For human rights in Tibet, look at « All about Tibet »
13 MAY 2013
China launches new crackdown on internet celebrities
In its latest bid to contain the often riotous jumble of news and rumour on the Chinese internet, the Communist party has decided to bring the most high-profile and influential voices to heel. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10053820/China-launches-new-crackdown-on-internet-celebrities.html
9 MAY 2013
Chinese Police Detain Anti-Graft Activist’s Supporters
Authorities in the southern Chinese province of Guangzhou have detained and questioned a lawyer who attempted to visit detained anti-corruption activist Liu Ping. http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/supporters-05092013144659.html
9 MAY 2013
Exiled activist Chen Guangcheng’s brother beaten in latest attack against family
The elder brother of exiled blind activist Chen Guangcheng said he was beaten by two unidentified men on Thursday morning, the latest in a string of attacks against the Chen family over the past few weeks. http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1233721/exiled-activist-chen-guangchengs-brother-beaten-latest-attack-against
1 MAY 2013
Calls For Chinese Quake Activist’s Release
Five years after a devastating earthquake left more than 80,000 people dead and missing in the southwestern province of Sichuan, Chinese rights activists have launched a campaign for the release of a prominent writer jailed for investigating corruption and shoddy construction of school buildings. An open letter circulating on China’s Internet calling for the release of writer Tan Zuoren was signed by a number of prominent rights lawyers and dissidents, including Guo Feixiong and Zheng Enchong, as well as U.S.-based veteran pro-democracy activists Xu Wenli and Wang Ruowang. http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/release-05012013111354.html
21 APRIL 2013
Activists, Monks Blocked From Sichuan Quake-Hit Area
Chinese authorities have blocked rights groups and Tibetan monks from participating in rescue efforts in an earthquake-struck zone in southwestern Sichuan province, activists said Sunday as the toll of the dead and missing from the tremblor climbed past 200 http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/quake-04212013221452.html
19 APRIL 2013
Eight Anti-Corruption Activists Detained in China
Chinese authorities have detained eight anti-corruption activists over their participation in a signature drive that calls on central government officials to disclose their assets. Although there is widespread public support for officials to disclose such information, government efforts to promote the policy appear to be slowing. Rights lawyers in Beijing say the activists have been taken into custody in recent days on suspicion of unlawful assembly http://www.voanews.com/content/anti-corruption-activists-detained-in-china/1645053.html
17 APRIL 2013
Chinese journalists banned from quoting foreign media
Chinese journalists and newspapers have been officially banned from quoting foreign media reports in their stories. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9999880/Chinese-journalists-banned-from-quoting-foreign-media.html
13 APRIL 2013
Mother of Hunan child rape victim loses labor camp suit
A court in central China’s Hunan province on Friday rejected a demand for compensation by the mother of a young rape victim who is suing a local authority for putting her into a labor camp for petitioning. http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?cid=1103&MainCatID=11&id=20130413000084
4 APRIL 2013
Christian arrested in Shanxi for daring to bring books to Christian residents
Li Wenxi ran a bookstore in Beijing. In December, he decides to go in Taiyuan, in the north of the country, to help local faithful open a bookstore. However, the police laid a trap for him, seize all his stuff and threw him in jail. « Don’t you dare bring Christianity to Shanxi, » they told him. After his desperate wife turned to the Internet, his story was reposted across the blogosphere. http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Christian-arrested-in-Shanxi-for-daring-to-bring-books-to-Christian-residents-27568.html
29 MARCH 2013
Chinese Nobel prizewinner Liu Xiaobo’s brother-in-law arrested on fraud charges
Police have arrested the brother-in-law of China’s jailed Nobel peace prize winner Liu Xiaobo on fraud charges, in what the family said is the latest act of official retaliation http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/29/chinese-liu-xiaobo-brother-fraud
7 MARCH 2013
Arrests and beatings, the « dark side » of the National Assembly
Just like every year around sensitive political gatherings, police and the authorities clamp down with raids and interrogations to prevent high profile dissidents and democratic activists from disrupting the Party sessions http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Arrests-and-beatings,-the-dark-side-of-the-National-Assembly-27324.html
27 FEBRUARY 2013
China: 100+ leading intellectuals sign human rights petition
More than a hundred leading intellectuals have signed an open letter calling for China’s national legislature to ratify a major human rights treaty as lawmakers are preparing to convene in Beijing next week to attend the inaugural session of the 12th National People’s Congress. http://asiancorrespondent.com/99497/china-100-leading-intellectuals-sign-human-rights-petition/ http://cmp.hku.hk/2013/02/26/31531/ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-21597752
Chinese environmentalist beaten after calling on official to swim in polluted creek
A Chinese environmentalist was allegedly subjected to a vicious five-hour attack after attempting to draw attention to the putrid state of the country’s waterways by challenging a local official to swim in a creek near his home. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9896761/Chinese-environmentalist-beaten-after-calling-on-official-to-swim-in-polluted-creek.html
15 FEBRUARY 2013
Forced labour in China, the release of dissidents begins
The government opens the gates of the « re-education through labor « for some dissidents, who will finish serving their sentences under house arrest. The measure does not include the bishops and Catholic priests who are paying for their fidelity to the Holy See. http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Forced-labour-in-China,-the-release-of-dissidents-begins-27150.html http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2013/02/15/is-this-really-the-end-of-chinas-re-education-through-labour/
11 FEBRUARY 2013
China tightens concert rules after Elton John’s ‘disrespectful’ Beijing show
Chinese authorities have hardened their line on foreign musicians, after Elton John infuriated them by dedicating a performance to outspoken artist and activist Ai Weiwei, according to industry sources. http://www.chinamedia.com/news/2013/02/11/china-tightens-concert-rules-after-elton-johns-disrespectful-beijing-show/
5 FEBRUARY 2013
Ten sentenced over China ‘black jails’
Ten people have been sentenced to prison for illegally detaining petitioners who had travelled to Beijing, to appeal to the government, state media reported, in a possible sign the government is trying to rein in abuses. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2013/02/20132575754716886.html
26 JANUARY 2013
Asylums and mutilation: China’s new forms of torture while the central government debates
whether to reform the system of « re-education through labor » cases of human rights violations multiply and worsen. The story of Chen Qingxia, wife of a mentally ill man, beaten until she lost the use of her legs as she tried to present his petition to the central government. Her husband was interned in a psychiatric hospital and her 12 year old son has disappeared into thin air. http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Asylums-and-mutilation:-China’s-new-forms-of-torture-26969.html
24 JANUARY 2013
Pregnant Chinese Woman Sent to Labor Camp
49-year-old Liu Yuling is six months pregnant. She’s not at home preparing for birth though. She’s serving a one-year forced labor sentence at the Masanjia labor camp in Liaoning province. http://ntdtv.org/en/news/china/2013-01-24/pregnant-chinese-woman-sent-to-labor-camp.html
22 JANUARY 2013
