[governance] Statement by IGC on Huan Qi's sentencing

Mon Aug 5 00:14:23 EDT 2019

This is a revised draft following Norbert's comments. It is also on the
etherpad via
https://bit.ly/2Yr9o71

There's free wifi on the plane so able to draft a revision.

*Proposed Revised  Draft 5th August, 2019.*

(1) The Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus (IGC) is deeply concerned
by global trends of governments to abuse the "national security" exception
to trample on basic freedoms of expression particularly when these freedoms
are fundamentally linked to good governance and keeping governments
accountable.

(2) From Venezuela's treatment of Luis Carlos Diaz and numerous other
journalists, United States of America's treatment of Edward Snowden and
Julian Assange, France's mistreatment of Taha Bouhafs, a reporter at French
news website *Là-bas Si J'y Suis, *allegedly assaulted whilst filming a
protest of undocumented workers and now the recent sentencing of Chinese
webmaster and human rights activist Huang Qi to 12 years in prison for
allegedly leaking state secrets when he was promoting accountability and
transparency and good governance.

(3) The Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus calls on governments to
aspire to subscribe to the Charter of the Internet Rights and Principles
which was developed by the Dynamic Coalition on Internet Rights and
Principles within the Internet Governance Forum which is available on the
OHCHR website.

(4) We note that China is a member of the United Nations Human Rights
Council this year.

(5)The Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus would like to call on China
to recognise  Mr Huang Qi's motivations to encourage good governance where
government officials do not abuse their roles. MrHuang Qi has been
recognised for his stellar journalism by Reporters Without Borders in 2004
with the Cyber Freedom Prize.

(6) Since setting up website, 64 Tianwang in 1998 to track human
trafficking cases, over the years, the websitet has extended to reporting
on persons exploited by government officials and promoting good governance.

(7) Mr Huang Qi has greatly strengthened China as a country by bringing to
the foreground these good governance issues including but not limited to
corruption & human rights.

(8) Mr Huang Qi should be honoured as a strong contributor society.

(9)We urge the Chinese government to uphold its international commitments.

(10)We call on China to recognize that Mr Huang’s actions are part of
keeping government accountable to the people.

(11)We note that the Committee to protect Journalists had reported that at
Mr Huang Qi's last imprisonment, he was denied medical treatment and has
serious health issues, such as kidney problems and tumours and denied legal
access.

(12) It was also reported that he is being denied access to medical care
and legal counsel.

(13)We call for the immediate release of Mr. Huang, and to allow him access
to his family, medical care, and legal counsel as soon as possible.

(14)We also call on China to end undue restrictions on the freedom of
movement of his family and those who assisted him.

(15)Furthermore, we call on governments to recognise that their
administration is for the people and not meant to be self serving at the
expense of innocent lives.

(16)The freedom of journalists, media freedoms, freedom of expression are
necessary for a balanced society and to promote the rule of law.

ENDS

On Sun, 4 Aug 2019, 1:34 pm Imran Ahmed Shah, <ias_pk at yahoo.com> wrote:

Dear All (IGC Members),

With reference to the following proposal on the subject, an EhterPad link
is created for the joint collaboration and contribution efforts. Following
draft has also been copied there for your. The IGC CS Statement is
accessible through following URL Link:

https://bit.ly/2Yr9o71

This Etherpad is established on request form Sala, temporarily created on
RiseUp.net

Thanking you and Best Regards

Imran Ahmed Shah

[for IGC WG for Website]

P.S:
If you do not wish to mention your name, basic information or contribution
to be published, please use some abbreviation or alternate to your name,
and declare on the mailing list explicitly, that you do not want to mention
your basic information (Affiliation/ Organization, Email) anywhere. Please
also note that this workspace (Etherpad) and Mailing List both are publicly
accessible workspaces somehow. (Ref. IGC GDPR Compliance Policy Statement).

WARNING: This "pad" is a collaborative document that can be edited by
anyone who has the URL. If you use an obvious name for the pad, it could be
guessed.
WARNING: This pad will be DELETED if 60 days go by with no edits. There is
NO WAY to recover the pad after this happens, so be careful!

On Sunday, 4 August 2019, 12:40:41 GMT+5, Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro <
governance at lists.riseup.net> wrote:

Dear All,

Further to the revised draft, I should add that he has advanced medical
conditions that require treatment, see:

https://cpj.org/2019/07/chinese-court-sentences-journalist-huang-qi-to-12-.php

Sala

On Sun, 4 Aug 2019, 8:18 am Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro, <
salanieta.tamanikaiwaimaro at gmail.com> wrote:

Dear All,

Kindly find a revised draft, please feel free to suggest any changes as
this is still early drafting stages. I have numbered the sentences for ease
of reference and when commenting on replacements, refer to sentence number
and suggest edits and revisions.

*Revised Draft 4th August, 2019 12:13am [Californian Time]*

Proposed Revised  Draft

(1)The Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus is deeply concerned by the
sentencing of Chinese webmaster and human rights activist Huang Qi to 12
years in prison for allegedly leaking state secrets when he was promoting
accountability and transparency and good governance.

(2) We note that China is a member of the United Nations Human Rights
Council this year.

