無國界記者 2011年12月6日
行政長官曾蔭權 中華人民共和國香港特別行政區 添馬艦 政府總部大樓
香港特別行政區政府- 入境事務處 灣仔告士打道七號入境事務大樓
主題：查詢長平先生的工作簽證事宜
尊敬的行政長官曾蔭權先生：
我們是無國界記者，總部在巴黎的，以捍衛新聞自由和資訊流動的國際非政府機構。
我們謹提請妳注意目前的情況，張平先生（以其筆名“長平”在中文媒體界知名），他是《南方週末》前任新聞部負責人、《南都週刊》前總主筆、知名的記者和博客。
2011年7月，長平獲邀擔任香港的陽光衛視創辦的電子時政雜志《陽光時務》的主編，但因爲香港入境事務處莫名的沈默，因工作簽證問題，迄今爲止，他已經有5個多月無法實際履職。
事實上，在他7月份正式被任命爲《陽光時務》雜志的主編壹職前，在2011年3月份，張平先生就向香港特區政府入境事務處遞交了工作簽證申請。
壹般而言，這種類型的簽證處理週期常見是四個星期，但到最近，這個工作簽證申請仍然沒有被回複，既然沒有被接受，也沒有明確的被拒絕。直到最近，入境事務處也沒有正式地對長達八個月（從三月份到最近）的不作爲給出解釋，入境事務處只是簡單的回應說，正在考慮此項簽證申請中。
這些不同尋常和不明原因的拖延和推諉，是我們擔心，來自北京可能直接對香港特區政府，這壹擁有高度自治權的政治體施加了直接的政治壓力，原因是，中國當局試圖阻止對壹些在其敏感名單中的記者，讓他們無法獲得職位，正常地工作。
長平獲得工作合同的，是由香港陽光衛視創辦的壹份電子版的時政雜志《陽光時務》，而在2009年底迄今，陽光衛視被中國大陸當局拒絕落地播出，既沒正式通知，更無合理的解釋。
長平先生在中國大陸是廣受尊敬的知名記者，在過去長期的職業生涯中，他已爲抵抗審查和新聞自由，付出了許多代價。
2008年，他因爲發表與官方立場有區別，呼籲在西藏問題上的媒體報道自由的評論文章，被免去《南都週刊》的副主編職務；2011年1月28日，他被迫辭職離開工作多年的南方報業傳媒集團，原因是他拒絕承諾改變立場，或者停止撰寫評論文章，保持沈默。此後，他被中國言論審查當局禁止發表文章，無論是傳統媒體，報紙、雜志或者新型的網絡媒體，甚至，他在中國大陸的社交媒體上的賬號都被刪除。
對這些令人不安的事件，我們希望，您能對張平先生的工作簽證申請儀式加以關注，推動審批進程，使其能按其招募的合同，盡快地投入到工作中。
謝謝您對我們信件和訴求的關注，希望您詳加考量，並接受我們的呼籲。謹對您致以最高的敬意。
讓 - 弗朗索瓦 朱利亞德 無國界記者 秘書長
In an open letter in the Hong Kong government, Reporters Without Borders asks why the visa request by journalist Chang Ping remains unanswered.
6 December 2011
Donald Tsang
Chief Executive
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
People’s Republic of China
Tamar, Hong Kong
Immigration Dept.
Immigration Tower,
Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Dear Sir
Visa application by Mr. Zhang Ping
Reporters Without Borders, an organization that campaigns for freedom of the press and freedom of information, wishes to draw your attention to the case of Mr. Zhang Ping, also known as Chang Ping (長平). A journalist and blogger, he is a former deputy editor of Nanfang Zhoumo (南方週末) and for the past five months he has been unable to take up his post in Hong Kong as editor of the online magazine Sun Affairs (陽光時務), owned by Sun TV, which he was due to have started in July this year. Up till now, Zhang Ping has faced unexplained silence on the part of the Hong Kong Immigration Department.
After he was appointed to the post in March, Mr. Zhang Ping applied to your government’s Immigration Department for a work visa. As a general rule, applications of this kind are dealt with in four weeks. As of today, he has received no response, either accepting or rejecting his request. No explanation has been given for this silence. The department concerned has merely informed him that his application is under review.
This unusual and unexplained delay leads us to fear there has been direct political interference by the Beijing authorities with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in order to prevent the journalist from taking up his post with a newspaper that Chinese officialdom has had in its sights for several years. The recent blockage of the website of the Sun TV online magazine that he was meant to edit is not unrelated to our concerns. With no warning or explanation, the television station was refused permission by the Chinese authorities to broadcast its programmes by cable at the end of 2009.
On several occasions Mr. Zhang Ping, a respected journalist in China, has paid for his stand in favour of press freedom and his refusal to work under censorship. In 2008, he was dismissed as deputy editor of the daily Nandu Zhoukan Zazhi (應為南都週刊雜誌) for publishing editorials on Tibet that were at odds with the official line. On 28 January this year, he was forced to resign from his post with Nanfang Baoye Jituan (南方報業集團) for refusing to make changes to articles he had written. Since then, he has been banned from publishing anything he has written in any medium, whether in newspapers or on the Internet. All of his articles published online have been deleted.
In the light of these worrying events, we request that you do all in you power to ensure that Mr. Zhang Ping’s work visa is granted without delay so that he can take up his appointment as soon as possible.
Thank you for your consideration of this matter and please accept my sincere regards.
Jean-François Julliard
Secretary General, Reporters Without Borders
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