Chinese Netizens Calling for the Release of Zhao Lianhai

Zhao Lianhai in a campaign T-shirt

More than one hundred Chinese netizens have signed a petition to call for the imminent release of Zhao Lianhai.  The following is my translation of the petition:

A Letter to the Beijing Police: Urging for the Release of Zhao Lianhai, the Father of the Kidney Stone Babies

Zhao Lianhai, a famous rights activist and the founder of an organisation called the Home for the Kidney Stone Babies, was detained by Beijing Police at around mid-night last night (13 November 2009) on an alleged criminal charge of “provoking an incident”.

It is understood that Zhao’s arrest is linked to another incident that took place earlier. The trial of the first compensation claim lodged by the parents of a Kidney Stone Baby was supposed to commence on 10 November 2009. Many people, including the parents of some victims, had worked very hard for over a year in preparation for the trial. However, a day before the trial, the plaintiff’s parent Wang Gang was arrested and roughed up by the Police. Information in relation to the court case was confiscated. As a result, the trial had to be postponed.

Because of this, Zhao Lianhai has been busy collecting signatures for a letter of protest. It is ashamed that the Beijing Police will treat such a peaceful act of protest as a provocation. The signatures that Zhao has collected from over 500 netizens are now used as evidence against him. His computers, cameras and campaign T-shirts are all confiscated. Who, in their right minds, could have imposed such cruelty on the children and their parents, who are already victims of the worst man-made disaster? The slogan we once used to advocate for the release of another rights activist (“Your Mum asks you to go home for dinner”) is now changed to: “The 2 kids are calling for their Dad to come home for dinner”.

The Beijing Police had made a serious mistake when they arrested Zhao Lianhai. They are making a bad situation even worse by inflicting more pain on those whose sufferings are already unbearable.  So on this bitterly cold winter day we urge all netizens to join us in protest against the detention. We urge you to sign this petition to call for the immediate release of Zhao Lianhai.

I have already signed the online petition. Those who intend to join us can either visit this LINK or send an email to liushasha007@tom.com or Liushasha008@gmail.com . Your signature on the petition should include: your name, the city of your residence and your occupation.

I thank you in advance for your support. For those of you who need more information about Zhao Lianhai’s detention, please check out this press release at the Human Rights In China website.

 

Spokesman for Tainted Milk Parents Arrested

UPDATE: According to one of the parents of the Kidney Stone Babies, the Beijing Police had refused to grant a visit to a representative from Zhao Lianhai’s legal counsel today.  The excuse was that an application for visitation had not been received. Zhao Lianhai is now at a detention centre in Daxing, at the outskirt of Beijing city. 

RT @jiangyalin 今天彭剑律师没有赶回北京，派了另外一个王律师去要求见赵连海，但是遗憾的是相关部门没有接律师的要求会见犯罪嫌疑人的申请，也就是说今天律师要求见老赵被拒绝了，根据给嫂子的拘留书上写的，现在老赵被拘留在大兴拘留所！

 

I strongly condemn the Beijing Police and demand the immediate release of Zhao Linhai, an Internet activist and the spokesperson for the parents of the tainted milk scandal. Various sources from Twitter and Facebook reported that Zhao was detained during a house raid at around 10.00PM Friday 13 November 2009. His computers and cameras were believed to have been illegally confiscated, since neither Zhao nor his family members had been presented with a warrant for his arrest.

I have been following Zhao at Twitter and Facebook, and admire him for his courage in breaking the Chinese authorities’ imposed code of silence.  Zhao has been a hero in disseminating news about the parent groups’ struggle with authorities for their rights, not just to appropriate compensation, but also to form mutual support groups in promoting health care for infants whose health have been terminally damaged by the Sanlu tainted milk powder.

The last entry of Zhao at Twitter was posted about 13 hours ago. His tweet reads:

Zhaolianhai: 屠夫兄客气了，利用好推特很重要，能将每个经历的事件第一时间传播出来，建议也注册个做啥，然后绑定到推特，利用做啥的手机功能发信息就能同步到推特来RT @tufuwugan: 新兵屠夫来报道，谢谢赵连海老师，在学习中。

Zhaolianhai: My brother Tufu, it is important to learn how to use Twitter so that every incident experienced can be broadcast instantly.  You may also want to register for a Zuosa account and have it linked to Twitter.  You can then use Zuosa’s mobile phone function for sending and synchronising information with your Twitter account.  RT @tufuwugan: a new soldier Tufu reporting.  Thanks to my teacher Zhao Lianhai. I am still learning.

