referring to this dark page in China’s history. It also calls for an end to the censorship of both traditional and online media that want to tackle this subject and challenge the official version.

Shi Tao of the daily Dangdai Shang Bao (Contemporary Business News) is one of the journalists who are being held. He was convicted of “illegally divulging state secrets abroad” on 30 April 2005 and was sentenced 10 years in prison. The details of the verdict showed that Yahoo!’s Hong Kong subsidiary provided the Chinese police with information that helped get him convicted.