Alerts in China
Chinese Academic Banned from Travelling to U.S.
Action Alert
Date: 29 March 2010
A prominent Chinese academic who was due to speak at an academic conference in the United States has been barred from leaving China. Cui Weiping, a poet and professor at the Beijing Film Academy, had planned to lecture at Harvard and attend a conference sponsored by the Association for Asian Studies but the director of her school told her she had been forbidden to travel.
Chinese Historian Released From Prison But Unable to Travel
Action Alert
Date: 11 March 2009
On the 10 February 2009, Tohti Tunyaz, a Uighur historian and writer from China, was released from prison after serving an 11 year sentence. Tohti was charged with ‘instigating national disunity’ and ‘stealing state secrets,’ yet the evidence for these crimes remains thin. He currently faces restrictions that prevent him from rejoining his family in Japan.
Tibetan Students in Beijing Take Part in a Candlelit Vigil
Alert
Date: 20 March 2008
Around 100 Tibetan students in Beijing have taken part in a candlelit vigil in a rare public show of protest in the Chinese capital, Al Jazeera has confirmed. The students from Beijing’s Central University for Nationalities prayed for three hours on Monday evening for Tibetans they say were killed in a Chinese crackdown.
Professor Banned From Teaching for Publishing Open Letters
Alert
Date: 12 December 2007
An Associate Professor at Nanjing Normal University (NNU) has been demoted to the post of librarian by the school because of his recent open letter advocating democratic reform in China. Guo Quan, a China Democratic League member, has been banned from teaching because his letters violated the constitution of the university and several teacher laws.
Dissident writer arrested on suspicion of subverting state power
Action Alert
Date: 11 October 2007
China has formally arrested writer and cyber-dissident Lu Gengsong, a former lecturer turned activist, on suspicion of subverting state power. He has been held in detention for over a month for criticising the Chinese authorities. The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN and NEAR call for his immediate release.
Alert
Date: 30 October 2006
The Chinese Government has sent riot police to stop a mass rally held by students of Technology institute of Ganjiang. Police forced university students not to leave the campus and cut telephone and internet lines to the Institute. Police previously clashed with protesting College students in the southern Jiangxi province.
Chinese shut down "separatist" student website
Alert
Date: 03 October 2005
A website, created by Mongolian students, has been closed the 26 September 2005 by the Chinese authorities, for allegedly hosting "separatist" content. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) comments that this move is the result of the Chinese government's determination to gag cultural minorities. RSF furthermore stated: "Freedom of expression is still more restricted for the Mongols, Tibetans and Uighurs than for the rest of the Chinese population.
Professor Emeritus Sentenced to Seven Years for ‘Inciting Subversion’
Alert Update
Date: 22 September 2005
Zheng Yichun, professor emeritus of English, has been sentenced today to a seven-year jail term to be followed by three years's deprivation of political rights for ‘inciting subversion’. He was tried twice on the same charge this year in highly irregular proceedings, the Committee to protect Journalists (CPJ) informs.
Chinese Cyberdissident Placed Under Surveillance During UNHCR Visit
Alert
Date: 01 September 2005
Liu Di, a young Internet user who was imprisoned for a year in 2002-2003 (Please see related NEAR Alerts) was placed under survellance while receiving a visit from Louise Arbour, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights on 29 August 2005. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said it was "sickened by the hypocrisy of the Chinese authorities".
Chinese Authorities Imprison "Seperatist" Teacher And Author
Action Alert
Date: 17 June 2005
In April 2005 Abdulla Jamall, a teacher belonging to the Uighur Ethnicity in China, was arrested for writing a book which the authorities accuse of inciting "separatism". His whereabouts are unknown, and he is at high risk of torture and ill-treatment, Amnesty International suspects him to be a prisoner of conscience.
Serious Concerns Over Fate of Chinese English Professor
Action Alert
Date: 09 May 2005
Zheng Yichun, a Professor of English and a writer risks to be handed a heavy prison sentence by the Chinese authorities. The Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of International PEN informs that, after the ten year sentence given to Chinese writer Shi Tao, it fears of similar harsh treatment for Zheng Yichun, whose sentence is due shortly.
Pro-democracy Lecturer Sacked at Bejing University
Alert
Date: 01 April 2005
Jiao Guobiao, a journalism lecturer at Beijing University, was sacked from his post at the end of March 2005. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the dismissal and calls on the Chinese government to restore him to his post and stop restricting Internet discussion forums. Jiao got a letter from the university authorities demanding that he voluntarily resign and a few weeks earlier, online discussion forums at several universities were banned to non-students.