For the Chinese New Year « write to Gao Zhisheng, in jail for seeking justice »
The call comes from Hu Jia, one of the country’s best-known dissidents, who said: « It does not matter whether Gao received them or not, because the number of cards he received would make the authorities treat him with more respect and improve his conditions inside the jail. » After almost a year, the family can meet him for 30 minutes « but without talking about politics. » http://www.asianews.it/news-en/For-the-Chinese-New-Year-write-to-Gao-Zhisheng,-in-jail-for-seeking-justice-26924.html
20 JANUARY 2012
Double trouble for China
China is among the least free societies in the world and suffers from a dangerously high rate of income inequality according to two reports this week from Freedom House and the Chinese government’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). http://thediplomat.com/china-power/double-trouble-for-china/
7 JANUARY 2013
Protesters in China call for press freedom
The protesters gathered outside the office of Southern Weekly in Guangzhou, capital of southern Guangdong province, on Monday calling for media freedom, a taboo subject in the country, holding banners and chanting slogans. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/01/20131765743709723.html http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Guangzhou,-journalists-revolt-terrorizes-Party-26793.html
China to reform controversial forced labour camps
China will reform its controversial system of forced labour camps this year, state media reported on Monday, which would mark a first step toward legal reform promised by new Communist Party chief Xi inping. http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20130107-393943.html http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/08/world/asia/china-says-it-will-overhaul-re-education-system.html?ref=asia&_r=0
4 JANUARY 2013
Guangdong: journalists criticize Party propaganda and censorship
Press freedom « raped ». Head of provincial propaganda under attack after forcing the publication of an editorial lauding party achievements and removing newspaper editorial calling for the implementation of the constitution. Open letter from journalists blocked online; their microblog threatened. http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Guangdong:-journalists-criticise-Party-propaganda-and-censorship-26769.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-20911823
3 JANUARY 2013
Shenzhen: police officer gets 14 years in prison for his pro-democracy activity
After eight months in jail without trial, Wang Dengchao, a police officer in favour of democratic reforms in China gets a harsh sentence after being convicted by a court in Luohu. Afraid that the military might join the people in the fight for freedom, the Communist party is using an iron fist against any form of unrest http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Shenzhen:-police-officer-gets-14-years-in-prison-for-his-pro-democracy-activity-26762.html
28 DECEMBER 2008
China’s new law intensifies online clampdown
China has unveiled tighter Internet controls, including legalising the deletion of posts or pages which are deemed to contain « illegal » information and requiring service providers to hand over such information to the authorities for punishment http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/12/20121228122858304837.html
25 DECEMBER 2012
Quake Activist Gets Five-Year Term
A Chinese campaigner for victims of the devastating 2008 Sichuan earthquake is ordered jailed for ‘disrupting public order.’
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/quake-12252012125929.html
21 DECEMBER 2012
China Censorship Not Improving Under New Leaders, Analysts Say
Analysts say China’s new Communist Party leaders are giving no indication they intend to relax the country’s tough online censorship laws.
http://www.voanews.com/content/china-censorship-not-improving-under-new-leaders/1569591.html
14 DECEMBER 2012
Three Reasons to Free Liu Xiaobo
The wrongful conviction of Liu Xiaobo was based on a false premise; that citizens who hold different opinions [from the ruling Chinese Communist Party] are « dangerous elements. »
http://www.rfa.org/english/commentaries/lxb-12142012121159.html
11 DECEMBER 2012
China bishop Thaddeus Ma Daqin stripped of title
Thaddeus Ma Daqin announced his split from the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA) on Tuesday during his own ordination as auxiliary bishop of Shanghai which had been approved by Pope Benedict XVI in July.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/12/2012121284751566792.html http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Abp.-Savio-Hon:-dismissal-of-Shanghai-bishop-an-abuse”.-Churches-of-the-world-pray-for-him-26607.html
7 DECEMBER 2012
Nobel Prize winning author Mo Yan says censorship is necessary
This year’s Nobel Prize in literature winner, Mo Yan, who has been criticized for his membership in China’s Communist Party and reluctance to speak out against the country’s government, has defended censorship as something as necessary as airport security checks. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9728801/Nobel-Prize-winning-author-Mo-Yan-says-censorship-is-necessary.html
6 DECEMBER 2012
Nobel peace prize winer’s wife Liu Xia describes ‘Kafkaesque’ house arrest
The wife of China’s Nobel Peace prize-winner Liu Xiaobo has spoken out from under house arrest for the first time in more than two years, describing the Kafkaesque conditions she is being kept in.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9726907/Nobel-peace-prize-winners-wife-Liu-Xia-describes-Kafkaesque-house-arrest.html
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/outcry-12062012115228.html
5 DECEMBER 2012
China war veteran, 80, sent to labour camp: Son
An 80 year old Chinese war veteran spent a year and a half in a « re-education » camp for trying to complain about a policeman, his son said, the latest in a series of high-profile labour camp cases.
http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20121205-387865.html
2 DECEMBER 2012
In rare case, Beijing court sentences ‘petitioner interceptors’
A Beijing court has sentenced 10 people to up to 18 months in jail for illegally detaining petitioners from another city, state media reported on Sunday, in a rare case of the judiciary taking on the shadowy men who operate on the margins of the law.
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/02/15611810-in-rare-case-beijing-court-sentences-petitioner-interceptors?lite
30 NOVEMBER 2012
Blind dissident Chen Guangcheng’s nephew jailed
The nephew of the blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng has been jailed for three years after assaulting local officials who were searching for his uncle
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9713635/Blind-dissident-Chen-Guangchengs-nephew-jailed.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-20551967
29 NOVEMBER 2012
Jiangsu Holds Environmental Activist
Chinese authorities accuse her of having joined an overseas democracy movement. http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/environment-11292012120132.html
23 NOVEMBER 2012
The hero who denounced poisoned milk dead after a beating
Jiang Weisuo, 44, shocked China and the world with his complaints of industrial pollution in children’s milk factories. In early November he had been beaten bloody by an « unknown individual. » Police arrest a suspect but won’t reveal the details
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Xian,-the-hero-who-denounced-poisoned-milk-dead-after-a-beating-26436.html
22 NOVEMBER 2012
Child Deaths Reporter Held
A Chinese journalist who broke the story about the shocking death of five runaway boys in a dumpster in the southwestern province of Guizhou has « disappeared » after being forced into a vehicle by police, rights activists said.
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/boys-11222012152908.html
1 NOVEMBER 2012
China opposition party lasts a day, founder gets 8 years in prison
A court in China has sentenced a man to eight years in prison for trying to form an opposition party and for online messages criticizing the ruling Chinese Communist Party, a week ahead of a congress which will usher in a new generation of leaders.
