State hooliganism: BBC team forced to sign confession

By John Sudworth

The plan was a simple one.
We'd arranged to meet a woman in her village in China's central Hunan Province and to then travel with her by train to Beijing, filming as we went.
But we never did get to meet our interviewee.
The story we ended up with, however, reveals more about the exercise of power in China than any interview ever could.
It is one that involves violence, intimidation and a forced confession -- my first in my long reporting experience in China -- in which I found myself apologising for "behaviour causing a bad impact" and for trying to conduct an "illegal interview".

Thugs, sanctioned by the authorities, attacked us
Yang Linghua was planning to take the train to Beijing because she is what's known in China as a "petitioner".
Every year, many tens of thousands of Chinese people -- denied the possibility of obtaining any justice through the local Communist Party run courts -- head to the capital, taking their grievances to the "State Bureau of Letters and Calls".
Corruption cases, land-grabs, local government malfeasance, medical negligence, police brutality, unfair dismissal -- all are documented in the bundles of papers -- the petitions -- they carry with them.
The system is also Communist Party run, of course, and the chances of success are tiny.
But for many, it's the only chance they've got, and they often continue to petition, in vain, for years.

The BBC interviewed Yang Quinghua, sister of Yang Linghua, three years ago

Just like Yang Linghua's family.
The BBC interviewed her sister, Yang Qinghua, three years ago on a petitioning trip to Beijing.
The women allege that their land was stolen from them and their father, in the ensuing dispute, was beaten so badly he eventually died.
But there's a particular reason Ms Yang was trying to reach Beijing this week.
On Sunday, China begins its annual parliamentary session, The National People's Congress (NPC).

The National People's Congress is held, like the Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (depicted), in Beijing's Great Hall of the People

The event is like a magnet for petitioners who hope to use the grand occasion to promote their cause.
Beijing, though, has other ideas.
It would rather keep this ragged army of the dispossessed away from its carefully choreographed piece of political theatre and so provincial officials the length and breadth of the land, are tasked with stopping petitioners making the journey.
We knew that Ms Yang's sister and mother had already been placed under unofficial house arrest.
But as she herself had never been to Beijing to petition before, she felt she would be free from suspicion and, at the very least, able to board a train.
She was wrong.
As soon as we arrived in Yang Linghua's village it was clear they were expecting us.
The road to her house was blocked by a large group of people and, within a few minutes, they'd assaulted us and smashed all of our cameras.

Our equipment was smashed -- Ms Yang says her father received far worse when he objected to land theft

While such violence can be part of the risk faced by foreign reporters in China, what happened next is more unusual.
After we left the village, we were chased down and had our car surrounded by a group of about 20 thugs.
They were then joined by some uniformed police officers and two officials from the local foreign affairs office, and under the threat of further violence, we were made to delete some of our footage and forced to sign the confession.
It was a very one-sided negotiation, but it at least gave us a way out -- a luxury denied to the petitioners who find themselves on the receiving end of similar intimidation and abuse.
A video sent to us by Yang Linghua's sister shows her being detained by some of the same people who threatened us.

Warnings not to travel
In the course of researching this story we spoke to one woman, now in her seventies, who has been petitioning since 1988 for a longer prison sentence for her husband's murderer.
She told us that every year during the National People's Congress she is put under house arrest for 10 days.
A man we contacted, petitioning over the abduction of his son, had been warned not to travel this week.
He went ahead and booked his tickets anyway but was prevented from boarding the train in Guangdong Province.
Even for those who do make it to Beijing, the threat of being caught remains.
Outside the petitioning office this week, hundreds of "interceptors" have gathered, the squads of goons sent from each province to search out and cajole or coerce their petitioners to return home.

Official and volunteer security officers are everywhere during the Congress
Of course, many petitioners do still make it and are able to lodge their claims, particularly first-timers who are not yet known to the system.
But the irony is, the harder China works to stem the flow during its national parliament, the more incentive there is for people to come.
Most petitioners are not so naive as to believe they'll be able to get anywhere near the senior officials attending the parliament.
But the desperation of their own provincial governments to catch them gives those who make it to Beijing a certain leverage.
Ignored all year round, often by the same officials they're petitioning against, they suddenly find themselves on the receiving end of offers to negotiate.
One petitioner showed us the text message exchanges she has had with the interceptors trying to track her down, with one even offering to take her on holiday. 

Anything to get her out of Beijing.
We have heard nothing from Yang Linghua or her family since they disappeared.
We have asked government officials in Beijing whether they can provide an assurance that they are safe and well.
Meanwhile, on the eve of China's parliamentary gathering, many of its citizens -- often those, it could be argued, who are most in need of parliamentary representation -- face similar abuse.
And despite having signed that confession I make no apology for trying to interview them.

