Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition News and Article Release Issue Number: A668-O192

中国民主运动海外联席会议新闻与文章发布号：A668-O192

Release Date: Nov. 26, 2011

发布日：2011年11月26日

Topic: Media Reports about Wei Jingsheng in Europe (also in photo, audio and video)

标题：若干关于魏京生访欧的报道（及图片，录音，录像）

Original Language Version: English/Chinese (Chinese version at the end)

此号以英/中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）

Note: Please use "Simplified Chinese (GB2312)" encoding to view the Chinese parts of this release. If this mail does not display properly in your email program, please send your request for special delivery to us or visit:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2011/report2011-11/WeiJSinEurope111126reportsA668-O192.htm　which contains identical information.

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Media Reports about Wei Jingsheng in Europe (also in photo, audio and video)

Note by the editor:

On Nov. 14, Wei Jingsheng and Huang Ciping went to Europe to attend several events and meet with many European human rights supporters and Chinese democracy activists. They traveled to several cities in France, Switzerland, Germany, and Belgium. In Belgium, they were invited to attend a high level human rights conference organized by the European Parliament, the "human rights hub" of the world, as described by Parliament's president Jerzy Buzek. During the period, Wei Jingsheng received interviews from several news media. Below are some of them.

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Sakharov Prize honours Arab activists

-- by EuroNews, Nov. 24, 2011

This year's Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought has gone to five activists from North Africa and the Middle East for their role in the Arab Spring.

Asmaa Mahfouz from Egypt, Ahmed al-Zubair Ahmed al-Sanusi from Libya and Razan Zaitouneh and Ali Farzat from Syria were all honoured. Tunisian Mohamed Bouazizi received a posthumous award.

Algeria's Salima Ghezali, a Sakharov winner in 1997, told euronews the region's fight for freedom was nothing new.

"Democracy doesn't exist in Arab countries at the moment, and yet the struggle for this in the Arab world is old. It's only recently that we've started paying attention to this struggle," she said.

The European Parliament has awarded the Sakharov prize every year since 1988 to individuals or groups seen to have contributed towards the fight for human rights or democracy.

Chinese Sakharov laureate Wei Jingsheng said: "I think of all the freedoms and rights, the most important is the freedom of expression. This is what the Chinese people have been struggling for, to be able to express themselves, especially through the internet. But, this is exactly the arena the Chinese government is strictly controlling. Hence, the reason why you're seeing such a conflict between both sides."

While social media was recognised to have played a part in the Arab revolts, the EU parliament's President Jerzy Buzek insisted human spirit was the overriding factor.

Also present at the award ceremony was Reyes Castanon, a member of the Cuban dissident movement, 'The Ladies in White', who won the award in 2005.

"Without the Sakharov Prize, Europe would not have really known about 'The Ladies in White'. People came to see us, like as if it was a show, while others came in solidarity." Reyes said.

The prize is named in honour of the Soviet physicist and political dissident Andrei Sakharov.

Original link:

http://www.euronews.net/2011/11/24/sakharov-prize-honours-arab-activists/

Related video link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faZP_uXwKB4&feature=youtu.be

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Wei Jingsheng Visits Europe, to Participate in the Sakharov Prize and Other Activities

-- by Tian Yi of Radio Free Asia, Nov. 21, 2011

The well-known Chinese dissident and the laureate of the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1996, Wei Jingsheng, came to Europe for visit where he will participate in a series of activities.

In December 1988, the European Parliament established the Sakharov Prize to recognize people who have made outstanding contributions to human rights and freedom in the world. Nelson Mandela of South Africa was the winner in 1988, while Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma was the winner in 1990. Mr. Wei Jingsheng and Mr. Hu Jia of China received this prize in 1996 and in 2008 respectively. This year, the prize was awarded to five representatives who strove for human rights and freedom in the Arab countries.

This reporter had learned that the 1996 winner and prominent Chinese dissident Mr. Wei Jingsheng came to Europe from the United States last week, and will participate in a series of activities. To this end, the reporter interviewed Mr. Wei Jingsheng in the evening of November 20, 2011.

About his current visit to Europe, Mr. Wei Jingsheng said, "The main reason is to come to the European Parliament for some conferences related to the Sakharov Prize, then give some speeches and interviews, etc. This is our main work on the surface. Of course, I knew that as soon as we arrived, we would be talking about a lot of politics with a lot of friends. Right after we arrived, we had a meeting with both the China division and human rights sector of the European Union. We discussed a lot of details regarding the current circumstances in China."

Regarding the specific content of the meeting, Mr. Wei Jingsheng said, "The main theme from the beginning of course started from the human rights perspective. In discussing human rights, we used Ai Weiwei as an example to talk about some characteristics of the deteriorating human rights situation in China. For instance, being subjected to torture. Nowadays, the use of torture has become a more common feature in China.