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/01/14847377-china-opposition-party-lasts-a-day-founder-gets-8-years-in-prison?lite#__utma=238145375.1358836827.1333475157.1351756722.1351790696.202&__utmb=238145375.1.10.1351790696&__utmc=238145375&__utmx=-&__utmz=238145375.1351502809.198.8.utmcsr=asiaobserver.org|utmccn=(referral)|utmcmd=referral|utmcct=/on-31-october-in-asia-history&__utmv=238145375.|8=Earned%20By=msnbc%7Cworld%20news%7Casia-pacific=1^12=Landing%20Content=Mixed=1^13=Landing%20Hostname=www.msnbc.msn.com=1^30=Visit%20Type%20to%20Content=Earned%20to%20Mixed=1&__utmk=168977122
14 OCTOBER 2012
China writers praise Mo Yan for dissident release call
An independent Chinese writer’s group has welcomed calls by Nobel prizewinner Mo Yan for the early release of jailed fellow laureate Liu Xiaobo, but questioned his stance on freedom of speech
http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20121014-377565.html
13 OCTOBER 2012
Hainan, activist publishes free book on pollution; arrested for illegal earnings
Futang Liu, an ecologist, is likely to get two to five years in prison. Charged with illegally receiving funding from some environmental groups. In recent months, the man had issued 18 thousand free copies of a book-length investigation against the pollution of the industrial giants in China
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Hainan,-activist-publishes-free-book-on-pollution;-arrested-for-illegal-earnings-26080.html
27 SEPTEMBER 2012
Ai Weiwei slams judge as court rejects appeal
A Chinese court upheld a $2.4 million tax evasion fine against China’s most famous dissident Ai Weiwei on Thursday, ending his long legal battle with the authorities but paving the way for him to be jailed if he does not pay
http://www.france24.com/en/20120927-china-court-rejects-ai-weiwei-appeal-24-million-tax-evasion-fine-artist
http://photoblog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/27/14121627-ai-weiwei-slams-judge-as-court-rejects-appeal?lite#__utma=238145375.1358836827.1333475157.1348610097.1348816378.170&__utmb=238145375.1.10.1348816378&__utmc=238145375&__utmx=-&__utmz=238145375.1343667468.113.5.utmcsr=google|utmccn=(organic)|utmcmd=organic|utmctr=(not%20provided)&__utmv=238145375.|8=Earned%20By=msnbc%7Cworld%20news%7Casia-pacific=1^12=Landing%20Content=Mixed=1^13=Landing%20Hostname=www.msnbc.msn.com=1^30=Visit%20Type%20to%20Content=Earned%20to%20Mixed=1&__utmk=168570210
1 SEPTEMBER 2012
China dissident Chen accepts Taiwan visit invitation
Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng has accepted an invitation to visit Taiwan, Taiwanese lawmakers said Saturday, in a move likely to anger China
http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20120901-368981.html
31 AUGUST 2012
China frees Yahoo! dissident after 10 years
A Chinese dissident convicted based on evidence provided by US Internet giant Yahoo! was released from prison on Friday after serving a 10-year term for subversion, his wife said
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/china-frees-yahoo-dissident-10-years-022950632.html http://asiancorrespondent.com/88522/china-dissident-jailed-on-yahoo-info-to-be-freed/
26 AUGUST 2012
« Hundreds of Thousands » Victim of Psychiatric Abuse in China: Report
Sent to psychiatric institutions against their will—that’s what’s happening to thousands of Chinese people each year, according to a Hong Kong base human rights group
http://ntdtv.org/en/news/china/2012-08-24/-hundreds-of-thousands-victim-of-psychiatric-abuse-in-china-report.html
2 AUGUST 2012
Government wants more transparency, i.e. more control over NGOs
China’s Communist leaders are still unable to find a way to deal with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). Although they are increasingly proving necessary for the country’s social development in support of the weakest segments of the population, they continue to be viewed with suspicion by the state. http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Government-wants-more-transparency,-i.e.-more-control-over-NGOs-25456.html
27 JULY 2012
China activist Ni Yulan’s jail term reduced
An appeals court in China has dismissed disabled land rights activist Ni Yulan’s fraud conviction, reducing her jail time by two months. Ms Ni, who is a lawyer, will still remain in jail because of a public disturbance conviction.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-19009132
http://ntdtv.org/en/news/china/2012-07-27/disabled-ex-lawyer-s-sentence-reduced.html#video_section
24 JULY 2012
The battle for democracy in China is changing gear
A group of Chinese lawyers asks the regime to shed light on the death of Li Wangyang and to end the suspicious deaths in custody, the blind dissident Li Guizhi is helped to escape and hid from government repression, activists in Hong Kong are increasingly asking Beijing for democracy and human rights. The communist regime reacts the same way: forced labour and summary arrests. But while dialogue with the United States seems at a standstill, the movement inside the China appears increasingly determined.
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/The-battle-for-democracy-in-China-is-changing-gear-25372.html
21 JULY 2012
Another blind activist escapes Chinese custody
Her flight follows that of Chen Guangcheng. Li Guizhi, a 57-year-old blind woman, was arrested on 1 July trying to enter Hong Kong for a pro-democracy rally. Her relatives helped her flee. She is currently hiding out at a secret location in Hebei province.
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Another-blind-activist-escapes-Chinese-custody-25346.html
20 JULY 2012
Ai Weiwei loses tax evasion case
Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei lost his lawsuit against the Beijing tax bureau in a local court hearing Friday, leaving him still subject to tax evasion charges and more than $2 million in fines. http://edition.cnn.com/2012/07/20/world/asia/ai-weiwei-tax-evasion-appeal/index.
html?hpt=ias_c1 http://www.france24.com/en/20120720-china-court-rejects-dissident-artist-ai-weiwei-appeal-against-tax-evasion-fine
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-18919834
18 JULY 2012
Fears of Chinese media crackdown ahead of leadership transition
The apparent toppling of two senior newspaper executives in Shanghai has triggered claims that Chinese authorities are conducting a pre-emptive crackdown on the media in the lead up to this year’s crucial leadership transition
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9409097/Fears-of-Chinese-media-crackdown-ahead-of-leadership-transition.html
10 JULY 2012
China bishop, named by Rome, held in his seminary
A Chinese priest who publicly quit the state-sanctioned Catholic Church and was made bishop with the pope’s approval was taken away by officials last weekend and is being held in his seminary, in a move likely to further strain relations between Beijing and the Vatican.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48132012/ns/world_news-asia_pacific/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-18778655
21 JUNE 2012
Chinese dissident author Liao Yiwu scoops German book prize
Chinese dissident author Liao Yiwu Thursday won the annual German Book Trade Peace Prize, earning praise for his portrayal of what the judges called « the outcasts of modern China. »
http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Showbiz/Story/A1Story20120621-354514.html
Man poisoned by the authorities in Fuzhou to stop his petition
For the last two years, Mao Qiping had sought redress after his house was demolished. He had also led a fight with fellow residents against illegal land grab. After following him, unidentified men beat him with metal rods and injected him with a chemical substance. He died after two days of agony. Like in Li Wangyang’s case, police said it was an « accident ».
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Man-poisoned-by-the-authorities-in-Fuzhou-to-stop-his-petition-25089.html
20 JUNE 2012
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei warned not to attend his own court case
The Chinese artist and social activist was noticeably absent from opening arguments at a Beijing courtroom after he was warned off by police. Instead, Ai, 54, stayed home at his studio while his wife, Lu Qing, represented their design company, Beijing Fake Cultural Development Ltd., with a team of lawyers. http://behindthewall.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/20/12318406-chinese-artist-ai-weiwei-warned-not-to-attend-his-own-court-case?lite http://edition.cnn.com/2012/06/20/world/asia/china-ai-weiwei/index.html?hpt=ias_c2
15 JUNE 2012
Hunan authorities reopen Li Wangyang’s case: it was not suicide
A provincial spokesman confirms that domestic and international public opinion « convinced » the authorities to ask for the help of a team of experts to shed light on the death of the dissident who was found hanging under police guard. However, the body was cremated right after the death
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Hunan-authorities-reopen-Li-Wangyang’s-case:-it-was-not-suicide-25038.html
6 JUNE 2012
Top China dissident found dead
Leading Chinese dissident Li Wangyang, jailed for more than 22 years after the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests, died in strange circumstances in central China Wednesday, his family and rights groups said.
