China tries to control bird flu news

Chinese bird flu whistle-blower jailed: state media

Tue Jul 11, 2006 4:25am

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court jailed a farmer who reported bird flu outbreaks to the central government to three-and-a-half years for fraud and blackmail, state media said on Tuesday.

Qiao Songju, a goose farmer in the eastern province of Jiangsu, was arrested a month after he reported bird flu outbreaks in the nearby province of Jiangsu in October, Xinhua news agency said.

Qiao had denied most, but not all, of the charges, Xinhua said, without explaining who might have been blackmailed or whether the charges were linked to his bird flu reports, which turned out to be correct.

"The defendant used measures such as fabricating facts and hiding truth to swindle public and personal property ... so he should be punished for two crimes," Xinhua quoted the prosecution as saying.

Chinese media reported last month that China was considering fines for media outlets that report emergencies, such as riots, natural disasters and outbreaks of disease such as SARS or bird flu, without authorization.

China has a long history of covering up emergency incidents, and news blackout are regularly imposed by sensitive propaganda officials nervous about the effects of news reports on the image of the ruling party.