 Hong Kong press freedoms decline in 2015: report Hong Kong (AFP) Jan 30, 2016 - Press freedom further declined in Hong Kong in 2015, driven by growing self-censorship and government interference as Beijing expands its influence over the city's boisterous media, a new report said Saturday. The southern Chinese city prides itself on having relative freedom of expression compared with severely restricted reporting in mainland China, a legacy of Britain's handover of power in 1997. "Press freedom in China, Hong Kong and Macau deteriorated further in 2015, as the Communist Party of China used every means at its disposal to control the media," the International Federation of Journalists' China Press Freedom Report said. The report comes at a time when the fate of five booksellers, feared to have been detained in mainland China after disappearing late last year have put residents on edge with concerns the semi-autonomous city's freedoms are being eroded. The five are from Hong Kong's Mighty Current publishing house, known for salacious titles critical of Beijing leaders. "There has been strong outcry from the Hong Kong people, with many concerned about their personal safety and freedom of speech," the report said of sentiment after the disappearances. The report also predicted China's ruling Communist Party will use resources to strengthen its influence in the city, which will hold elections for its legislature later in the year and for a new leader in 2017. "As Hong Kong goes to elections next year the party is also using its considerable wealth to consolidate its influence over the region," it said. Last year's report warned of "intervention behind the scenes" at a time when tensions remained high after more than two months of mass protests for fully free leadership elections in late 2014. Ken Tsang, a pro-democracy activist who was allegedly beaten by police during the protests in an attack captured by television cameras and beamed around the world said the situation in Hong Kong was "terrible". "Maybe we can say we have lots of freedoms but somebody is threating you at your back, I think all Hong Kong citizens can feel that," Tsang told AFP after a court hearing on Thursday. "The situation is not that good, we are terrified," he said. A British colony until 1997, Hong Kong is ruled under a "one country, two systems" deal that allows it far greater civil liberties than those enjoyed on the Chinese mainland, including freedom of speech and the right to protest. The report, presented at Hong Kong's Foreign Correspondents' Club, also called the outlook in 2016 for the rest of mainland China "even worse". Chinese authorities have detained and harassed reporters, used forced television confessions and other methods in limiting and influencing reporting, the report said.
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A Chinese court sentenced three activists to prison on Friday for allegedly attempting to start a non-violent civil rights movement, family members and campaign groups said, the latest example of the Communist Party's intensifying crackdown on dissent.
Tang Jingling received a five-year sentence, while Yuan Xinting and Wang Qingying were given three-and-a-half and two-and-a-half-year terms respectively, Amnesty International said in a press release.
The conviction for "inciting subversion of state power" was handed down by the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court, the London-based group said.
"This is a ridiculous verdict," said Tang's wife Wang Yanfang, who confirmed the sentences.
"They are not guilty of any crime. They just upheld values of justice," she told AFP.
China's Communist party does not tolerate anything it perceives as a potential threat to its rule, and dozens of activists have been imprisoned since President Xi Jinping took office two years ago.
During the trial, police accused the Guangzhou trio of distributing the books about non-violent resistance and "wilfully incited the subversion of state power and the overthrow of the socialist system".
They added in a statement to prosecutors posted online by the activists' lawyers that the men had rented an office to study, print, and mail several books including one titled "On Strategic Nonviolent Conflict: Thinking about the Fundamentals".
They were also accused of disseminating "From Dictatorship to Democracy" by Gene Sharp, an expert on non-violent social movements.
The books "have been confirmed to have serious political transgressions", police added.
Tang's wife said the defendants were accused of opposing the Communist party and government, but all the evidence was "related to five books".
"In China, even spreading the ideas of non-violent civil disobedience will lead to a criminal prosecution", she said.
A court official declined to comment to AFP.
The trial in July came as China's state security detained or called in for questioning more than 200 human rights lawyers and activists, in what analysts have called one of the biggest crackdowns on dissent in years. Several were formally arrested on subversion charges two weeks ago after being held in secret for six months.
"The sentences for Tang, Yuan, and Wang don't bode well for the more than a dozen human rights lawyers likely to stand trial soon for similar 'subversion' charges," Sophie Richardson, China director for US-based Human Rights Watch, said in a statement Friday.
"The Chinese government needs to stop equating peaceful criticism with subversion if it is to make any progress towards respecting rights."
Tang, 44, was himself a prominent human rights lawyer who had aided farmers attempting to take local officials accused of illegal land seizures to court.
He announced the founding of a small-scale "Non-violent Civil Disobedience Movement" in 2006, according to US-based group Human Rights in China.
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