Freedom of Expression
The Independent Chinese PEN Center (ICPC) reported (in Chinese) on December 25 that public security officials in Nanjing city, Jiangsu province, took freelance writer Yang Tongyan into custody on December 23. Yang is an ICPC member who is also known as Yang Tianshui. According to the ICPC, Yang served a 10-year prison sentence from 1990 through 2000 after being convicted of "counterrevolution." Yang was one of at least nine prominent intellectuals and activists whom Chinese authorities either detained or imprisoned in November and December 2004. Authorities detained Yang on December 24, 2004, in Hangzhou city, Zhejiang province, but released him on bail on January 24, 2005.
Reporters Without Borders awarded its 2005 Fondation de France Prize on December 7 to Zhao Yan, a researcher for the Beijing bureau of The New York Times. Zhao received the prize for being one of the "journalists who, through their work, attitude or principled stands, have shown a strong commitment to press freedom."
The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court sentenced journalist Ching Cheong to five years' imprisonment and one year's deprivation of political rights on August 31 for spying for Taiwan, according to an August 31 Xinhua report (via the China Daily). The report cited a "document released by the court" as saying Ching "supplied information involving state secrets and intelligence he received from contacts in Beijing" to two people from a Taiwan foundation via fax and e-mail from May 2004 to April 2005. Ching was tried on August 15 behind closed doors in proceedings that lasted only a few hours.
An Anhui court sentenced house church pastor Wang Zaiqing to two years' imprisonment for "illegal operation of a business” in printing and giving away Bibles without government authorization, according to an October 20 report of the China Aid Association (CAA), a U.S. NGO that monitors religious freedom in China. Anhui officials detained Wang in April 2006 and formally arrested him in May. On October 9, a local people’s court in Huainan city, Anhui province convicted Wang, sentenced him to two years' imprisonment, and fined him 100,000 yuan (approximately US$12,500). Wang plans to appeal to a higher court.
The People's Daily published an article on March 25 that called for deepening the government’s Sweep Away Pornography and Strike Down Illegal Publications campaign and to "further regulate the publication market environment." The article also reported that the government confiscated 169 million illegal publications in 2005, including:
- 996,000 "political illegal publications;" and
- 4,620,000 Falun Gong and "other evil cult organization propaganda materials."
The report also said that the government had canceled the registration of 202 news bureaus since 2003 and also shut down 73 illegally established news bureaus.
Chinese public security officials detained nine Tibetans in Ganzi (Kardze) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (TAP), Sichuan province, between March and August, 2006, according to a series of reports between June and September by Radio Free Asia (RFA) and Phayul.com. Officials detained the Tibetans following incidents of distributing or displaying pro-independence leaflets and posters, and in at least one case, possessing printed matter that included photographs of the Dalai Lama. Three detainees are Buddhist nuns, one is a former nun, and one is a 16-year-old female student. Three of the four males are Buddhist monks. Eight of the nine detained Tibetans live in Ganzi county, the residence of more Tibetan political prisoners than anywhere outside the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), according to information in the CECC Political Prisoner Database (PPD).
The Intermediate People's Court in Cangzhou city, Hebei province, sentenced Internet essayist Guo Qizhen on October 9 to four years' imprisonment and three years' deprivation of political rights for "inciting subversion of state power," a crime under Article 105, Paragraph 2, of the Criminal Law, according to the court judgment (in Chinese, reprinted by Boxun).
Supreme People's Court (SPC) President Xiao Yang and Vice President Cao Jianming on September 12 announced new restrictions on news media access to information regarding court cases, according to a September 12 Xinhua report and a September 13 Xinhua report. The policies include a requirement that news media obtain information from court spokespersons and not interview judges and other court officials without government permission, a requirement that courts must receive government approval to make announcements in sensitive cases, and a prohibition on a court's release of certain types of information, including "any other information that a court's leaders instruct should not be released," according to the September 13 Xinhua report.
The Yinan County People's Court in Linyi city, Shandong province, sentenced Chen Guangcheng to four years and three months in prison on August 24 for "intentional destruction of property" (a crime under Article 275 of the Criminal Law) and "gathering people to disturb traffic order" (a crime under Article 291 of the Criminal Law), according to an August 25 Xinhua report (reprinted in the China Daily). Chen Guangcheng is a self-trained legal advocate who drew international news media attention to population planning abuses in Linyi in 2005. Local authorities placed Chen under house arrest in September 2005 and arrested Chen on June 21, 2006. Xinhua noted that it received details about the proceedings from a court document, but did not characterize the document as the court's judgment in Chen's case.
Less than a week after China’s State Administration for Radio, Film, and Television banned a Nike television commercial for "failing to uphold the dignity and interests of China" and "insulting minority cultures," Xinhua reports (an English language report is available here) that China's Ministry of Culture has banned a video game entitled "Soccer Manager 2005" for "severely violating China's laws and regulations." According to the report, the MOC has asked law enforcement personnel with public security, industry and commerce, telecommunications, and publishing agencies and organizations to shut down all distribution and confiscate all copies of the game, and punish anyone violating the ban.