[CC] Jailed Chinese Net dissident goes on hunger strike

[George(s) Lessard]

Jailed Chinese Net dissident goes on hunger strike

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A Chinese citizen who was jailed for expressing his views online has started a hunger strike, 
while the fates of several other online critics remain in jeopardy.  

Wang Jinbo had sent several essays via the Information Superhighway to overseas Chinese 
dissident groups. In these essays, among other things, he called for the political rehabilitation 
of people who participated in the 1989 Tienanmen Square protests. He was then arrested and 
sentenced to four years in jail on subversion charges. Last week, Wang began a hunger strike 
as an act of defiance against his continued detainment. His current condition is not known.  

In a separate case, Chinese officials are restricting the amount of medicine provided to Qi 
Yanchen-a freelance journalist who urged political reform in several of his articles. After these 
items were posted on the Internet and in a Chinese policy magazine, Chinese government 
agents arrested, tried and convicted him of subversion. Qi, who is suffering from several 
serious ailments, including chronic colitis, has only been able to receive medicine through 
prison visits by his wife, and prison officials are only allowing her to visit every 2 months.  

A third online dissident, Huang Qi, remains in jail awaiting a verdict even though his "trial" 
ended nearly a year-and-a-half ago. Huang, who ran the "Tianwing Missing Persons Website," 
had republished articles written by other people about the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, the 
Falun Gong spiritual movement and other topics deemed taboo by the government. Huang 
was subsequently charged with "instigation to subvert state power" and was reportedly beaten 
in jail. Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF-a GILC member) issued a statement that "protested 
strongly" the postponement of his verdict, saying that the "inability of the court to prove his guilt 
is the best proof of his innocence."  

Still another cyber-critic, Tao Haodong, has been sentenced to seven years in prison. He had 
previously posted 3 articles online that criticized the ruling Chinese regime. Tao's sentence 
came after being detained in July 2001 and a subsequent trial for subversion.  

For background information on all these cases, visit the Digital Freedom Network (DFN-a 
GILC member) website under 
http://dfn.org/focus/china/netattack.htm  

For more about Wang Jinbo and Qi Yanchen, visit the RSF website at 
http://www.rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=5071  

Additional details regarding Huang Qi are available from the RSF website under 
http://www.rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=5050  

Read "Chinese cyber dissident still awaiting sentence," Agence France Presse, 1 March 2003 
at 
http://newsobserver.com/24hour/technology/story/787225p-5635129c.html  

For more about the Tao Haodong case, visit the RSF website under 
http://www.rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=4965  

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