(RSF/IFEX) – In a 22 August 2000 letter to Chinese Justice Minister Gao Changli, RSF called for the release of Jiang Shihua, the owner of an Internet café called “Silicon Valley” and a computer teacher. Accused of “subversion” by the authorities, he is facing a ten-year jail sentence. Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary-general, reminded the minister […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a 22 August 2000 letter to Chinese Justice Minister Gao Changli, RSF called for the release of Jiang Shihua, the owner of an Internet café called “Silicon Valley” and a computer teacher. Accused of “subversion” by the authorities, he is facing a ten-year jail sentence. Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary-general, reminded the minister that “in a document dated 18 January, 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 other web dissidents, Huang Qi and Qi Yanchen, are currently in prison in China (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). In August 1999, RSF condemned China as one of the twenty worst enemies of the Internet.
According to the information collected by RSF, Jiang Shihua was arrested on 16 August in Nanchong (Sichuan province, southwest of the country). A spokesman for the Public Security Bureau said he had been accused of “incitement to subvert the state’s authority”. He faces a ten-year jail sentence if found guilty. The authorities accuse him of publishing pro-democracy articles, which criticised the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, since 11 August on an online discussion list. Jiang Shihua allegedly posted the articles under his pen name, “Shunin” (common citizen), from the Internet café he owns.
Last August, Chinese authorities announced that about twenty provinces and towns would be receiving specialised police units to control the Internet. Their most important mandate is to censor anti-governmental information.