This is just very typical of Zhao Lianhai, a very kind and generous person who has a very strong sense of social justice. Zhao has been teaching Tufu how to use Twitter. Tufu is the nickname of the blogger who used the Internet to rally support for the release of Deng Yujiao, a 21-year-old waitress from Hubei Province who fatally stabbed a Communist Party official after he tried to force himself on her. Deng was eventually found not guilty and walked free from a murder charge.

I think it is about time for other bloggers, netizens and Twitterers to stand up for Zhao Lianhai, who has been bravely fighting this battle against censorship. I’ll update with more information and I’m urging everyone to take action to disseminate this news as widely as possible and to lobby for the release of Zhao Lianhai.

Taiwan Spoke Out Against Removal of Film from MIFF

China’s determination to punish the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) over the screening of the Kadeer film has once again backfired.  What is at stake this time is the goodwill of Taiwanese people.  In short, this saga has the potential of winding back cross-strait ties that seem to have been improving since the Nationalist Party headed by Ma Ying-jeou became Taiwan’s President in May last year.

The Taiwan Government Information Office (GIO) has expressed its disapproval of the withdrawal of the movie Miao Miao from the MIFF.  A spokesman from GIO confirmed that the producer of the film had failed to consult the GIO before pulling the film out.  The withdrawal of the film from the Festival had hurt the image of Taiwan. Miao Miao was produced by a Hong Kong film maker with funding from the GIO.  There is a possibility that the GIO will ask the producer for a reimbursement of the NT$4 million subsidy.  The GIO is also reserving the right to sue the Hong Kong producer Jet Tone for breach of contract.

Miao Miao’s withdrawal has met with mounting criticism in Taiwan in the past two days.  To many Taiwan people, the withdrawal suggested not only that Miao Miao, a film made with Taiwan funding, was categorized as a Chinese film in an international film festival, but also that Taiwan was siding with Beijing in the repression of Uighurs.

The Taipei Economic and Relations Office (TECO) in Australia has also informed the MIFF organiser that TECO intends to continue as a sponsor for the Festival because apart from Miao Miao, Taiwan still had two short films screening at the festival.  They are Joyce Agape and The Pursuit of What Was.

A journalist from Taipei Times wrote the following remarks in his blog about the saga.  I am quoting him because his views are shared by many of my Taiwanese friends:

Hopefully a price will be paid by those who made the decision to pull the movies from the festival, if only in bad publicity and diminishing sales at the box office. One can hope, too, that this will have served as a wake-up call for Taiwanese creative artists and government agencies such as the GIO that have pushed for cross-strait cooperation in the arts. One thing is sure: I’m never paying to see a movie directed, written or produced by Wang Kar-wai again. My Blueberry Nights, though cute, wasn’t all that great anyway.

Meanwhile, Rebiya Kadeer has arrived in Melbourne today.  She appeared at tonight’s The 7.30 Report.  During her interview with Mary Gearin, Kadeer said:

Under six decade of brutal Chinese rule, the Uyghur people have not enjoyed a day of peace. They love peace. They yearn for peace. And we also struggle for their human right and for democracy.

[……]

It is the Chinese Government accused us of separatism, and that’s Chinese Government’s mantra. And our goal is self-determination, which was actually part of the autonomous system granted to us by the Chinese authorities. And our hope is to hold the dialogue with the Chinese authorities to peacefully resettled the East Turkestan issue.

When my people, just like you, when they could truly enjoy freedom, when they could live like human beings. Until that day comes, I will not stop what I am doing.

According to The 7.30 Report, staff at MIFF are continuing to battle cyber terrorism and harassment from fenqing-type Chinese nationalists.  Ned and I would like to express our deepest admiration for these brave Australians.  It is not easy to have to constantly look behind one’s shoulder when walking down the street.  And we curse Laojun, the Chinese national who claimed to be responsible for the cyber crime against MIFF, and the journalist who helped to promote the course of this cyber criminal, all in the name of fair and balanced reporting??!!!

