A leading human rights lawyer who has been critical of the Chinese government returned home yesterday (19 April). Jiang Tianyong, disappeared on 19 February whilst visiting his brother in a Beijing suburb. Meanwhile, Liu Xiaoyuan, another rights lawyer who had disappeared last week, was also released. Liu suggested that his association with Ai Weiwei led to his detention.
An Istanbul court has ordered the seizure of all of investigative journalist Ahmet Sik’s work on his incomplete book The Army of the Imam. His manuscript explores the connection between the police and the group headed by Turkish Imam Fethullah Gülen. Sik was close to finishing the work when he was arrested in March. Gülen is now living in exile in the USA. It has been alleged that the book will appear online on 11 April.
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe has published a report revealing that there are currently 57 journalists imprisoned in Turkey. This is more than any other country. The figures in the report come from the findings of the Freedom for Journalists platform, which represents local and national media organisations in Turkey. The report also states that a further ten journalists are awaiting trial. The EU are planning a special conference in Brussels next month to discuss freedom of expression in Turkey.
Two journalists, José Luis Cerda Meléndez and Luis Emanuel Ruíz Carrillo, have been murdered in the northern state of Nuevo León. Cerda was a television host on national channel Televisa, which has been subjected to several armed attacks. Ruíz was a reporter for a daily newspaper in Coahuila. Ruíz was visiting the area to interview Cerda. They were both forced into a car outside the Televisa station, along with Juan Roberto Gómez, Ruíz’s cousin . The bodies of Ruíz and Cerda were discovered the next day by the freeway, accompanied by a note which read: “Stop co-operating with Los Zetas. Signed DCG. Greetings architect No. 1”. Two criminals have now allegedly stolen Cerda’s body. The police have declined to intervene.