(3) The Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus calls on China to aspire
to subscribe to the Charter of the Internet Rights and Principles which was
developed by the Dynamic Coalition on Internet Rights and Principles within
the Internet Governance Forum and is available on the OHCHR website.

(4) We further note that Mr Huang Qi, was honoured by Reporters Without
Borders in 2004 with the Cyber Freedom Prize.

(5) Since setting up website, 64 Tianwang in 1998 to track human
trafficking cases, over the years, it has extended to reporting on persons
exploited by government officials and promoting good governance.

(6) Mr Huang Qi has greatly strengthened China as a country by bringing to
the foreground these good governance issues including but not limited to
corruption & human rights.

(7) It is our view that Huang Qi should be honoured as a strong contributor
to society.

(8) We urge the Chinese government to uphold its international commitments
related to fair trial guarantees and the rule of law.

(9)We call on China to recognize that Mr Huang’s actions are part of
keeping government accountable to the people.

(10) We call for the immediate release of Mr. Huang, and to allow him
access to his family, medical care, and legal counsel as soon as possible.

(11) We also call on China to end undue restrictions on the freedom of
movement of his family and those who assisted him.

ENDS

---
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On Sun, 4 Aug 2019, 1:34 pm Imran Ahmed Shah, <ias_pk at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Dear All (IGC Members),
>
> With reference to the following proposal on the subject, an EhterPad link
> is created for the joint collaboration and contribution efforts. Following
> draft has also been copied there for your. The IGC CS Statement is
> accessible through following URL Link:
>
> https://bit.ly/2Yr9o71
>
> This Etherpad is established on request form Sala, temporarily created on
> RiseUp.net
>
> Thanking you and Best Regards
>
> Imran Ahmed Shah
>
> [for IGC WG for Website]
>
> P.S:
> If you do not wish to mention your name, basic information or contribution
> to be published, please use some abbreviation or alternate to your name,
> and declare on the mailing list explicitly, that you do not want to mention
> your basic information (Affiliation/ Organization, Email) anywhere. Please
> also note that this workspace (Etherpad) and Mailing List both are publicly
> accessible workspaces somehow. (Ref. IGC GDPR Compliance Policy Statement).
>
> WARNING: This "pad" is a collaborative document that can be edited by
> anyone who has the URL. If you use an obvious name for the pad, it could be
> guessed.
> WARNING: This pad will be DELETED if 60 days go by with no edits. There is
> NO WAY to recover the pad after this happens, so be careful!
>
>
> On Sunday, 4 August 2019, 12:40:41 GMT+5, Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro <
> governance at lists.riseup.net> wrote:
>
>
> Dear All,
>
> Further to the revised draft, I should add that he has advanced medical
> conditions that require treatment, see:
>
>
> https://cpj.org/2019/07/chinese-court-sentences-journalist-huang-qi-to-12-.php
>
> Sala
>
> On Sun, 4 Aug 2019, 8:18 am Salanieta T. Tamanikaiwaimaro, <
> salanieta.tamanikaiwaimaro at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Dear All,
>
> Kindly find a revised draft, please feel free to suggest any changes as
> this is still early drafting stages. I have numbered the sentences for ease
> of reference and when commenting on replacements, refer to sentence number
> and suggest edits and revisions.
>
> *Revised Draft 4th August, 2019 12:13am [Californian Time]*
>
>
> Proposed Revised  Draft
>
> (1)The Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus is deeply concerned by the
> sentencing of Chinese webmaster and human rights activist Huang Qi to 12
> years in prison for allegedly leaking state secrets when he was promoting
> accountability and transparency and good governance.
>
>
> (2) We note that China is a member of the United Nations Human Rights
> Council this year.
>
>
> (3) The Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus calls on China to aspire
> to subscribe to the Charter of the Internet Rights and Principles which was
> developed by the Dynamic Coalition on Internet Rights and Principles within
> the Internet Governance Forum and is available on the OHCHR website.
>
>
> (4) We further note that Mr Huang Qi, was honoured by Reporters Without
> Borders in 2004 with the Cyber Freedom Prize.
>
>
> (5) Since setting up website, 64 Tianwang in 1998 to track human
> trafficking cases, over the years, it has extended to reporting on persons
> exploited by government officials and promoting good governance.
>
>
>
> (6) Mr Huang Qi has greatly strengthened China as a country by bringing to
> the foreground these good governance issues including but not limited to
> corruption & human rights.
>
>
> (7) It is our view that Huang Qi should be honoured as a strong
> contributor to society.
>
>
>
> (8) We urge the Chinese government to uphold its international commitments
> related to fair trial guarantees and the rule of law.
>
>
> (9)We call on China to recognize that Mr Huang’s actions are part of
> keeping government accountable to the people.
>
>
> (10) We call for the immediate release of Mr. Huang, and to allow him
> access to his family, medical care, and legal counsel as soon as possible.
>
>
> (11) We also call on China to end undue restrictions on the freedom of
> movement of his family and those who assisted him.
>
>
>
> ENDS
>
>
> ---
> To unsubscribe: <mailto:igc-unsubscribe at lists.riseup.net>
> List help: <https://riseup.net/lists>
>
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