Hacker posts Chinese flag on film fest website
Melbourne festival defends film about Uighur dissident
Last Updated: Sunday, July 26, 2009 | 10:09 AM ET
CBC News
Rebiya Kadeer, shown here in an interview earlier this month with the Associated Press in Washington, is the subject of the documentary, 10 Conditions of Love. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press)A hacker attacked the website of the Melbourne International Film Festival on Saturday to protest the premiere of a documentary about an exiled Uighur activist Beijing blames for ethnic riots in China.
Festival spokeswoman Louise Heseltine said that the content on the site was briefly replaced with the Chinese flag and English-language messages demanding festival organizers pull the documentary, 10 Conditions of Love, which tells the story of Rebiya Kadeer, an icon for China's Uighur population.
The film was shown as scheduled on Sunday and there were no disturbances. Victoria state police will monitor future screenings.
Kadeer, 62, is to attend an Aug. 8 screening and speak at a workshop presentation.
She spent six years in a Chinese prison before she was released into exile in the U.S. in 2005. She denies any role in recent ethnic violence in the west of China.
The hacker contacted the Australian Broadcasting Corp. saying that he does not work for the Chinese government and is an ordinary, angry Chinese citizen who objects to the film.
'Never bow down to pressure'
Festival director Richard Moore told the ABC that the protest will not result in the film being dropped.
"You never bow down to pressure like this," he said. "You've got to stick to your guns. There was no other reaction that we could have had."
He said the festival's website had been slowed down by the hacking and that online ticket sales have suffered.
He added that in the past few weeks the festival has received "a virtual mini tsunami of emails that I can only describe as being vile" protesting the screening of the film.
Last week, three Chinese filmmakers withdrew their films from the festival when organizers refused to drop 10 Conditions of Love.
Melbourne's The Age newspaper said private security guards have been hired to protect Kadeer and other filmgoers on Aug. 8.
Jeff Daniels, the film's Australian director, is concerned by the need to beef up security. "I find it appalling that the Chinese government has put the film festival and filmgoers in a position where they need a police escort and private security to see a film," he said.
"Melbourne is getting a small taste of the position that the Chinese government has put Rebiya Kadeer and her family and the Uighur population in for the past 60 years," he added.
The film festival runs through Aug. 9.
With files from The Associated Press
