(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Chinese State Security Minister Xu Yongyue, RSF protested the closure of a dissident web site and pursuit by police of the site’s creator. Accused of distribution of “anti-revolutionary information”, the creators of the Web site, mostly democratic dissidents from Shadong Province (south of Beijing), face heavy jail sentences if […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Chinese State Security Minister Xu Yongyue, RSF protested the closure of a dissident web site and pursuit by police of the site’s creator. Accused of distribution of “anti-revolutionary information”, the creators of the Web site, mostly democratic dissidents from Shadong Province (south of Beijing), face heavy jail sentences if arrested. Robert Ménard, the organisation’s scretary-general, reminded the minister that in a document dated 18 January 2000, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of freedom of opinion and freedom of speech, emphasised that “detention as punishment for the expression of a peaceful opinion is a serious violation of human rights.” Two “web dissidents” are currently detained in China. In August 1999, RSF denounced China as one of the twenty enemies of the Internet.
According to information collected by RSF, on 3 August, the state security police in charge of controlling the Internet closed and banned the site www.xinwenming.net (New Culture Forum), hosted by provider Million Internet Company, based in Beijing. The security police also asked the director of the Internet provider firm, Lin Tao, to “check the content of the web sites (he hosts) more carefully”. Police also started to pursue the webmaster in Shandong province. Xinwenming.net was created on 29 April by a man called Xin Wenming, who registered the site. It quickly became a discussion forum for democratic dissidents in Shandong province. Among them is Xing Dakun, a “1979 Democracy Wall” generation dissident who spent many years in laogai (forced labour camp). The authorities accused him of participation in dissident magazines. The leaders of the web site promoted the “new culture” theory, which is intended to open China to democracy through dialogue. According to the New York-based organisation Human Rights in China, it is the first Chinese web site to openly favour democracy.
Two “web dissidents” are currently jailed in China. Qi Yanchen was arrested on 2 September 1999 for publishing articles criticising the Chinese government on the Internet. On 30 May 2000 he was tried for “subversion” by the People’s Court in Cangzhou, south of Beijing. On 3 June 2000, Huang Qi, who manages the web site www.6-4tianwang.com, was arrested with his wife by police in Changdu, south-west China. He too was accused of “subversion” for hosting articles condemning the Tiananmen Square massacre online (see IFEX alerts of 13 July, 26, 7 and 5 June, 7 and 3 March and 26 January 2000, 30 and 3 September, 21 and 20 January 1999 and 9 December 1998).
