Thirteen victims of forced television confessions by Chinese authorities have signed an open letter calling on Eutelsat to consider whether to continue broadcasting China’s CCTV4 and CGTN.
Safeguard Defenders, an NGO concerned with human rights in Asia, issued an open letter on November 11, calling on Eutelsat to block the Chinese official media CCTV4 and CGTN. The letter asks the television provider to think twice about whether it should continue to be morally complicit in broadcasting information that has been deliberately distorted and obtained through torture.
The signatories include Chinese human rights lawyers Bao Longjun and Jiang Tianyong, who have been locked up by the authorities in China, as well as Simon Cheng, a former employee of the British Consulate General in Hong Kong, and Angela Gui, the daughter of Swedish Hong Kong-based Causeway Bay bookstore shareholder Gui Minhai, who also signed on behalf of her father.
Peter Dahlin, a Swedish human rights activist and founder of Defenders, was also a signatory, having been accused of endangering national security by China in 2016, and deported after three weeks in jail after a clip of him confessing to the crime was broadcast by the official media CCTV. Since then, he has launched a global campaign to complain about CCTV’s illegal broadcast of the confession film and succeeded in getting the British government to revoke CCTV’s landing license.
In an interview with Radio Free Asia, Darling said, “For many people, action must be taken to hold TV providers accountable for the broadcasts by CCTV or China Global Television Network. But at the same time, there is no TV regulation or very weak TV regulation in many places, and this open letter is an attempt to raise the moral responsibility of private TV providers.”
“The Defenders emphasize that they are only a dozen victims who can speak out, while many others are behind bars, some have been executed, and victims have no way to seek redress. The only way to stop this is for television regulators to investigate and take action.
The letter details a series of irregularities used by China to force victims to confess and deny them the right to a fair trial, and refers to the decision last month by Australian television station SBS to stop broadcasting China’s CCTV and its English-language channel China Global Television Network.
In early February, Ofcom revoked the broadcast license of China Global Television Network because it was controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. The network turned to France’s Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel (CSA) and was granted a license on March 3, enabling it to resume broadcasting throughout Europe. Following the resumption of CTV’s broadcasts, on March 5, Defenders, on behalf of Mamutjan Abdurehim, a family member of a victim of the Xinjiang concentration camps, and Adrian Zenz, a German scholar on Chinese ethnic policy, filed an application with CTV’s European regulator, the French Conseil Supérieur de l’Audiovisuel, and the U.S. regulator, the U.S. Commission on Audiovisual Regulation. The complaint was filed with the European regulator of China’s TV network, the French High Council of Audiovisuals, and the U.S. regulator, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
“Laura Harth, director of advocacy for Defenders, said two complaints were filed with the French High Council of Audiovisuals, “one for smearing Adrian Zenz, a German scholar on Chinese ethnic policy, for propagating false statements without giving him the right to respond. The other was the broadcast of footage of a Uighur girl being forced to confess.” “Defenders condemns the use of gross lies and distortions by China’s Global Television Network to produce news that was apparently used to discredit Abdul Rai and Zheng Guoyen. These complaints will be part of the new evidence provided to EU and U.S. regulators to prove that CTV has committed serious human rights abuses and deliberately distorted facts and deception for the benefit of the Chinese Communist Party.
The French High Council of Audiovisuals (Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel) confirmed that it had received the complaints, replied that an investigation was underway, and reiterated that China Universal Television was under close observation and was required to respect its obligations under French law and that the Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel would intervene if violations occurred.
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