Associated Press Posted online: Tuesday, February 07, 2006 at 1423 hours IST
Shanghai, February 7: A Chinese newspaper editor has died after being beaten by police officers angered by reports on corruption in their ranks, a human rights group and journalists said today.
Wu Xianghu was hospitalised since the assault in October and died of liver and kidney failure on Thursday, according to Lu Weibo, a reporter with The Taizhou Evening News in the eastern province of Zhejiang.
About 50 policemen attacked Wu at the newspaper's offices on October 20, a day
after the paper's publication of an article accusing them of charging illegal fees for registering electric bicycles, according to earlier media reports and the Committee to Protect Journalists. After the assault, Wu was forced into a police van and driven away.
The beating worsened a pre-existing liver condition, the reports said.
The attack received an unusual degree of coverage in official Chinese media, suggesting sympathy among other journalists who work under tight restrictions and are frequently attacked, fired or arrested for reporting on official abuses and other sensitive issues.
Local media have not, however, reported on Wu's death, a likely sign that propaganda authorities have ordered them to avoid the topic.
Lu, the author of the article that apparently provoked the attack on Wu, would not comment further when contacted by phone today. "It is not convenient for us to comment on this right now," he said.
