Freedom of Expression

The Number 1 Intermediate Court in Beijing has sentenced the head of the Beijing representative office of Hong Kong's Credit China International Media Group Limited to three years imprisonment for publishing a magazine without government permission, Xinhua reported on August 11. Xinhua, citing the Legal Evening News, said that the court convicted a "Mr. Xia" of illegally operating a business for publishing nearly 10,000 copies of the magazine "Credit China" using fraudulent publishing numbers.

Since mid-August, the Hunan provincial government has banned two magazines and shut down three news bureaus, according to a September 11 report on the provincial government's Web site. The report said the government shut down news bureaus of the Hunan Workers Daily, Modern Hospital Daily, China Specialty Daily, and Hunan Safety and Prevention Magazine because "they had been established without government permission." The report referred to the actions as the "One Rule and Two Measures" campaign, a reference to three central government regulations that went into effect in March 2005. Chinese news and electronic media regulatory agencies have been using these regulations to control who can engage in journalism:

Officials with the local division of the General Administration of Press and Publication in Luliang, Shanxi province, have banned the Luliang Weekly, shut down its editorial organization, and fired its staff, according to an August 8 report (in Chinese) on the National Strike Down Pornography and Sweep Away Illegal Publications Task Force Web site.

No illegal political publications have been published in the Inner Mongolian city of Wuhai since 2002, according to an August 11 report on the Web site of the National Sweep Away Pornography and Strike Down Illegal Publications Task Force. The report attributes the city government's success in part to a rigorous training regime for publishers and printers as well as strict regulation of three areas:

Between May and July 2006, Chinese authorities arrested or sentenced the individuals below for criticizing the Chinese government on foreign Web sites, claiming such actions "subverted state power" or "incited subversion of state power."

The Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court acquitted New York Times researcher Zhao Yan of disclosing state secrets on August 25, but sentenced him to three years' imprisonment on an unrelated fraud charge, according to an August 25 New York Times report. On August 26, the China Daily reported that the court also fined Zhao 2,000 yuan (US$250) and ordered him to pay back 20,000 yuan (US$2,500) that it ruled he had acquired through fraud. According to a September 5 Associated Press International report (via the Guardian), on that day Zhao filed an appeal arguing that the prosecution's evidence was insufficient and that the court did not allow a defense witness to testify.

The Beijing Communications Administration (BCA) shut down the "Century China" Web site on July 26, according to a statement (in Chinese, via Boxun) issued by the Web site's operators. The operators said they received a notice (reprinted on Boxun's Web site) from the BCA on July 25 that ordered them to shut down the Web site immediately. "Century China," founded in 2000, was a popular Internet discussion forum for commentary on political, historical, and cultural issues, according to an August 1 South China Morning Post (SCMP) article (subscription required).