http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20120606-350971.html
1 JUNE 2012
Regaining moral high ground? Google tells Chinese when they’re being censored
“Starting today we’ll notify users in mainland China when they enter a keyword that may cause connection issues,” Alan Eustace, a Senior Vice President for Google, wrote on the company’s Inside Search blog on Thursday 31. “By prompting people to revise their queries, we hope to reduce these disruptions and improve our user experience from mainland China.”
http://behindthewall.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/01/12005289-regaining-moral-high-ground-google-tells-chinese-when-theyre-being-censored?lite
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Google-invents-a-new-way-to-circumvent-Beijing-censorship-on-web-24921.html
29 MAY 2012
New rules for Chinese microbloggers
A five-strikes-and-out rule will see anyone posting five tweets on « sensitive » subjects have their account on Sina’s Weibo suspended for 48 hours
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9297081/New-rules-for-Chinese-microbloggers.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47596791/ns/world_news-asia_pacific/
28 MAY 2012
Father of Tiananmen victim commits suicide after years of official obstruction
The father of a man killed in the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown has hanged himself in protest after two decades of failed attempts to seek government redress, a support group has said
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9295329/Father-of-Tiananmen-victim-commits-suicide-after-years-of-official-obstruction.html
http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20120528-348958.html
26 MAY 2012
First a Black Hood, Then 81 Captive Days for an Artist in China
The policeman yanked the black hood over Ai Weiwei’s head. It was suffocating. Written in white across the outside was a cryptic phrase: “Suspect 1.7.”…..
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/world/asia/first-a-black-hood-then-81-captive-days-for-artist-in-china.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=asia
24 MAY 2012
Report: Chinese city enforcers accused of brutality
Squads of local government enforcers are operating in Chinese cities without proper supervision, often employing brutal methods and carrying out illegal detentions, a new report from Human Rights Watch claims
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/24/world/asia/china-human-rights-report/index.
html?hpt=ias_c2 http://www.hrw.org/reports/2012/05/23/beat-him-take-everything-away
19 MAY 2012
China dissident Chen Guangcheng arrives in the US
Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng said he was gratified by the way the Chinese government had dealt with his situation with « restraint and calm » after arriving in the United States
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/05/201252035212808683.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18135039
11 MAY 2012
Chen Kegui Charged with « Intentional Murder », Lawyers Pressured
Lawyers hoping to defend the nephew of blind rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng are facing an uphill battle. It comes as authorities in Shandong province reportedly charged Chen Kegui with “intentional murder” – though he has not killed anyone
http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/news_china/2012-05-11/chen-kegui-charged-with-intentional-murder-lawyers-pressured.html#video_section
4 MAY 2012
For China, a Dissident in Exile Is One Less Headache Back Home
After more than a week of high-level diplomacy over the fate of the blind activist Chen Guangcheng, the Chinese government was widely seen as making a major concession on Friday by agreeing to allow Mr. Chen to apply to leave for the United States
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/05/world/asia/for-china-chen-guangchengs-exile-is-one-less-headache.html?_r=1&ref=asia
3 MAY 2012
Chinese dissident Chen seeks asylum in the US
Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng appealed for asylum in a telephone call to US lawmakers over fears for his and his family’s safety. Chen sought refuge at the US Embassy before entering the hospital on Wednesday http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-17947131
http://www.france24.com/en/20120503-china-chen-guangdong-blind-lawyer-dissident-asylum-usa-clinton-obama
2 MAY 2012
Chinese activist Guangcheng leaves US embassy in Beijing
Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng has left Beijing’s US embassy where he had taken refuge after fleeing house arrest last week, officials said Wednesday. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due to arrive for talks in China starting Thursday
http://www.france24.com/en/20120502-china-chen-guangcheng-leaves-us-embassy-blind-lawyer-activist http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/05/2012528554197845.html http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/02/world/asia/china-clinton-visit/index.html?hpt=ias_c1
27 APRIL 2012
China dissident Chen Guangcheng escapes house arrest
One of China’s best-known dissidents, Chen Guangcheng, has escaped from house arrest and has released a video addressed to Premier Wen Jiabao
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-17865465
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-17865440
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/04/201242794558183774.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-17877005
10 APRIL 2012
China land rights lawyer Ni Yulan and husband jailed
The human rights activist Ni Yulan and her husband Dong Jiqin were sentenced today to prison for causing « disturbances » and « fraud ». The court has imposed two years and eight months on Ni Yulan, a lawyer with disabilities the result of police beatings, and two years on her husband who helped to vindicate the rights of people who were unfairly dispossessed of land or houses
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Ni-Yulan-and-her-husband-jailed-for-defending-those-who-were-dispossessed-of-homes-24454.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-17661224
6 APRIL 2012
Famed Chinese dissident Fang Lizhi dies
Fang Lizhi, a famed Chinese democracy activist, has died in the United States, where he fled in exile more than 20 years ago
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/07/world/us-chinese-dissident-dies/index.html?eref=edition
http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20120407-338238.html
27 MARCH 2012
Hangzhou, a dissident sentenced to 4 years for « Arab spring » stifled by Beijing
Xue Mingkai, already a year in prison, was convicted of « subversion of state power ». The movement began in 2011, but stamped out by the violence of the communist regime, which is still hunting activists to throw them in jail
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Hangzhou,-a-dissident-sentenced-to-4-years-for-Arab-spring-stifled-by-Beijing-24352.html
21 MARCH 2012
Chinese Lawyers Chafe at New Oath to Communist Party
China’s Justice Ministry has issued a requirement that new lawyers and those reapplying for licenses swear an oath of loyalty to the Communist Party, another step in a campaign to rein in lawyers who continue to challenge the political and legal systems by which the party maintains power
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/23/world/asia/chinese-lawyers-chafe-at-new-oath-to-communist-party.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&ref=asia&adxnnlx=1332446757-sqxhpRwe8sTuwKfpANi6dA#
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Practicing-law-now-will-require-an-oath-of-allegiance-to-the-Communist-Party-24310.html
19 MARCH 2012
Chinese Activist Is Missing, Rights Group Says
Liu Ping, a rights activist who has angered officials in China with her advocacy of free elections and support of labor and women’s rights issues, has been missing since early this month after she was detained in Beijing by security personnel from her hometown, according to an advocacy group
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/20/world/asia/chinese-activist-is-missing-rights-group-says.html?_r=1&ref=asia
16 MARCH 2012
China poised to limit use of mental hospitals to curb dissent
The hardest thing about being imprisoned in a psychiatric hospital is keeping your sanity. Li Jinping knows. The 47-year-old political activist spent seven months in Beijing’sChaoyang District Mental Health Center, heavily sedated. If he refused his drugs, he would be tied to his bed
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-china-psychiatric-20120317,0,4595712.story?page=1
14 MARCH 2012
China passes new law allowing secret detentions
Chinese legislators Wednesday approved changes to the country’s criminal code that will allow the police to hold certain suspects at secret locations. The nation’s state media applauded the overhaul of the criminal procedure law — the first in more than 15 years — as a step forward for human rights. http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/14/world/asia/china-criminal-law/index.html?hpt=ias_c2 http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/03/201231364711376740.html