Rumours about the GFW

[Importunate News Services] In view of Google’s reluctance to cooperate, GFW has decided to permanently ban Google. In the meantime, the Chinese government would inject 1 billion RMB in Baidu, on the condition that Baidu will upgrade the key words filtering technology for its search engine to meet the strictest international standard.

GFW and Baidu have also joined forces in launching a new “network inaccessible” plug-in. At a recent press conference, Baidu’s CEO Robin Li took the initiative to demonstrate the function of the new device. The innovation has received a warm welcome from the audience, who regard the device as a powerful and indispensable weapon, not only for maintaining social order, but also for winning the battle against bourgeois ideology. It is understood that all three major Chinese Internet portals had applied for the right to distribute this new plug-in device.

Let’s examine the “network inaccessible” plug-in in a bit more details:

· The plug-in will automatically start when a computer boots. The uninstall function has been permanently disabled;

· The software uses a real-name registration system to access the Internet. Each identity card number will only be allowed to sign up for one ID;

· News media will no longer be allowed to post anonymous comments;

· The “network inaccessible” plug-in will monitor every user’s every move 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Once a sensitive phrase is entered, the computer screen will automatically be blackened out for 10 minutes as a penalty. Those who are found browsing pornographic or politically sensitive sites will automatically have their browsers uninstalled. Those who don’t wash their hands after they’ve been to the toilet will have their keyboards locked and their access denied (now that’s cool).

In addition, the “network inaccessible” plug-in will take advice from users to gradually improve its automatic hacking functionality against pornographic and reactionary sites, so that the majority of Internet users can experience how it is like to be a hacker.

[The events depicted above are fictitious. Any similarity to any person dead or alive is merely coincidental.]

Source: Tianya

Hu Jia: Another Birthday in Jail

Today is Hu Jia’s 36th birthday.  He is spending it in his cell in the Beijing municipal prison.  His wife Zeng Jinyan and their daughter were granted a visit on 21 July 2009.  Ms Zeng posted this poem on her blog afterwards:

Each day I save up a minute, so that each month we can meet for 30 minutes.

A glass panel several centimetres in thickness separates us: I am on this side. He is on the other side.

I stretch my hands as close to the glass as I can, and yet I cannot feel the warmth on his slender face.

He is calm, and occasionally smiles.

I give him a birthday wish ahead of time.

He reminds me that he has to spend another birthday in jail.

When we depart, he turns around and says, “I love you.”

That invites a chuckle from the prison guard.

On the way home, I find Beijing under a shroud of fog. Overcome by a lingering sense of melancholy,

I start to wonder if what happens this Tuesday afternoon is, after all, just another dream.

Hu was arrested on 27 December 2007 on a charge of "inciting subversion of state authority”.  He was tried and found guilty on 18 March 2008 for posting information about matters of state on websites based abroad. The court sentenced him on 3 April 2008 to three and a half years in prison. 

Reporters Without Borders reiterates its call for Hu Jia’s release: Hu has already spent 20 months in prison in very trying conditions.  It is shocking to see how a man whose only crime was to write articles and give interviews is being kept in prison by certain stubborn officials. The government should demonstrate a desire to improve respect for free expression by freeing Hu and his colleagues, Liu Xiaobo and Huang Qi.

You can sign a petition for Hu’s release HERE.

Academic Web Portal TECN.CN 天益社区 Harmonised?

Disasters strike one after another.  Shortly after I read from the Time China Blog an update about the saga surrounding the imminent closure of the Open Constitution Initiative, I received a tip from a reader, who told me that the famous academic web portal TECN.CN might have been closed down as well.  The two incidents seem to be related.  The following is a translation of a report from CANYU.ORG about this breaking news:

TECN.CN, a famous China-based online academic forum, has been inaccessible since 18 July 2009. Insiders said the web portal has been closed down.

