Gao Yu (journalist)

Gao Yu
Born 1944 (age 70–71)
Chongqing, China
Alma mater Renmin University of China
Occupation Journalist, columnist
This is a Chinese name; the family name is Gao.

Gao Yu (Chinese: 高瑜; born in 1944) is a Chinese journalist and dissident who has been repeatedly imprisoned.[1]

Education

Gao was born in 1944 in Chongqing. She attended the Language and Literature Department at the Renmin University of China where she majored in Literary Theory.[2]

Career

She began her journalist career in 1979, as a reporter for the China News Service.[1] In 1988, she became deputy chief editor of Economics Weekly, edited by dissident intellectuals.[1] She also worked as a freelance journalist for different newspapers in China and in Hong Kong. In November 1988, she published an article in Hong Kong’s Mirror Monthly, which was described by Beijing's Mayor Chen Xitong as a "political program for turmoil and rebellion". He even branded her as a "people's enemy".[1] She was arrested in 1989, after the Tiananmen Square protests,[3] and released 15 months later because of health problems.[4]

She was arrested again in October 1993, and in November 1994 was sentenced to six years, accused of having "published state secrets".[5][6] In February 1999, she was given parole in poor health.[7][8][9]

Again in 2014, she was arrested, a few weeks ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. The detention of the outspoken 70-year-old journalist was just one of several detentions of government critics over the previous days ahead of the politically sensitive 4 June anniversary.[10] In April 2015, a Beijing court convicted her of leaking state secrets and sentenced her to seven years in prison.[11]

Recognitions

In 1995 Gao Yu received the Golden Pen of Freedom. In 1995 Yu won a Courage in Journalism Award from the IWMF (International Women's Media Foundation).[12][13] In March 1999, she became the first journalist to receive the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.[14] In 2000 she was named one of International Press Institute's 50 World Press Freedom Heroes of the 20th century.[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Michael Kudlak, IPI World Press Freedom Heroes: Gao Yu, IPI Report, June 2000
  2. ↑ "爆機密拘高瑜". metrohk.com.hk. 9 May 2014.
  3. ↑ IWMF, Gao Yu's Courage Acceptance Speech
  4. ↑ "Amnistía Internacional, 4 de febrero de 1995, Preocupación médica (in Spanish)
  5. ↑ BBC
  6. ↑ HRW, "Leaking State Secrets": The Case of Gao Yu
  7. ↑ AI, 4 February 1999, Gao Yu: People's Republic of China
  8. ↑ IFEX, 16 February 1999, La journaliste chinoise Gao Yu est libérée pour raisons médicales (in French)
  9. ↑ "China: Update Medical Letter Writing Action: Gao Yu". Amnesty International, 5 March 1999
  10. ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/08/gao-yu-arrested-by-chinese-authorities
  11. ↑ "Chinese Journalist Sentenced to 7 Years on Charges of Leaking State Secrets". New York Times. 16 April 2015.
  12. ↑ IWMF website http://www.iwmf.org/article.aspx?id=539&c=cijwinner
  13. ↑ IWMF website http://www.iwmf.org/article.aspx?id=583&c=cijwinner
  14. ↑ UNESCO