10 MARCH 2012
Beijing imposes a 2011 of repression and torture to stop Arab Spring « contagion »
Terrified of the protests in the Arab world last year, the Communist leaders sentenced to prison between 3,833 activists and dissidents. Of these, 159 were tortured and rendered disabled. Moreover, thanks to a new law, 86% of these arrests have no legal basis. Religious repression and data of the annual CHRD report
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Beijing-imposes-a-2011-of-repression-and-torture-to-stop-Arab-Spring-contagion-24199.html
21 FEBRUARY 2012
Journalist beatings erase Wukan optimism
Early Tuesday morning, the Foreign Correspondents Club of China notified journalists that three employees of European news agencies had been attacked in two separate incidents this past week while attempting to cover a land dispute story in eastern China
http://behindthewall.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/21/10464545-journalist-beatings-erase-wukan-optimism
10 FEBRUARY 2012
Dissident poet Zhu Yufu gets seven years in prison
A dissident as far back as 1979 when he began collaborating with Wei Jingsheng on Beijing’s ‘democracy wall,’ Zhu Yufu has already spent many years in prison for his actions in favour of democracy. A court recently convicted him for “inciting subversion of state power”. More and more free voices are being jailed ahead of the party congress and the National People’s Congress
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/In-Hangzhou,-dissident-poet-gets-seven-years-in-prison-23944.html
http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20120210-327150.html
9 FEBRUARY 2012
China’s liberals keep the flame alive
China seems to have entered deep winter as far as political reform and human rights are concerned. While the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership seems to have pulled out all the stops to stifle dissent, intellectuals both inside and outside the party still are pushing the ideal of liberalization http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/NB10Ad01.html
19 JANUARY 2012
Chinese writer Yu Jie causes a stir abroad
Controversial author Yu Jie has criticized the Chinese government from a position of self-exile in the US, causing a buzz in Western media
http://en.radio86.com/news/chinese-writer-yu-jie-causes-stir-abroad
http://behindthewall.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/19/10191356-chinese-dissident-flees-to-us-and-describes-torture
Writer Li Tie sentenced to 10 years for « subversion »
A court in Wuhan (Hubei) has condemned the writer and activist Li Tie to 10 years in prison for « subversion », accusing him of having written and published articles in which he asks people to defend their rights. The verdict against Li comes a matter of weeks after the 9 year sentence handed down to the activist Chen Wei and 10 years for Chen Xi, both accused of « inciting subversion », and a few days following the one against the poet Zhu Yufu. All of them were sentenced in relation to the possibility of creating a movement similar to the « Arab Spring » in China
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Writer-Li-Tie-sentenced-to-10-years-for-subversion-23735.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-16625119
18 JANUARY 2012
China Expands Program Requiring Real-Name Registration Online
China will expand nationwide a trial program that requires users of the country’s wildly popular microblog services to disclose their identities to the government in order to post comments online, the government’s top Internet regulator said on Wednesday 18
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/19/world/asia/china-expands-program-requiring-real-name-registration-online.html?_r=1&ref=asia
12 JANUARY 2012
Police Raid Hu Jia’s Home, Warn Against Activism
Beijing police raided the home of Chinese dissident Hu Jia on Wednesday 11, confiscating two laptops and warning him against his activism. Hu says police told him he may be violating his parole terms, by speaking out and posting his opinions online. On Thursday 12 morning, Hu was told to go Tongzhou Police Station in Beijing where he lives
http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/news_china/2012-01-13/police-raid-hu-jia-s-home-warn-against-activism.html#video_section
29 DECEMBER 2011
China activist Ni Yulan and her husband go on trial
A prominent human-rights lawyer has gone on trial in China facing charges of « inciting a disturbance » for doing legal defence work for farmers who have had their land seized by government officials. Ni Yulan and her husband, Dong Jiqin, were detained in April along with hundreds of other activists, but their trial lacks transparency
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2011/12/20111229815574375.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-16353540
http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/news_china/2011-12-30/disabled-chinese-dissident-ni-yulan-tried-for-provoking-trouble-.html#video_section
26 DECEMBER 2011
China jails veteran activist Chen Xi for 10 years
A Chinese court said it had jailed veteran activist Chen Xi for 10 years for subversion, one of the longest sentences yet to be handed down in this year’s crackdown on dissent
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2011/12/201112261711713110.html
http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/news_china/2011-12-26/chinese-writer-sentenced-to-10-years-for-subversive-essays.html#video_section
23 DECEMBER 2011
Chen Wei, Tiananmen and « jasmine revolution »activist, jailed for 9 years
It is one of the heaviest sentences in recent years. The charges of « subversion » are based on articles – highly popular – published on the internet in which democracy is proposed as a better path to the dictatorship of the Communist Party of China. Chen « is a repeat offender »: active at the time of Tiananmen, he served several years in prison and is one of the leaders of the democratic movement in Sichuan. A similar pattern to that of 2010 Nobel Peace Laureate Liu Xiaobo http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Chen-Wei,-Tiananmen-and-jasmine-revolutionactivist,-jailed-for-9-years-23516.html http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45774139/ns/world_news-asia_pacific/
11 DECEMBER 2011
The historical context of China’s Human Rights
When it comes to China’s human rights, the general reaction of Western media is one unanimous shout of
“contradiction!” China’s official stance is the complete opposite, of course. However, is it really as black-and-white matter as that?
http://en.radio86.com/china-past-and-present/historical-context-chinas-human-rights
9 DECEMBER 2011
Nobel laureates, rights groups urge China to free jailed writer
Nobel laureates and international rights groups on Friday urged China to release dissident writer Liu Xiaobo, who won last year’s Nobel Peace Prize. A group led by Nobel peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former Czech president Vaclav Havel said they had set up an international committee to support Liu’s ‘long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human
rights in China
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1679870.php/Nobel-laureates-rights-groups-urge-China-to-free-jailed-writer
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-16104422
18 NOVEMBER 2011
Ai Weiwei investigated on pornography charges
Chinese police are investigating Ai Weiwei on pornography charges, in the latest move against the outspoken government critic following his detention and a massive tax bill.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-18/ai-weiwei-investigated-on-pornography-charges/3681228
15 NOVEMBER 2011
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei pays $1.3m to appeal tax bill
The internationally acclaimed Chinese artist Ai Weiwei said he deposited a $1.3 million guarantee on Tuesday that will allow him to challenge a $2.4 million bill for taxes and fines that Chinese authorities claim he owes.
http://www.france24.com/en/20111115-china-artist-ai-weiwei-pays-13-million-tax-guarantee
11 NOVEMBER 2011
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei to challenge tax demand
Chinese artist and government critic Ai Weiwei says he has decided to challenge the $2.4m (£1.5m) tax bill served on him by the authorities last week.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15689773
7 NOVEMBER 2011
Thousands contribute to Ai Weiwei’s huge tax bill
Thousands of people have donated 5.29 million yuan ($830,000) to cover Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s tax fine. The politically outspoken Ai was taken into secret police custody for 81 days and has since been ordered to pay a 15 million yuan tax bill.