The second example we discussed is the increasing use of some 'illegal' means to deal with the political opposition; for example, Residence under Surveillance and the like. The authority could arrest people without any legal formalities.

The third we discussed is the use some 'more special' means, for example, saying you owe lots of taxes, and then use these methods to deal with you. A few years ago, it was prostitution and now it is taxes, etc. These 'charges' are more acceptable to Westerners. The Communist regime's practice of human rights violations, in addition to being more than cruel, has also become more cunning!"

Mr. Wei Jingsheng said that in addition to human rights issues, they also discussed some broader issues people are very concerned about. He said, "Of course we talked in more depth about the political future of China. For example, which kind of changes will be in China's political future, and which kind of role the European Union should play. We proposed that the European Union increase its concern regarding human rights in China, and increase some interventions. It should play some positive role in the process of democratization in China, as well as leave some positive impression on the vast number of people in China. This will be important to the future long-term relationship in between the EU and China. They also agreed with these views."

The above report is by the special correspondent Tian Yi of Radio Free Asia, reporting from Germany.

Original link of this report:

http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/wei-11212011105341.html

report in audio:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/interviews/interviews2011/WeiJSinEurope111121RFAreport.mp3

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Related photo (photo credit: European Parliament):

Wei Jingsheng at the Sakharov Debate 2011 "Role of Women in Democratic transition" (In the photo: Wei Jingsheng, Lakshmi PURI, Vildana SELIMBEGOVIC, Hauwa IBRAHIM, and Aliaksandr MILINKEVITCH)

http://www.weijingsheng.org/pic/newsletters/newsletters2011/newsletters2011-4/WeiJSdebates111123EuropeanParliament.jpg

original link of the photo:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/european_parliament/6394543179/in/photostream/

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中文版

Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition News and Article Release Issue Number: A668-O192

中国民主运动海外联席会议新闻与文章发布号：A668-O192

Release Date: Nov. 26, 2011

发布日：2011年11月26日

Topic: Media Reports about Wei Jingsheng in Europe (also in photo, audio and video)

标题：若干关于魏京生访欧的报道（及图片，录音，录像）

Original Language Version: English/Chinese (Chinese version at the end)

此号以英/中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）

如有中文乱码问题，请与我们联系或访问:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2011/report2011-11/WeiJSinEurope111126reportsA668-O192.htm

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若干关于魏京生访欧的报道（及图片，录音，录像）

编者的话：

2011年11月14日，魏京生与黄慈萍启程到欧洲参加数项活动，并与欧洲的人权支持者及旅欧的中国民运人士会面。他们访问了法国、瑞士、德国、比利时的多个城市，并参加了由欧洲议会组织的高层人权会议。如欧洲议会主席布泽克(Jerzy Buzek)所述，欧洲议会是世界人权的中心。在此期间，魏京生接受了多个媒体的报道。以下为其中的一部分。

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萨哈罗夫奖表彰阿拉伯活动家（欧洲新闻报道）

24/11/11

今年的萨哈罗夫自由思想奖被赋予北非和中东的5个活动家，以表彰他们在阿拉伯之春中的作用。

埃及的Asmaa Mahfouz,利比亚的Ahmed al-Zubair Ahmed al-Sanusi,叙利亚的Razan Zaitouneh和Ali Farzat都受到的表彰。突尼斯的Mohamed Bouazizi得到追认。

1997年的萨哈罗夫奖得主，阿尔及利亚的Salima Ghezali告诉欧洲新闻，该地区为自由而战不是什么新鲜事。

“阿拉伯国家目前还没有民主。然而，为此在阿拉伯世界的斗争已有很久。只是到最近，我们才开始关注到这场斗争，”她说。

自1988年以来，欧洲议会每年都将萨哈罗夫奖授予那些在争取人权或民主的斗争中有贡献的个人或团体。

中国的萨哈罗夫奖得主魏京生说：“我认为所有的自由和权利中，最重要的是表达意见的自由。这是中国人民一直在努力奋争的，为的是能够表达自己，特别是通过互联网。但这正是中国政府严格控制的领域。这是为什么你看到双方冲突的原因。"

虽然社交媒体在阿拉伯起义中起了部分作用，欧洲议会的总统布泽克(Jerzy Buzek)坚持人文精神是最重要的因素。

2005年的得奖者，古巴持不同政见者运动“白衣女士”的成员之一Reyes Castanon，也出席在颁奖仪式上。

“没有萨哈罗夫奖，欧洲就不会真正了解‘白衣女士’。人们来看我们，就好像是一场秀，而其它人团结在一起。”Reyes说。

这个奖项是以苏联物理学家和持不同政见者萨哈罗夫命名的。

原文出处：

http://www.euronews.net/2011/11/24/sakharov-prize-honours-arab-activists/