星期六, 12月 02, 2006

Lawmakers asked to sign parole request for reporter

http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=58537

HONG KONG: Lawmakers asked to sign parole request for reporter
Democratic party members urged to sign letter addressed to Wen Jiabao for the release of Ching Cheong

South China Morning Post
Tuesday, November 28, 2006

By Denise Hung and Gary Cheung

The Democrats are soliciting signatures from fellow lawmakers in the hope of making a joint appeal to President Hu Jintao to release journalist Ching Cheong on medical parole.

Party lawmaker Cheung Man-kwong said they would ask all members to sign the letter, irrespective of their party affiliation and political background.

The letter, which will also be addressed to Premier Wen Jiabao, said Ching, a correspondent for The Straits Times in Singapore, should be granted medical parole on humanitarian grounds and allowed to return to Hong Kong.

"I will set Friday as the last day for collecting the signatures, as some parties may need to have meetings before they decide to give their names or not," Mr Cheung said.

It is too early to say whether lawmakers will make a unanimous call.

Tsang Yok-sing, of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, has previously written to mainland authorities requesting leniency, but yesterday a party lawmaker said they would have to discuss the letter once they received it.

The DAB's Tam Yiu-chung said: "We need to discuss it first, as we rarely express our views through signing letters like this. We have all along been expressing our concern through our own channels."

On Friday, a Beijing court rejected Ching's appeal against his conviction for spying for Taiwan, quashing the Hong Kong journalist's attempt to clear his name. Ching was jailed for five years by a lower court in August.

Ching, 56, has lost more than 4kg and suffered stomach pains almost every night, according to the Ching Cheong Incident Concern Group.

Mary Lau Man-yee, the journalist's wife, said Ching's family planned to write to the Hong Kong government this week to ask it to pass a letter to the mainland authorities.

The letter would call on the central government to release Ching on medical parole or allow him to serve out his sentence in Guangzhou, she said.

Lau, who is also a journalist, said the family would discuss the issue with security officials this week.

Date Posted: 11/28/2006

沒有留言: