China
China bans influential NGO newsletterPosted Jul 20 2007
Chinese authorities have shut down the China Development Brief, a non governmental organization newsletter specializing in covering the work of foreign and domestic NGOs in China, raising concerns about press freedom in the run up to the Olympic Games. The publication's subscribers and donators include the Asia Development Bank, the UN's Development Program, the British Council, and Save the Children Fund as well as several dozen foreign universities and media organizations, reported the Guardian Unlimited.
The magazine has been ordered to halt its activities until the release of the results of an external investigation. Beijing officials reportedly charged Nick Young, the British founder of the organization, with conducting “unauthorized surveys.”
Young has been interrogated by police and told news organization Agence France Press that he fears that he may be deported and barred from re-entering the country. “My hope is that these actions have been precipitated by zealous security officers, and that more senior figures in the government and Communist party will realize that actions of this kind are not in China's best interest,” he said.
To read Nick Young's personal take on the situation click here