Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders) and Solidarity with China, both Paris-based, and the Swiss chapter of The Committee to Support the Tibetan People accused the Communist Party of running a "repressive and unstable country."
The groups released the text of a letter to the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) 123 members urging them to take into account “ethical issues” when selecting a host among five candidate cities - Beijing, Paris, Toronto, Istanbul and Osaka. Beijing is widely seen as the front-runner in the vote to be held in Moscow on July 13.
“Should we have granted the 1936 Olympics to Nazi Germany? No. Should we grant the 2008 Olympics to Communist China? No, no and no," wrote dissident Wei Jingsheng, imprisoned from March 1979 to November 1997, in the six-page letter.
“Human rights and equity are at the very heart of the Olympic spirit that you represent...we feel it would be unacceptable, even dangerous, to grant the 2008 Summer Olympic Games to Beijing. There are enough democratic countries in the world that could host the Games; there is no need to grant one of the last and harshest dictatorships in the world the right to host the most prestigious sporting event,” the letter added.
The groups launched a poster campaign across Europe, with handcuffs in place of the five Olympic rings and the slogan: “China: Gold Medal for Human Rights Violations.”
BASIC LIBERTIES
However, because of the refusal of some advertising companies to get involved, the group had to resort to hiring large trucks to parade the posters in some places including the Swiss cities of Geneva and Lausanne, home of the IOC. The groups alleged that repression had continued unchecked since the 1989 Tiananmen (Square) massacre in which hundreds of pro-democracy protesters were killed by Chinese troops.
China's 1.3 billion people were deprived of basic liberties, including freedom of expression and religion, according to Richard Menard, secretary-general of Reporters Sans Frontieres. The Tibetan people and the spiritual movement Falun Gong, banned by China, suffered particularly, the groups said.
“Therefore, giving China the 2008 Olympic Games...would constitute a total lack of sensitivity and regard for the suffering of millions of people," Chungdak Koren, representative of the Dalai Lama in Geneva, told the news conference.
Wei, who was eventually sent into exile after serving his sentence for advocating multi-party democracy, was among 20 dissidents released in 1993 for several months when China was bidding for the 2000 Olympics - eventually won by Sydney.
“Don't be taken in by [the] Chinese authorities, who will certainly free some dissidents...the courts are convicting others to harsh sentences,” the letter said.
