Petition for the Release of Liu Xiaobo

www.pen.org

I mentioned in yesterday’s post that a group of Chinese intellectuals have signed a petition for the release of Liu Xiaobo.  I’ve also learnt today that some Tibetan community leaders are appealing to members of their communities in China and abroad to sign the petition in support of Liu.  Here is a LINK to the online petition.

So far a total of 54 Chinese residents have put their names down.  This include famous scholars such as Xu Youyu, Mou Yushi, Qin Hui, Zhang Ming, Cui Weiping, Ai Xiaoming, Li Datong and Fu Guoyong; a Beijing based lawyer and a legal scholar; as well as writers such as Zhang Ping, Wang Lixiong, Woeser and Liu Di.

I salute these brave Chinese people for their courage.

Liu Xiaobo’s First Meeting with his Lawyer

Pro-democracy lawmakers and activities hold the picture of Liu Xiaobo protest outside the China's liaison office in Hong Kong Thursday, June 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Liu Xiaobo was eventually allowed to meet with his lawyer.  Liu’s lawyer Shang Baojun said that the meeting took place at around 3.15pm on 26 June at the Beijing Number 1 Detention Centre.   It lasted for approximately 40 minutes.

Shang found out from Liu Xiaobo that he had been detained in a house with no windows since December last year.  He was not even allowed to go outside to stretch his legs.  According to PRC legislation, under no circumstances should house arrests be extended beyond six months.  In other words, from 8 June to 23 June, Liu Xiaobo had been illegally detained.

Liu refuted the claim of a recent Xinhua press release that he had confessed to the crime of inciting subversion.  During the course of interrogation, Liu had only made two admissions: (1) He was the main contributor to the drafting of Charter 08; and (2) he had published more than 20 essays via the Internet.  However, Liu Xiaobo was adamant that none of these were illegal activities.  Nor could they be construed as inciting subversion.

Liu apologised through his lawyer to his wife and family for the suffering that they had to endure.  However he expressed no regret for his commitment to a free and democratic China.  Liu also thanked his friends in China and abroad for their support.  Liu hoped that his claim of full responsibility for Charter 08 would prevent others from sustaining further political persecutions.

According to Liu Xiaobo’s lawyer, a bail application had been filed on 25 June.  A formal reply is expected latest by next Thursday.

Source: Canyu (via Chinese Pen)

Meanwhile, a group of more than 50 intellectuals in China has signed a petition calling for the immediate release of Liu Xiaobo and the proper implementation of freedom of speech rights as stipulated in the PRC Constitution.

Source: AP (via Google News)

Baozuitun: a Chinese Blogger Who Challenges Censorship Boundaries

I am glad to announce the return of Baozuitun 饱醉豚 (or the Gluttonous Suckling Pig).  He is one of the two bloggers whose blogs at Bullog.cn were forced to close down shortly after Charter 08 was made public.  The other blogger who suffered a similar fate was Ran Yunfei.  The closing down of their blogs marked the beginning of another round of Internet censorship.  This time the censorship was conducted under the pretence of an anti-smut campaign.  In Chinese, it is known as 反低俗 (fan disu) or an anti-vulgarity campaign.  The campaign led to the demise of more than a thousand PRC-based websites.  Bullog.cn inevitably fell victim of this campaign.  The blog portal, which was popular for its tolerance towards controversial views, was eventually shut down on 8 January 2009.  Since then most of the well-known Bullog bloggers have resumed blogging.  Many of them have signed up for new blogging spaces at other portals.  Some, however, have gone a step further to setup their own independent websites.  One of them is Baozuitun.

Bullog is Harmonised? 牛博给河蟹了

I have been trying to log on to Bullog for the whole day without much success.  At first I thought it was just a technical glitch.  Thanks to a tip from Austin Ramzy at the Time China Blog, I now realise that the PRC Net Nanny may have finally moved in and shut down the entire site. When I started googling about it, I realised that the news was already all over the Chinese language blogosphere. I understand from some of the Chinese bloggers at Douban 豆瓣, another popular portal, that Bullog’s owner Luo Yonghao remains calm about the situation.

Liu Xiaobo Met with His Wife

Liu Xiaobo’s wife Liu Xia 刘霞 was granted a short visit to her husband in custody on 1 January 2009, according to Liu’s lawyer Mo Shaoping 莫少平 in an interview with Radio Free Asia.  Liu has been detained since 12 December 2008 in connection with his role in the drafting, signing and disseminating of Charter 08.  The following is my translation of relevant sections in the RFA report:

More Charter 08 Casualties: Bullog Purged, Ran Yunfei Suspended

Bullog 牛博网, a progressive blog portal, becomes the next victim of a purge that has swept across the blogosphere in China since the release of Charter 08.  As a result, Bullog lost two of its most popular bloggers: Ran Yunfei 冉云飞 and Baozuitun 饱醉豚 (literally translated as the Gluttonous Suckling Pig).  It is believed that both bloggers were suspended for publishing articles about the Charter.  Ran Yunfei is also among the first group of 303 signatories.

It is regrettable how Luo Yonghao 罗永浩, the owner of Bullog, once considered a very “bull” (Chinese Internet jargon for “cool”) blogger himself, had to succumb to pressure from the CCP censors in order to protect his site from closure.