http://www.france24.com/en/20111107-ai-weiwei-tax-fine-censorship-china-arts
Pushing China’s Limits on Web, if Not on Paper
Murong Xuecun is a novelist who writes about corruption in China. In the last year, he has emerged as one of the most outspoken critics of censorship.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/07/world/asia/murong-xuecun-pushes-censorship-limits-in-china.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=asia
1 NOVEMBER 2011
China hits Ai Weiwei with $2.3m tax bill
Ai, an internationally acclaimed contemporary artist who has become a prominent critic of China’s ruling Communist Party, said on Tuesday that he been given 15 days by tax authorities to settle the 15 million yuan bill, or risk going to prison.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2011/11/20111117433201513.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15533014
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/01/world/asia/china-artist-taxes/index.html?hpt=ias_c2
http://www.france24.com/en/20111101-china-orders-artist-weiwei-pay-24-million-back-taxes
8 OCTOBER 2011
Fears for fate of Chen Guangcheng, the blind activist against forced abortions
Some say that he might have died of torture and lack of medical care. A year after his release from prison, he is in forced isolation in his house with his wife and six year old daughter who can not go to school. Anyone who tries to contact him, is beaten and arrested. Shandong
authorities have built a prison-house for him. Wrwf appeal and petition for news of Chen’s health
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Fears-for-fate-of-Chen-Guangcheng,-the-blind-activist-against-forced-abortions-22856.html
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Chen-Guangcheng,-practically-still-in-prison-20743.html
27 SEPTEMBER 2011
China mulls reforms to tighten grip on media, web
China’s top leaders are considering « cultural reforms », state media reported, which analysts said would be aimed at boosting official control over the media and Internet to shape public opinion.
http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20110927-301843.html
23 SEPTEMBER 2011
Journalist Is Detained in China for Article on Sex Slaves
For a nation not yet inured to lurid and senseless crime, a report that a former civil servant in central China kept six women enslaved in an underground bunker — and that he killed two of them — was shocking enough. But perhaps almost as disturbing, at least to some readers,
was that the journalist who exposed the crime more than two weeks after the suspect’s arrest was detained by security agents who accused him of revealing state secrets
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/24/world/asia/china-detains-journalist-for-article-on-sex-slaves.html?_r=1&ref=asia
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2011-09/24/content_13784087.htm
29 AUGUST 2011
China dissident Ai Weiwei launches scathing attack on govt
Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has launched his first scathing attack on the Chinese government since his release from secretive detention in late June, accusing officials of denying citizens their basic rights
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40042861/ns/world_news-asia_pacific/
28 AUGUST 2011
Chinese dissident plans literary treatment of 1989 massacre
Chinese dissident writer Liao Yiwu, who fled his country last month, is planning a literary treatment of the June 1989 massacre in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, he told a German cultural gathering Saturday (27 August) evening
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1659552.php/Chinese-dissident-plans-literary-treatment-of-1989-massacre
9 AUGUST 2011
China’s Ai Weiwei hits out at government
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei made his first anti-government comments since his release from detention, using Twitter to hit out at the treatment of colleagues and fellow dissidents. Ai, who has made few public comments since he was freed in June after three months in detention, said colleagues who were incarcerated « because of me » had suffered « great mental abuse and physical torture »
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1146047/1/.html
3 AUGUST 2011
UN panel calls for Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo’s release
A United Nations panel of independent legal experts has called for the immediate release of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo from prison in China. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention says China should also free the Nobel Laureate’s wife, Liu Xia, from house arrest.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14369723
http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/news_china/2011-08-02/liu-xiaobo-s-detention-violates-international-law-un-panel.html
12 JULY 2011
Dissident Chinese Author Liao Yiwu Escapes to Germany
He traveled out of China secretly through Warsaw and Hanoi. He arrived in Berlin last Wednesday. The Chinese dissident writer, Liao
Yiwu, from Sichuan Province, fled China so that he can continue writing and publishing his work.. Liao’s earlier work, “The Corpse Walker” examines life of ordinary Chinese in the bottom rung of society. The book has received worldwide recognition, but is banned in China. Before he left the country, Liao says Chinese police had approached him many times to warn him against publishing any “illegal” works abroad, otherwise he would be put in jail
http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/news_china/2011-07-12/dissident-chinese-author-liao-yiwu-escapes-to-germany.html
26 JUNE 2011
Chinese dissident Hu Jia released from jail
Mr Hu, 37, served a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence for « inciting subversion ». His term had been set to end on Sunday.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2011/06/2011625211022390987.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13917882
22 JUNE 2011
Ai Weiwei released
This was announced by the official Xinhua news agency for which the police decided to release him after admitting his crimes and for poor health. The dissident had been in jail since April 3
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Ai-Weiwei-released-21911.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13878859
17 JUNE 2011
Letter Alleges Beating of Chinese Activist and Wife
Details are emerging about the apparently brutal detention of one of China’s most important legal activists, the blind lawyer Chen Guangcheng.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/18/world/asia/18china.html?_r=1&ref=asia
31 MAY 2011
Victims, family defy threats to mark Tiananmen deaths
Even if they wanted to forget that another anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown is approaching, police harassment and surveillance ensure that the Tiananmen Mothers and other rights activists are always reminded of the approach of June 4
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1642588.php/Victims-family-defy-threats-to-mark-Tiananmen-deaths
5 MAY 2011
Chinese police arrest one human rights lawyer as they release another
In a script already seen, lawyer Li Xiongbing called his wife to say he « will be gone » a few days, then disappears. Yesterday the lawyer Li Fangping came home, « kidnapped » by police for five days. China continues its systematic repression of human rights defenders
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Chinese-police-arrest-one-human-rights-lawyer-as-they-release-another-21475.html
4 MAY 2011
China tightens internet censorship controls
China has set up a new government body to control information on the internet. The new set-up will enable the government to keep a tighter grip on the content available to Chinese internet-users inside the country.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13281200
20 APRIL 2011
Chinese human rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong freed
Jiang Tianyong, a lawyer who has challenged the ruling Communist Party and is known for taking on sensitive rights-related cases, returned home on Tuesday after having disappeared for two months, Jin Bianling, his wife, said by telephone. Liu Xiaoyuan, another rights lawyer who had disappeared last week, was also released. He said he had been questioned during his five-day detention by police about his participation in civil society and the cases he had taken.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2011/04/201142052845436935.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-13139872
6 APRIL 2011
U.S. Diplomat Sharply Criticizes China on Rights
The departing American ambassador to China, Jon M. Huntsman Jr., criticized this country’s human rights record on Wednesday in some of the sharpest public comments here yet by an United States official since the Chinese government began a harsh crackdown on dissent this year
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/07/world/asia/07china.html?_r=1&ref=asia
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/MD07Ad01.html
2 APRIL 2011
More than 200 arrests to quell the « jasmine revolution » in China
Human rights groups agree: the country has in place the worst crackdown since 1998. Dozens of Democrats arrested or disappeared. Alluding to the jasmine revolution, seeking justice or defending those who cannot pay for free, is enough to get you arrested
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/More-than-200-arrests-to-quell-the-jasmine-revolution-in-China-21187.html
China artist Ai Weiwei stopped from boarding flight
Prominent Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei has been stopped by the authorities from leaving the Chinese capital, Beijing, reports say. There has been no contact with him since, and no comment from the police. One of his assistants told the BBC he had been held by border guards as
he tried to get on a flight to Hong Kong.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12950863
http://www.france24.com/en/20110403-china-detains-outspoken-artist-weiwei-hong-kong-airport-twitter-beijing-bird-nest
25 MARCH 2011
Chinese Liu Xianbin, Democracy Advocate Is Sentenced to 10 Years
Liu Xianbin, 43, a resident of Sichuan Province who previously served nine years for organizing an outlawed political party, was convicted of “inciting subversion of state power,” a grave charge that is often subject to broad interpretation by the judicial authorities. The conviction was
largely based on articles Mr. Liu wrote for overseas Chinese-language publications that advocate for human rights and democracy
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12859050
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/26/world/asia/26china.html?_r=1&ref=asia
11 MARCH 2011
Human Rights Advocates Vanish as China Intensifies Crackdown
Teng Biao is no stranger to the wrath of the Chinese authorities. One of a handful of lawyers in China pressing for human rights and
the rule of law, he has been repeatedly detained, beaten and threatened with death
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/12/world/asia/12china.html?ref=asia
25 FEBRUARY 2011
Worst crackdown in years underway in China
One of harshest crackdowns is underway in China at present in response to an anonymous online call for a ‘jasmine uprising’, this according to China Human Rights Defenders (CHRD). The rights organisation reports arrests, searches and beatings against well-known dissidents and
ordinary citizens. At least five activists have been jailed for “subversion of state power”
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Worst-crackdown-in-years-underway-in-China-20884.html
21 FEBRUARY 2011
China clamps down on ‘Mid-East’ demos
A mysterious online call for protests in 13 Chinese cities sent nervous security forces here rushing to major urban hubs across the country Sunday (February 20) to snuff out any potential pro-democracy demonstrations.
