MORE ARRESTS OF JOURNALISTS IN CHINA IN LEAD-UP TO OLYMPICS
December 19th 2007 01:01
Reporters Without Borders calls for the immediate release of dissident writer Wang Dejia, who was arrested at his home in Guilin, in the southern province of Guangxi, on December 13, and charged with "subverting state authority." He uses the pen-name of Jing Chu.
His arrest could be linked to articles he had written and posted on the Minzhu Luntan (Democracy Forum http://asiademo.org/) and the Aboluowang forum. The sites carry such headlines as "Illegal possession of state secrets: a Communist Party invention for persecuting prisoners of conscience", "Manacled Olympic Games will bring the public nothing but misfortune" and "With journalist Li Yuanlong sentenced to two years for four articles, how much will I get?"
Reporters Without Borders said, "Eight months before the Beijing Olympic Games, it is very worrying to learn of the arrest of another writer who had criticised the way the games are being organised. It suggests that there could be an increase in repression of Chinese who dare to voice reserves about the games, either online or to foreign journalists."
Meanwhile, Nanjing-based journalist Sun Lin has denied charges of "illegal possession of firearms" and "disturbing the peace" when he finally received a visit from lawyer Mo Shaoping on December 14 in prison in the eastern city of Nanjing. Mo was refused a visit in September. The police have sent the findings of their investigation to prosecutors along with a request that Sun be brought to trial.
Also known by the pen-name Jie Mu, he told Mo that, during questioning, the police asked him about his journalistic activities and told him he had been arrested for refusing to stop writing articles for Boxun (http://news.boxun.com/), a Chinese-language news website based abroad.
Sun's wife, He Fang, has meanwhile been detained on a charge of "illegal possession of explosives."
Sun, arrested in Nanjing on May 30, was the founder of the now-banned newspaper Da Du Shi as well as being a Boxun correspondent.
- From MediaBlab
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