Chinese Crack Down on Intellectuals: Academic Detained
Action Alert
Date: 04 January 2005
In an apparent crackdown against dissents, academic Li Boguang and writer Yang Tianshui are reported to remain detained after having been arrested on 14 December and 24 December 2004 respectively. International PEN is calling on the Chinese authorities to halt this apparent crackdown on dissent, and to adhere to the principle of freedom of expression, as guaranteed under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.
Teacher Jailed For Reporting on Human Rights Violations
Alert Update
Date: 07 December 2004
Human rights activist in China face great risks in speaking out and fighting. Amnesty International’s latest report examines the situation and argues that although the Chinese constitution grantees the right to petition the authorities and today, more and more individuals and groups are working to protect human rights, yet they continue to operate in a climate of mistrust and hostility
China's Internet Censorship Impacts on Academic Rights
Alert
Date: 28 September 2004
Following the closure of one of Beijing University’s online discussion forum and several other measures taken by the Chinese authorities to crackdown on independent websites and publications, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has urged European Union (EU) member states and the European Commission to condemn these measures in their continuing dialogue on human rights with Chinese officials.
Uighur Teacher Sentenced to Nine Years for Leaking ‘State secrets’
Action Alert
Date: 04 August 2004
The Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) condemns the detention of Abdulghani Memetemin, a teacher, writer, and translator from the northwestern Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. CPJ recently learned that Memetemin, who had actively advocated for the Uighur ethnic group in Xinjiang, has been detained since 2002 on charges of "sending secret state information out of the country.
15 years after Tianamen, Activists are being Targeted Again
Alert
Date: 08 June 2004
Human Rights Watch has informed that fifteen years after the Tiananmen Square massacre, the Chinese authorities are harassing activists to discourage them from publicly discussing the events occurred the 4 June 1989. In the days leading up to the anniversary, Chinese security forces have warned, harassed, and intrusively monitored dissidents, writers, academics, and long-time pro-democracy activists.
Chinese Historian’s Continued Imprisonment for Publication
Action Alert
Date: 27 May 2004
The Network of Concerned Historians and the International PEN’s Writers in Prison Committee invite our members to send letters in support of the historian Tohti Tunyaz, sentenced to eleven years' imprisonment in China. BACKGROUND INFORMATION: In February or April 1998, Tohti Tunyaz, an Uighur historian and writer, born in Kashgar and graduated from the Central Institute of Nationalities history department, Beijing (1984), later assigned to work for the China National Standing Committee, and studying for a Ph.
China Jails Harvard-based Researcher
Alert
Date: 13 May 2004
China has sentenced US-based researcher and activist Yang Jianli to five years for illegally entering the country and spying. Yang left China for the US after the suppression of the pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989. He was banned from returning but did so in 2002, allegedly on a friend’s passport, to investigate labour unrest in northern China.
Call to Release Cyber-dissident Held in China
Action Alert
Date: 29 April 2004
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is seeking the release of cyber-dissident Yang Jianli, a resident of the United States (US), who on 26 April 2004 marked his second year of detention in a Chinese prison. RSF calls on European Parliament President Pat Cox to add his weight to the plea to free Yang Jianli.
Cyberdissident Sentenced to Two Years in Prison
Alert
Date: 25 March 2004
Reporters Without Borders condemned as abusive a two-year prison sentence imposed on cyberdissident Ouyang Yi by a court in south-western Chengdu, for "incitement to subversion". The sentence, according to the international press freedom organisation, was as usual intended to brutally silence a voice that diverges from the Chinese Communist Party line.
Further Crackdown on Internet Dissidents
Alert
Date: 20 February 2004
Reporters Without Borders has condemned the jail sentences handed down to members of the banned spiritual group Falun Gong on 19 February 2004. The five Falun Gong members were accused of assisting in the online publication of news about the ill-treatment in prison of a student Falun Gong member Reporters Without Borders has called for the release of all 22 Falun Gong members who are currently imprisoned for posting news on the Internet.
Biology Professor Sentenced for ‘Subversive’ Essays
Alert
Date: 08 December 2003
Biology professor Yan Jun has been sentenced to two years in prison for publishing several "subversive" essays on the Internet. In one of his writings, the cyber-dissident condemned the lack of press freedom in China. Reporters Sans Frontieres has called on Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiaboa to release Yan Jun.