http://www.asianewsnet.net/home/news.php?id=17512&sec=1
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-china-protests-20110221,0,4096718.story
17 FEBRUARY 2011
China’s Media Crackdown Grows
Chang Ping, one of the most respected and outspoken journalists in China, has been sacked by his employer, the Southern Media Group. He has been barred from updating his Sina microblog. His personal blog in Tianya.com, one of China’s major Internet protocols, is also blocked
http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2993&Itemid=206
16 FEBRUARY 2011
China reporters ‘roughed up’ trying to visit activist
Foreign reporters in China say they have been roughed up while trying to visit a prominent Chinese activist lawyer who is under house
arrest.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12486803
CNN aired a video clip of a burly man pushing its reporter and throwing stones at the TV crew.
11 FEBRUARY 2011
China activist Chen Guangcheng ‘beaten’
Chen Guangcheng and his wife, Yuan Weijin, were badly injured by security officials, according to the group Chinese Human Rights Defenders. It says the beating came after the release of a secretly shot film showing Mr Chen as a prisoner in his own home.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12428385
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11934996
10 FEBRUARY 2011
Tibet’s freedom singer released, gets hero’s welcome
Tashi Dhondup was released after more than a year in a laogai centre, a re-education through labour camp in Qinghai province. He receives a hero’s welcome at home for his songs that express the pain caused by the lack of freedom in Tibet.
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Tibet’s-freedom-singer-released,-gets-hero’s-welcome-20745.html
Chen Guangcheng, practically still in prison
Despite serving a four-year sentence, the well-known blind lawyer, famous for his fight against forced abortions, says he is free only in his home. Still, he pledged to continue his fight for a more just China.
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Chen-Guangcheng,-practically-still-in-prison-20743.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12413660
27 JANUARY 2011
Chinese Journalist Forced Out
A prominent newspaper columnist who challenged government censors by writing about corruption and political reform was let go Thursday by the Southern Daily Group, publisher of some of the country’s best-known newspapers
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/world/asia/28china.html?_r=1&ref=asia
19 JANUARY 2011
China’s Hu says ‘a lot to be done’ on human rights
Chinese President Hu Jintao has acknowledged that « a lot still needs to be done » in China over human rights.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12230982
http://www.france24.com/en/20110119-china-hu-jintao-says-country-has-long-way-go-human-rights-obama-white-house
11 JANUARY 2011
Human rights ‘action plan’ short on any action, say rights groups
Over the past two years, when the National Human Rights Action Plan (2009-2010) was in force, “the government has systematically
continued to violate many of the most basic rights the document addresses,” says Human Rights Watch in a review of the plan’s influence published Tuesday.
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2011/0111/China-s-human-rights-action-plan-short-on-any-action-say-rights-groups
14 DECEMBER 2010
Ethnic Mongolian Dissident Released by China Is Missing
A prominent ethnic Mongolian dissident imprisoned in China on charges of espionage and “separatism” was released last week when his
15-year term was up, but Hada, 55, remains missing along with his son and wife, according to human rights groups.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/14/world/asia/14china.html?ref=asia
10 DECEMBER 2010
Chinese dissident’s absence marks Peace Prize ceremony
The Nobel Committee has bestowed its Peace Prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, who is serving an 11-year prison sentence for « inciting subversion of state power. » Calls for Liu’s freedom could intensify Beijing’s already furious reaction.
http://www.france24.com/en/20101210-nobel-peace-prize-liu-xiaobo-chinese-anger-confucius-oslo-chairnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/12/10/norway.nobel.prize/index.html
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/12/10/norway.nobel.prize/index.html
http://www.france24.com/en/20101210-nobel-peace-prize-liu-xiaobo-chinese-anger-confucius-oslo-chair
2 DECEMBER 2010
China expands travel ban ahead of Nobel ceremony
A renowned Chinese artist and human rights advocate becomes the latest casualty in the government’s effort to expand its no-fly list, an effort apparently aimed at preventing prominent guests from attending this year’s Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony. Police officers stopped Ai Weiwei
at his gate at the Beijing airport this night, shortly before he was to board a flight to Seoul to plan an upcoming exhibition.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/12/03/china.travel.ban/index.html
5 NOVEMBER 2010
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei says he is under house arrest
One of China’s best-known artists, Ai Weiwei, says he has been under house arrest at his home in Beijing. He says the authorities want to prevent him holding a party to mark the forced demolition of his new Shanghai studio
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/06/world/asia/06china.html?_r=1&ref=asia
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11703775
30 OCTOBER 2010
Chinese dissidents forcibly interned in psychiatric hospitals
Report reveals scandalous cases of dissidents subjected to years forced of hospitalization, systemic shock treatments and chains. Human
Rights Watch: this is what the Chinese Communist Party has done since it took power. Nobel Liu Xiaobo: dozens of his friends are under arrest, forbidden to go to claim his prize
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Chinese-dissidents-forcibly-interned-in-psychiatric-hospitals-19865.html
12 OCTOBER 2010
Full text of the Charter 08, co-written by Liu Xiaobo
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/jan/15/chinas-charter-08/
http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/press?revision%5fid=173861&item%5fid=85717
11 OCTOBER 2010
Nobel laureate’s wife detained
The wife of Liu Xiaobo, the Chinese dissident who won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, has said she is being held under house arrest at
her home in Beijing.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/10/2010109142553751353.html
http://www.france24.com/en/20101010-wife-chinese-nobel-peace-prize-winner-placed-under-house-arrest-liu-xiaobo
10 OCTOBER 2010
Videos
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5oc4m_liu-xiaobo-chinese-dissident-and-pe_news
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/08/nobel-peace-prize-liu-xiaobo
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/10/2010108134524428612.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QJGuPOMPvE
9 OCTOBER 2010
Liu Xiaobo profiles
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11492131
http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/3029/prmID/172
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2010/xiaobo.html
8 OCTOBER 2010
Nobel Peace Prize Given to Jailed Chinese Dissident Liu Xiaobo
Liu Xiaobo, an impassioned literary critic, political essayist and democracy advocate repeatedly jailed by the Chinese government for
his activism, has won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of “his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.” China has angrily condemned the decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/09/world/09nobel.html?_r=1&ref=asia
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/10/20101081305576754.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11505164
http://www.france24.com/en/20101008-chinese-dissident-liu-xiaobo-wins-2010-nobel-peace-prize-tiananmen
http://www.france24.com/en/20101008-china-cries-foul-over-nobel-peace-prize-liu-xiaobo
25 SEPTEMBER 2010
Petition Urges Nobel Prize for Jailed Chinese Writer
In a move sure to irk the Chinese government, a group of 300 scholars, lawyers, factory workers and retired government officials have
