London calling

摘要

Peter Humphrey was a British corporate investigator living in Shanghai when he was convicted in 2014 of violating Chinese laws protecting personal data. He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison. The verdict was a shock but not a surprise: the previous year, viewers of Chinese state television had watched a video of Mr Humphrey confessing from jail. At a press conference in London on November 23rd Mr Humphrey, now released and living in Britain, said that the confession was scripted and filmed under duress. He claimed the footage was not only shown to domestic audiences but also broadcast on China's international news channel, which is available in Britain (since 2016 it has gone by the name of cgtn). He says this is forbidden by Britain's broadcasting regulations and is asking Ofcom, Britain's tele-coms regulator, to take cgtn off air.