Internet Dissident Released in China
Alert Update
Date: 01 December 2003
Liu Di, 23, a psychology student at Beijing Normal University known online by the pen name "Stainless Steel Mouse," arrested for criticising the Communist Party on the internet has been released from prison the 28 November 2003. Liu Di had been held without charge since November 2002 after she allegedly criticised the jailing of a prominent internet dissident, Huang Qi.
Internet Writer Still in Incommunicado Detention
Action Alert
Date: 05 October 2003
The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN is seriously concerned about the continued detention of internet writer and psychology student Liu Di, who has been held incommunicado for almost a year without charge or trial. International PEN fears that she may held in violation of Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and if this is the case, calls for her immediate and unconditional release.
Alert Update
Date: 01 September 2003
Professor Fumiaki Yamada, has been released by Chinese authorities. Professor Yamada an assistant professor at Osaka University of Economics and head of the Society to Help Returnees to North Korea, was taken into custody 7 August 2003 by Chinese authorities. He was detained for allegedly helping the children of North Koreans who had formally lived in Japan defect from North Korea.
Japanese Professor Arrested in China
Alert
Date: 14 August 2003
Fumiaki Yamada, an assistant professor at Osaka University of Economics and head of the Society to Help Returnees to North Korea(HRNK), was taken into custody 7 August 2003 by Chinese authorities. Dr Yamada, 54, was arrested in Shanghai for allegedly helping the children of North Koreans who had formerly lived in Japan defect from North Korea.
Still Imprisoned for Use of Internet
Alert
Date: 01 May 2003
On November 7, 2002, officers of the State Security Protection Bureau removed Liu Di from her campus. Six months later she has yet to surface. Liu Di, a twenty-two year-old psychology major at Beijing Normal University, frequently posted comments on Chinese Internet chatrooms, under the pen name “stainless-steel mouse.
Academics Long-Term Detainees in China
Action Alert
Date: 11 April 2003
In alliance with the Writers in Prison Committee of International Pen we invite our members to take action concerning the case of two Chinese Academics imprisoned and sentenced to lengthily imprisonment (11 and 13 years) in breach of the Freedom of Expression article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Action Alert
Date: 16 December 2002
The American Association has issued an action alert the 16 December 2002, stating that .Amnesty International has recently reported that a university student from Beijing, Liu Di, was detained by the government on 7 November 2002. She has reportedly been detained for posting opinion pieces critical of the Chinese government on an Internet site.
Detained AIDS Activist Wan Yanhai Released
Alert
Date: 20 September 2002
Human Rights Watch has issued on 20 September 2002 an alert informing on the release of the AIDS activist Dr. Wan Yanhai. Human Rights Watch stated that the release of detained AIDS activist Dr. Wan Yanhai is a positive step but it is urgent that Beijing open flows of information about AIDS in China.
Chinese Historian and Writer Imprisoned
Action Alert
Date: 11 September 2002
The case of imprisoned Uighur historian and writer Tohti Tunyaz has received international attention from several organisations including the Network of Concerned Historians (NCH), Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN (WiP-PEN) and Amnesty International (AI). Tunyaz was sentenced to eleven year’s imprisonment for his research into Uighur history.
Action Alert
Date: 01 March 2002
The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN has expressed grave concern about the plight of Chinese historian, Xu Zerong. On 10 January 2002, he was sentenced by the Shenzhen Intermediate Court to 13 years in prison, solely it would appear for his legitimate academic research. At the time of his arrest on 24 June 2000, Xu Zerong was Research Associate Professor at the South East Asia Institute of Zhongstan, Guangzhou and Associate Research Professor of the Provincial Guangzhoe Academy of Social Sciences.
Serious Concerns about Lengthy Prison Sentence for Chinese Historian
Action Alert
Date: 20 February 2002
The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN has expressed grave concern about the plight of Chinese historian Xu Zerong. On 10 January 2002, he was sentenced by the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court to 13 years in prison, solely it would appear for his legitimate academic research. At the time of his arrest on 24 June 2000, Xu Xerong was Research Associate Professor at the South East Asia Institute of Zhongstan University, Guangzhou and Associate Research Professor of the Provincial Guangzhou Academy of Social Sciences.
Alert
Date: 14 July 2001
Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemned the trial and conviction in Beijing of Li Shaomin, a U.S. academic, on "espionage" charges. HRW said the judicial proceedings against him were unfair and unwarranted from the outset. Li is expected to be deported back to the U.S. immediately. "We welcome the fact that Li will be able to rejoin his family, but we deplore that the Chinese government has found a way to turn academic pursuits into criminal activities," said Saman Zia-Zarifi, Academic Freedom Director for HRW.