signed a petition calling on the Nobel Peace Prize committee to award this year’s prize to Liu Xiaobo, an imprisoned writer who has spent much of his life calling for democratic reform in China.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/26/world/asia/26prize.html?_r=1&ref=asia
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/features/article_1588114.php/Writers-activists-back-China-dissident-for-Nobel-prize-News-Feature
9 SEPTEMBER 2010
Chinese Advocate Released From Prison, but Confinement Continues
A blind, self-taught lawyer imprisoned by Chinese authorities in 2006 after years of exposing government abuses was freed on Thursday and confined to his home in Shandong Province, surrounded by guards and watched by closed-circuit surveillance cameras. The lawyer, Chen
Guangcheng, earned global attention — and the government’s enmity — by challenging the legality of government policies that exploited farmers,
discriminated against the disabled and brutally enforced China’s one-child policy.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39058499/ns/world_news-asiapacific/
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/10/world/asia/10china.html?ref=asia
14 JULY 2010
Beijing Says Facebook and Twitter Threaten National Security
Social-networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are banned in China by the ruling communist regime. And now their top-think tank is
calling them potential risks to national security. State-backed Chinese Academy of Social Sciences—or CASS—published their “Report on the Development of China’s New Media 2010.” It acknowledges the growing popularity of social-networking sites, and says, « Some Web sites including Facebook, which are utilized by intelligence agencies in the Western countries, caused people to fear their specific political functions. »
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/39178/
3 JULY 2010
China Jails Tibetan Environmentalist
A Chinese court on Saturday, July 3, sentenced a Tibetan environmentalist who organized villagers to pick up litter and plant trees to five years in jail for inciting to split the nation, his lawyer said. The environmentalist, Rinchen Samdrup, is the third brother in his family to be jailed. Mr. Samdrup ran an environmental group in the Tibet Autonomous Region near Sichuan Province that organized about 1,700 local villagers to reforest the area and report poaching, and also ran a small magazine. His group worked with international conservation groups and was praised by Chinese media
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/04/world/asia/04tibet.html?ref=asia
8 JUNE 2010
China defends web censorship laws
China has defended its tight controls on the internet, saying it has no intention of relaxing its censorship of websites it deems subversive or a threat to national unity. In a white paper published on Tuesday, the government also said it would not accept outside criticism of its internet controls and warned foreign governments and companies to respect its rules
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/06/20106852938900625.html
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-06/08/c_13339058.htm
10 MAY 2010
China Bans Two Rights Lawyers for Life
Two lawyers who represented a follower of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement have had their licenses permanently revoked, a
move that prevents them from ever practicing law in China, the lawyers said Monday. The ban on the two, Tang Jitian and Liu Wei, was the latest incident in a wide crackdown by the Chinese government on human rights lawyers
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/11/world/asia/11china.html?ref=asia
10 MAY 2010
AnotherAIDS activist, Wan Yanhai, flees China
Wan Yanhai has left China for the United States, soon after fellow AIDS activists Gao Yaojie also left and Hu Jia was sentenced to
jail. Beijing is putting more pressure on nongovernment organizations (NGOs
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2010/0510/Another-AIDS-activist-Wan-Yanhai-flees-China
25 FEBRUARY 2010
Charter 08 and China’s troubled liberalism
The publication of Charter 08 in China at the end of 2008 was a major event generating headlines all over th world. It was widely recognized as the Chinese human-rights manifesto and a landmark document in China’s quest for democracy. However, if Charter 08 was a clarion call for the
new march to democracy in China, its political impact has been disappointing. Its primary drafter Liu Xiaobo, after being kept in police custody over one year, was sentenced on Christmas Day of 2009 to 11 years in prison for the « the crime of inciting subversion of state power », nor has the
Chinese communist party-state taken a single step toward democratization or improving human rights during the year. This article offers a preliminary assessment of Charter 08, with special attention to its connection with liberal forces in China.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/LB26Ad01.html
23 JANUARY 2010
China: Missing lawyer Gao Zhisheng ‘is where he should be’
A Chinese human rights lawyer missing for almost a year has been judged by legal authorities and « is where he should be, » a Foreign Ministry official said in China’s first public comment on the case. Gao Zhisheng, one of China’s most daring lawyers, has drawn international attention for the unusual length of his disappearance and for his earlier reports of the torture he said he faced from security forces. In a
memoir, he described severe beatings, electric shocks to his genitals and cigarettes held to his eyes
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35012519/ns/world_news-asiapacific/
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/03/world/asia/03dissident.html?ref=asia
20 JANUARY 2010
Former Tiananmen movement leader Zhou Yongjun was sentenced to nine years
Former Tiananmen movement leader Zhou Yongjun was sentenced to nine years in prison on the charge of attempted fraud and fined
80,000 yuan. He was arrested in Hong Kong in September 2008. Instead of expelling him to the place he came from, Hong Kong authorities handed him over to Chinese police in violation of Hong Kong law
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Arrested-in-Hong-Kong,-Tiananmen-protest-leader-sentenced-to-nine-years-in-a-Chinese-prison-17401.html
19 JANUARY 2010
Text Messages in China to Be Scanned for ‘Illegal Content’
Expanding what the Chinese government calls a campaign against pornography, cellular companies in Beijing and Shanghai have been told
to suspend text services to cellphone users who are found to have sent messages with “illegal or unhealthy content,” state-run media reported on Tuesday
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/technology/20text.html?ref=asia
28 DECEMBER 2009
On death sentence
Opponents of the death penalty condemn China’s record on a number of fronts. Firstly, there is the secrecy surrounding the judicial process that makes it impossible to find out whether the accused has had a fair trial or not
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8432514.stm
12 NOVEMBER 2009
China ‘black jails’ under scrutiny
A new human-rights report claims that Chinese citizens are kidnapped and held in informal detention centres, known locally as « black jails », to prevent them from bringing complaints to the central government. The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the practice of locking up disgruntled petitioners has evolved into a lucrative cottage industry, one which authorities continue to ignore
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2009/11/2009111281953905410.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8356095.stm
19 MARCH 2009
Charter 08, a plea for human rights in China
In last December, a group of 303 Chinese citizens signed ‘Charter 08’, a declaration to mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In it they call on the government of China to transform the country’s authoritarian and corrupt regime along democratic lines, respectful of human rights, including religious freedom
Below is the full text of the charter
http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=14313&dos=126&size=A
Below are more articles on this topic
http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&dos=126&size=A
Liu Xiaobo, in jail for signing the charter