The closing down of TECN demonstrates that the Chinese Government is conducting a systematic and coordinated purge against websites with intellectual and social content. It is doubtful if the closing down of TECN is related to the Urumqi riot. The riot had already led to the blocking of Facebook, the closing down of Fanfou and the cutting off of Internet services to the entire Urumqi city. However, commentators are of the opinion that the closure of TECN may have been triggered by another event in which the Open Constitution Initiative (OCI), a well-known NGO, is facing closure due to huge financial penalties and subsequent property confiscation imposed on the organisation. OCI’s founders are reputable legal scholars who are influential both among academics and legal professionals in China. The organisation became well known among netizens due to its involvement in the high profile Deng Yujiao trial. The financial penalty imposed on OCI, which had crippled the organisation, has been met with strong criticism on the Internet. So it is not at all surprising if the purge of TECN is an attempt to stop the web portal from becoming a platform for the voices of dissent.

Since its inauguration in April 2006, TECN ( www.tecn.cn ) has established itself as a platform for lifelong learning and independent thinking. The web portal consistently upholds its mission of “promoting personal development in the spirit of a community”. Its domain name TECN is an acronym for Training-Education-China. The name highlights the web portal’s aspiration of becoming a pioneer in fostering a learning community among Chinese speakers. Since its inception, the web portal has enjoyed the patronage of famous scholars from a variety of humanities disciplines. Hundreds of senior scholars have set up their websites at TECN. As a result, TECN has become one of the few innovative academic forums that have continuously enjoyed high traffic. Because of that, the web portal has been the target of close monitoring and was recently required to go through a restructuring.

In China, more and more websites that have been identified as “sensitive in content” are meeting the fate of a complete ban. Shortly after the launch of Charter 08, popular web portals such as Legal World (Fa Tianxia) and Bullog.cn were forced into closure. Now it looks as if both Fanfou and TECN have been closed down too.  Active websites such as these are fast becoming victims of Chinese authorities’ heavy-handed tactics in their desperate attempts to “maintain stability”. In the course of doing so, they make no apology about openly violating Chinese people’s constitutional rights to freedom of speech.

Australian Writers Condemn China’s Censorship Attempt

The Sydney affiliate of International PEN issued a statement to condemn China’s latest attempt to force the organiser of the Melbourne Film Festival to remove The Ten Conditions of Love from its 2009 program.  Sydney PEN also appealed for the imminent release of Chinese PEN member Liu Xiaobo and Uighur PEN centre member Iham Tohti.  Liu Xiaobo has been formally arrested in June after in detention for more than six months and is now awaiting trial.  Iham Tohti has disappeared and is believed to have been detained for blogging about the Urumqi riot.

Trailer of The Ten Conditions of Love

Sydney PEN’s statement reads:

Sydney PEN condemns censorship attempt; congratulates Melbourne Film Festival

Sydney PEN, the influential body of writers and readers devoted to freedom of expression, has congratulated the Melbourne International Film Festival for its firm stance against Chinese attempts to censor its 2009 festival program.

Melbourne International Film Festival director, Richard Moore, revealed this week how an official from the Chinese Consulate in Melbourne telephoned him, demanding he withdraw the documentary, The 10 Conditions of Love, from his festival this month. The film profiles the Uighur businesswoman and leader in exile, Rebiya Kadeer. The Chinese government describes Kadeer as a terrorist and blames her for instigating the deadly ethnic riots in Xinjiang this month.

Sydney PEN president, Virginia Lloyd, condemned the Chinese Consulate’s attempt to censor the festival. “We congratulate Mr Moore for holding firm against this objectionable pressure,” she said.

Dr Lloyd said China’s harsh stance on free speech in its own country was well documented, with 47 writers currently imprisoned there because of their writing and political views – more than any other country in the world. However, for Chinese diplomatic staff to demand censorship of free speech within Australia was a disturbing development, she said. Such attempts must be vigorously rejected.

Dr Lloyd said the attempt to censor the Melbourne screening of the documentary was of deep concern.

“In Australia we are extremely fortunate to enjoy a high degree of free expression. However, attempts are often made to curtail this, in overt and subtle ways. We must be vigilant against censorship in all its forms, and vocal in demanding that our freedom of expression be protected,” said Dr Lloyd.

“Working with our colleagues at International PEN, our members seek the release of many imprisoned Chinese writers. Currently these include the leading writer, dissident and literary critic, Liu Xiaobo, who after six months in detention without charge or trial was formally arrested in Beijing on June 23 and charged with ‘inciting subversion of state power’. Along with human rights organisations around the world, we are calling for Liu Xiaobo’s immediate release.”

