Hong Kong (AsiaNews) - Human rights activists are accusing China of wanting to penalize the newspaper that first reported the existence of a Sars case a few days ago.

The newspaper that first published  the news of a 32 year-old TV producer suffering from Sars was Nanfangzhoumo ("the magazine of the south"),  a very popular and active tabloid based in Guangdong.    

In recent days both the news staff and actual writer of the article reporting the Sars case were interrogated by police at length. Journalist Zeng Wenqiong has been dismissed from work.  

Frank Lu, of the Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Hong Kong, said that such actions are part of a strategy to pressure the media not to publish disturbing news about the government. "If some newspaper dares to report things the government doesn't like, they use this way to scare newspapers, editors and journalists. This is a very serious thing," he said 

Last year's Sars epidemic was covered up by the government for months, thereby allowing the infection to spread to more than 30 countries. Last May, during the height of the Sars crisis, president Hu Jintao promised his readiness in diffusing information on the disease and taking appropriate measures.   

Today the first Sars case was said to be closed and no longer a danger; but another case has been confirmed: that of a 20 year-old waitress in Guangdong.

Moreover authorities in Hong Kong have placed under close watch three TV operators who, having gone to film in the area where the first Sars case broke out, returned to the territory with symptoms of severe acute respiratory syndrome.

Meanwhile, among the many problems at hand, is the killing of 10,000 civet cats, which is currently under way. The animals are held responsible for the Sars epidemic. In effect, the waitress and three Hong Kong TV operators were likely near these animals. This was not so in the first case. The World Health Organization has cast doubt on the strict relationship between civet cats and the new Sars cases.    

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