Prague, July 31, 2008 – A group of international intellectual, spiritual and political leaders has published a public appeal today, calling on the International Olympic Committee to allow full access to information at Beijing Olympics and on Olympic athletes to express themselves in support of people whose rights are being violated by the Chinese government. The signatories, including writer and former Czech president Václav Havel, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng, European Parliament Vice-President Edward McMillan-Scott, and philosopher André Glucksmann, reject the notion that peaceful promotion of human rights would constitute political propaganda prohibited by the Olympic Charter. more

Prague, July 8, 2008 – Olympic Watch chairman Jan Ruml today sent a letter to President Hu Jintao of the People’s Republic of China, calling on him to fulfill the promises regarding human rights in China that Chinese officials made when bidding for the organization of the Olympics in Beijing, and to release Hu Jia, Yang Chunlin and Ye Guozhu - three activists jailed in connection with the Olympics. more

Prague, April 10, 2008 – Olympic Watch welcomed the comments made by IOC president Jacques Rogge in Beijing today as “an important step in the right direction” but said more was needed. Rogge called today for the Chinese government to implement in practice freer conditions for international media and said that the for the IOC, “ freedom of expression is something that is absolute.” In its response, Olympic Watch said that IOC also needs to speak out for the freedom of Chinese journalists and affirm explicitly that peaceful promotion of human rights at Olympic venues is in no way in contradiction to the Olympic Charter. more

Prague, April 3, 2008 - Olympic Watch has condemned the conviction of the Chinese dissident Hu Jia, who was jailed for three and half years for “inciting subversion of state power and the socialist system”. “The Chinese government is ignoring its commitments of human rights improvements and testing how far it can go just as IOC executives head to Beijing,” said Olympic Watch chairman Jan Ruml. more

Prague, February 7, 2008 – With six months to go until the Beijing 2008 Olympics, Olympic Watch is calling for an end to human rights abuses in China. Specifically calling for the release of “Olympic prisoners” Hu Jia, Yang Chunlin and Ye Guozhu, it also reminds the International Olympic Committee that full media freedom must be guaranteed in China as promised in 2001. In press freedom, the IOC must not discriminate between foreign and Chinese media, because that would contradict the Olympic ideal of non-discrimination, Olympic Watch says. more