Chinese Fifth Column: Bought By China (BBC)

BBC correspondent 'called a dog and a c**p journalist during two-year bullying campaign after raising concerns about boss' conflict of interest with Chinese-backed charity
By Patrick Sawer

BBC journalist Sally Chidzoy, who accuses the corporation of bullying her, arrives at her employment tribunal in Cambridge

A BBC reporter was subjected to a campaign of harassment and abuse after exposing links between her BBC boss and a charity funded by the Chinese government.
Sally Chidzoy, a journalist on the BBC’s Look East programme, says she was called a 'shih tzu' and a 'dangerous dog' during her two year ordeal.
She also alleges that she was falsely imprisoned during the same period.
Miss Chidzoy has now taken the broadcaster to an employment tribunal, which opened in Cambridge on Tuesday.
In a 55-page witness statement, Miss Chidzoy, who is still working for the BBC as home affairs correspondent for the East of England, makes a series of damaging allegations.
These include the claim that her manager was the press spokesperson for a Cambridge charity funded by the Chinese government, which she was investigating.
She also claims that the North Norfolk MP, Norman Lamb, attempted to interfere with a story she was pursuing about the then boss of the East of England Ambulance Trust.
Miss Chidzoy alleges that she was told by BBC bosses to hand over her phone after they suspected her of leaking an email Mr Lamb had sent and that they subjected her to “false imprisonment” when she refused to do so.

Sally Chidzoy claims her BBC manager Nikki O’Donnell orchestrated a campaign of bullying after she discovered Ms O'Donnell also worked for a Chinese backed "charity".

The award-winning journalist was subsequently cleared of leaking Mr Lamb’s email to the press, but was disciplined for forwarding his email on to other BBC colleagues.
Miss Chidzoy also accuses the BBC of dismissing her concerns about her manager’s links with the Chinese government.
She claims that in August 2013 she was investigating a charity called the Centre for Business and Public Sector Ethics, which was receiving funding from the Chinese Government.
The "charity" was arranging a visit to Cambridge by members of the Chinese secret police.
But Miss Chidzoy says that when she phoned the charity’s director Rosamund Thomas for comment, she was told their press spokesperson was a woman called Nikki O’Donnell.
The revelation stunned Miss Chidzoy, as Ms O’Donnell was a news editor at Look East and her line manager in the corporation.
As a result Miss Chidzoy spiked the story because she said she could not seek comment from her own manager.
She said in her statement to the tribunal: “I was very concerned about potential legal issues including conflict of interest, the BBC’s reputation and for the BBC’s legal obligation to remain politically independent.”

Miss Chidzoy says she spoke about this to O’Donnell, who told her she had declared her role at the charity to the BBC.
The BBC initially said they could not find the declaration, but later said she did not need to declare one.
Miss Chidzoy also claims that the BBC paid the same charity to facilitate a programme which BBC Look East transmitted from Shanghai. 

That payment was approved by Mick Rawsthorne, head of regional and local programming.
After Miss Chidzoy raised her concerns O’Donnell orchestrated a ‘campaign’ to undermine her.
This led to two years of bullying and isolation, in which her stories were frequently suppressed for reasons she was concerned by.
During this time, she was described as a 'crap journalist' in an email sent by O'Donnell to Mick Rawsthorne, head of region at BBC News, and seen by 16 other colleagues.

The tribunal is being heard at Cambridge Magistrates Court.

She also claims messages were sent calling her a 'shih tzu' and a 'dangerous dog' before being falsely imprisoned and ordered to hand over her phone on September 29, 2014. 

She refused to do so as she felt it went against her ethics, the tribunal heard.
Miss Chidzoy's witness statement also referred to a BBC email leaked to the Mail on Sunday which she claimed was an attempt to politically influence stories she was working on.
She discovered correspondence sent from then health minister Norman Lamb to a member of her management using a personal email address.
She claims that ex-Met police populate the BBC Investigations Unit and she was made to feel like a criminal because of the 'intrusive forms' used to file information on her.
Disciplinary procedures against Miss Chidzoy ended in August 2015, when she was issued with a written warning that would be held against her for two years.
She is expected to provide evidence from five witnesses during the three-week tribunal, which began today, and in which numerous members of senior BBC management are expected to be called.
Miss Chidzoy joined the BBC in 1986 and was appointed home affairs correspondent in 1997.
She has won multiple awards for her investigative journalism and has spoken on modern day slavery at the United Nations in Geneva.