(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed its growing concern as the Chinese authorities’ crackdown on the Internet shows signs of worsening. Factory worker Kong Youping, aged 48, was arrested on 13 December 2003 for posting political articles and poems on a foreign website. In addition, on 20 December, Beijing’s Court No. 1 dismissed He Depu’s application […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed its growing concern as the Chinese authorities’ crackdown on the Internet shows signs of worsening. Factory worker Kong Youping, aged 48, was arrested on 13 December 2003 for posting political articles and poems on a foreign website. In addition, on 20 December, Beijing’s Court No. 1 dismissed He Depu’s application for an appeal. On 6 November, the dissident was sentenced to eight years in prison for publishing essays “inciting subversion”.
“Kong Youping and He Depu have done nothing more than express their opinions through the medium of the Internet. We are once again confronted by completely arbitrary decisions, which deprive cyber-dissidents of their right to justice,” said Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general. In a letter to Minister of Public Security Zhou Yongkang, RSF called for the immediate release of Kong Youping and asked that He Depu be given the right to challenge the appeal decision.
A factory employee from Anshan, northeastern China, Kong Youping was arrested for posting five articles and seven poems on a foreign website since June, in which he called for a review of the events of the Beijing Spring and an end to corruption among political officials. He also called for the release of cyber-dissident Liu Di, who was recently freed on bail.
Five police officers arrested Kong Youping at his home and his computer was seized. According to the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, his daughter has called for a public campaign in his support. Kong Youping is the 48th Chinese citizen to be arrested for posting items on the Internet.
In another case, Beijing’s Court No. 1 turned down dissident He Depu’s request for an appeal. The cyber-dissident has now exhausted all legal avenues to have his sentence overturned. He was sentenced to eight years in prison on 6 November.
Tried on 14 October, He Depu was accused of collaborating with the Chinese Democratic Party and posting messages on the Internet “inciting subversion”. He was among the activists who signed an open letter on 20 November 2002 urging the Chinese authorities to introduce political reforms.