The Foreign Correspondents Club of China issued a press release yesterday saying it had received more than 180 reports of foreign journalists being obstructed in their work since the introduction exactly one year ago of new rules that were supposed to enable the international media to operate much more freely in China.

The FCCC said the incidents included threats, physical violence, harassment, destruction of journalistic equipment, interrogation and visa refusals. Most of these violations took place in the Beijing and Hebei regions, it said.

One of the most serious cases cited by the FCCC was that of Reuters correspondent Chris Buckley, who was physically attacked by about 10 people while doing a report on a prison. His equipment was stolen and he was threatened with death.

Brice Pedroletti, a journalist with the French daily Le Monde, was watched when he went to research a story in Xinjiang. The people he interviewed were interrogated afterwards, while he was followed and interrogated by police.

Reporters going to Tibet have been forced to sign a pledge that they will not use their photos or film footage to convey a negative vision of Tibet and China. And then they have been followed and harassed throughout their visit.

A crew working for the international satellite TV station Al-Jazeera was detained for three hours in Anhui province while the police arrested the peasants they had just interviewed.

CHINA: European parliament's president calls for detained activist's immediate release

The president of the European parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering, has called for the immediate release of Hu Jia, the leading human rights activist who was arrested at his Beijing home on 27 December.

"I very much hope that the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 will be an opportunity for China to demonstrate that a country hosting the world's most important sports event is committed to internationally recognized human rights standards including freedom of expression," Pöttering said on 29 December, adding that, "the immediate release of Hu Jia would be an important signal in this direction."

Reporters Without Borders hopes that Europe and in particular, Slovenia, which has just taken over the European Union's rotating presidency, will wage an exemplary campaign to get Hu freed.

The press freedom organisation has learned from Hu's family that he is being held at a Beijing municipal detention centre ruled by the Public Security ministry. He has managed to get a message to his wife, blogger Zeng Jinyan, asking her to send him money and photos of their six-week-old daughter.

His wife and daughter have been under house arrest since 27 December. Only Hu's mother, has been able to visit them but, for fear of reprisals, she is refusing to provide any additional information.

Li Jinping, another human rights activist, was turned back by police when he tried to approach Hu and Zeng's home on 28 and 29 December. He was also questioned by the police.