[Nettime-bold] China alert (wave of repression against web dissidents)]

[Drazen Pantic <drazen@opennet.org>]

IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
_________________________________________________________________

ALERT - CHINA

26 April 2001

Wave of repression against web dissidents

SOURCE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris

(RSF/IFEX) - In a letter to Jia Chunwang, Chinese minister of public
security, RSF protested the arrest of Lu Xinhua and Guo Qinghai. Both are
accused of violating the law on the content of information published on the
Internet. RSF asked the minister to guarantee the release of Lu and Guo, and
for the charges against them to be dropped. "We see the disastrous
consequences of the Internet laws promulgated in 2000 by the Chinese
authorities. The police services in charge of the Internet are now tracking
down all web dissidents," noted RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard.

According to information collected by RSF, Lu was detained on 11 March 2001
in Wuhan (central China). According to the Information Centre for Human
Rights and Democracy, he was formally arrested on 20 April for "subversion".
Lu is the author of several articles published on overseas websites. He has
reported on human rights violations in China and openly criticised Chinese
President Jiang Zemin. Guo, a bank employee, has been on trial since 3 April
in a Hebei (northern China) court, for violating the law on the content of
news published on the Internet. His family was not informed of the date of
the trial. He wrote pro-democracy articles on an American web site.

In a report entitled "Enemies of the Internet" (www.rsf.org) published in
February, RSF wrote: "Over the past two years, the Chinese authorities have
considerably changed their policy for controlling the Internet. The 'Great
Cyber Wall' strategy, implemented in 1997 by the Ministry of Public Security
and the State Prosecutor, was abandoned in favour of selective enforcement
and control carried out by ISPs and site managers themselves. ...Chinese web
dissidents are considered to be real criminals, and run the risk of hefty
prison sentences."

Four web dissidents are currently jailed in China: Qi Yanchen, chief editor
of the online magazine "Consultations", arrested on 2 September 1999 and
sentenced to four years in jail (see IFEX alerts of 21 September, 13 July,
26 and 5 June, 17 and 3 March and 26 January 2000 and 3 September 1999);
Huang Qi, creator of the website www.6-4tianwang.com, detained since 3 June
2000, whose trial was postponed (see alerts of 9 February and 18 January
2001, 13 July, 26 and 7 June 2000); Jiang Shihua, teacher and owner of
Silicon Valley Internet Cafe, jailed since 16 August 2000 and sentenced last
December to two years in jail (see alerts of 14 March 2001 and 22 August
2000); and Yang Zili, creator of the website www.lib.126.com, whose family
has not been informed of his whereabouts since he was detained by the police
on 13 March (see alert of 20 April 2001).

For further information, contact Vincent Brossel at RSF, 5, rue Geoffroy
Marie, Paris 75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 84, fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51,
e-mail: asie@rsf.fr, Internet: http://www.rsf.fr

The information contained in this alert is the sole responsibility of RSF.
In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit RSF.
_________________________________________________________________
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