PEN is also deeply concerned by the detention of Uighur writer, academic and member of the Uighur PEN Centre, Iham Tohti, who was reportedly arrested in Beijing on 6 July 2009. He had spoken out on the ethnic unrest which broke out in Urumqi on 5 July.

The Australian: On Liu Xiaobo

Today’s The Australian published Liu Xiaobo’s last interview with foreign press shortly before his arrest:

www.pen.org

China’s most famous dissident, the courtly, professorial Liu Xiaobo, 53, was taken by security officers from his home in Beijing last December and held incommunicado for six months, mostly in a room without windows at a secret location.

Last week he was shifted to a detention centre and charged with inciting subversion of state power, the crime for which other dissidents, such as activist Hu Jia, also have been sentenced. For those found guilty, the maximum penalty is 15 years.

His plight was highlighted by the Australian government at its annual human rights dialogue with China and, since his formal arrest, Australia has joined the EU, the US and other nations in risking Beijing’s wrath by calling for his release.

Liu’s last interview before his arrest was with The Australian. “No matter how rich a society is, as long as it is ruled by a privileged class (that) gains its wealth from an unbalanced and opaque system, there will be strong discontent,” he said.

“And any defence of this group’s economic interests will evolve into a defence of its political rights.”

Please follow this LINK to the full report.

UPDATE

Radio Free Asia confirms that Liu Xiaobo’s bail application has  been formally refused by the Beijing Security Bureau.

Hong Kong 1 July 2009

This post is about how Hong Kong has commemorated the 12th anniversary of its return to PRC rule.  I promise you this is going to be a “fair and balanced” blog post.  I’ll let the images and eye witness reports speak for themselves.

As usual, CCTV has the most “comprehensive” coverage:

www.cctv.com

This is a typical report from the western media, with “biased” and “trivial” details of what had happened on the street.

AFP: Beijing has said that universal suffrage would not come before 2017 at the earliest

The local newspaper Hong Kong Standard won the price for the most politically correct report.  It contained some controversies about the actual number of people taken part in the anti-government protest.  It also had a lengthy explanation of why the 1 July protest was not a pro-democracy campaign.  As the title of the report had suggested, it was all about “letting off” a bit of “steam”.  The most important piece of information in this report, however, is the explanation about the lower than expected turnout number at Victoria Park.  The Hong Kong Standard wrote and I quote:

Former chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang blamed poor police arrangements for the lower turnout.

Chan said she had been stuck in the park for more than an hour after police refused to open more exits to disperse protesters. This led to scuffles although there were no arrests.

“The fact so many turned up despite the heat shows the public is very dissatisfied with various policies,” Chan said.

“The government should listen to the public and give us a clear roadmap and practical measures for universal suffrage when the consultation for constitutional reform begins in the fourth quarter of 2009.”

The following image said it all:

thestandard.com.hk

Anson Chan’s condemnation of poor police arrangement is supported by an eye witness report from our friend Tom of Daai Tou Laam Diary:

Standing in the sun an extra hour or two because Sec of Security Ambrose Lee decided to set up an obstructive rather than constructive crowd control plan means that I watched too many folks be helped to the First Aid tents. It was the worst/most overly-aggressive crowd control I’ve seen on the various walks I’ve been on, both getting in to and out of Victoria Park.

The crowds on the march were angrier as they felt the force of the government set out to obstruct them rather than listening to them. I don’t think the police won many admirers in their salary battle yesterday, even if they were only following a plan drawn up at Government House.

And of course the most “politically incorrect” eyewitness report goes to chinaworker.info.  The report also contained a large number of “offensive” images.  This report made two “ridiculous” claims:

1. More than 70,000 demand ‘one person one vote’ in biggest protest since Tsang took over.

2. Greater numbers of workers and youth had participated than previous years.

Once again, the images speak for themselves.  I suggest you go there and have a look at them yourself.

Green Leader Bob Brown Sought Australian Senate Support for Liu Xiaobo

guardian.co.uk

Senator Bob Brown called on the Australian government to exert pressure on China regarding the formal arrest of Liu Xiaobo.  The following is an excerpt of the relevant sections from the Senate debate on Thursday June 25 between Brown and Australian Defense Minister John Faulkner.

Brown: My question, with almost no notice, is to the Minister representing the Minister for Foreign Affairs. I refer to the plight of the famed Chinese democrat Liu Xiaobo, who is coauthor of the Charter 08 declaration, which calls for freedom, civil rights and human decency in China. He has been under arrest for six months and has now been formally arrested and charged with trying to spread rumours, subversion of the state and overthrowing the socialist system. I ask the government: will it make a stand for Liu Xiaobo and democracy in China? What representations have been made to the government about the plight of this extraordinarily courageous advocate for democracy in China and what news can be given to the Senate about the plight of this great and noble person?

www.pen.org

Faulkner: I thank Senator Brown for his question. Certainly I can say to Senator Brown— through you, Mr President—that I am aware, as is the government of course, of the reports that China has now confirmed the arrest of the internationally acclaimed author Liu Xiaobo on grounds of subversion. I can certainly say to the Senate that Australia again calls for his release. The Australian government encourages China to address the concerns raised by the authors of Charter 08. I can also assure the Senate, and Senator Brown particularly, that the government will continue to make representations to China on the detention of Charter 08 signatories and others who were exercising internationally recognised liberties including freedom of speech.

Australia will continue to engage frankly with China on questions of human rights, including higher level meetings through the Australia-China Human Rights Dialogue. I say also, as I think I have said before, that we believe the best way to encourage China to make further progress on human rights issues is through those channels, and the government has encouraged that as opposed to—(Time expired).

Brown: Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I ask Senator Faulkner at what level the contact has been made with China. Has, indeed, the Prime Minister rung his counterpart in China and spoken in Mandarin about the plight of Liu Xiaobo? If not, will he? If not, at what level is the contact? Is it simply going to be at official-to-official level, as we have so often seen with Australian governments, that this contact will be made? Finally, I ask: why did the government not support the Greens’ motion in this place two weeks ago condemning Liu Xiaobo’s arrest and detention? Does the government not think that was some sort of comfort to the Beijing authorities, who now have him up on these charges?

Faulkner: Senator Brown, I am unable specifically to answer your question that goes to the level of contact. I can only seek some advice on that for you. I certainly can say more generally to you—and I hope this assists you—that the Australian government regularly raises its concerns on human rights and does so directly with China’s leaders. I know that, for example, the Minister for Foreign Affairs raised our human rights concerns with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in March this year during the Australian foreign minister’s visit to Beijing; I know he raised those concerns with Mr Yang in February and July 2008; and I know the Prime Minister raised human rights concerns in his meetings with Chinese leaders in April this year and in April and August of last year.

Brown: Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Many Australians will laud the Australian government for having called in the representative of Iran over the current actions in that country in repressing democracy. I ask the minister— through you, Chair—whether the government will consider calling in the ambassador from China to seek an explanation and to express Australia’s position on the arrest of Liu Xiaobo and the obviously fraught position that this great man now faces in China.

Faulkner: I think I have indicated a strong statement of concern on behalf of the government.  I will need to check for Senator Brown what the immediate plans are in relation to the specific question that he raises, but I can assure you that the government and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade continue to raise concerns about human rights issues with representatives in Canberra and Beijing. I will need to seek some further advice for you, Senator Brown, on the specific issue you have raised and, if I am able to get some information soon, I am very happy to certainly provide it to you at the earliest available opportunity.

Later when Senate resumed,

Faulkner: I want to respond to some elements of the supplementary questions that Senator Bob Brown asked me in question time today.

I have sought some advice from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. It may be recalled that Senator Brown asked me at what level representations were made regarding the arrest of Liu Xiaobo. I can indicate to Senator Brown that these were made through our Beijing embassy to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, initially at councillor and first secretary level, and subsequently followed up on several occasions at councillor and first secretary level.

I have also been advised, in response to the question raised by Senator Brown in relation to calling in the Chinese ambassador, that the answer at this stage is no. The government considers the most appropriate avenue on this occasion will be through diplomatic channels in China, registering our concerns directly with the Chinese authorities in Beijing …

Unfortunately, the Senate was not able to pass Mr Brown’s motion in its current format.  However, the President of the Senate had directed Mr Brown to liaise with his Senate colleagues to find ways of achieving bipartisan support for Liu Xiaobo’s case.