Freedom of Expression
Hu Jia's Release
Authorities released Hu Jia into the care of his wife, Zeng Jinyan, in the early morning of June 26, 2011, according a New York Times report (26 June 11). On her Twitter page, Zeng Jinyan reported that they would not be able to receive visitors, indicating that numerous security vehicles were stationed outside their home in Beijing. Zeng said that she had returned to Beijing on June 19 after her landlord, citing unidentified pressure, served her a notice of eviction from her apartment in Shenzhen Special Economic Zone. According to Zeng, eight security personnel escorted her from the Beijing airport.
Prior Advocacy Efforts and Official Harassment
The director of China's Communist Party's Central Propaganda Department has called on the nation's news media to promote the 90th anniversary of the Party's founding, saying it is their "common responsibility" to do so, according to an April 22 Xinhua article. Liu Yunshan, who is also a member of the Political Bureau of the Party's Central Committee, made the comments during an April 22 speech given at a special meeting on "propaganda reporting work" for the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Party. The Communist Party of China was founded on July 1, 1921, according to Xinhua's Web site. Below are Liu's specific instructions (quoted language is Xinhua's reporting of Liu's remarks, for which it is unclear whether they reflect direct quotations or paraphrases of his words):
Transcript (PDF) (Text)
In recent months, Chinese officials reportedly have conducted one of the harshest crackdowns in years against human rights lawyers, civic activists, and other advocates. Those targeted have advocated on behalf of specific groups and issues, such as victims of earthquakes, diseases, and tainted food, child laborers, persecuted religious groups, and political dissidents.
Congressional-Executive Commission on China | www.cecc.gov
Statement of CECC Cochairman Sherrod Brown on the 22nd Anniversary of the Chinese Government's Violent Suppression of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Democracy Protests
June 3, 2011
Officials in Beijing and elsewhere in China reportedly interrogated activists, restricted their movements, and warned them not to write articles about the Tiananmen democracy protests, give media interviews, or participate in public gatherings in the period around June 4, according to a report covering June 1-2, 2011, by the non-governmental organization Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD). These activists included Zha Jianguo, a democracy activist who was interrogated by state security officers on June 1, and Xia Yeliang, an economics professor at Peking University. Beijing police held Zhao Lianhai, a prominent advocate for children poisoned by tainted milk, and his family at a snack shop for several hours before releasing them.
Chinese authorities have detained, arrested, "disappeared," ordered to serve reeducation through labor, or otherwise harassed numerous rights defenders, political reform advocates, lawyers, petitioners, writers, artists, and Internet bloggers across China since mid-February 2011, according to international human rights groups and Western media.
Disappeared or Missing
Chinese Public Security Officials Detain Artist Ai Weiwei in Early April 2011
Authorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) have continued widespread censorship campaigns in 2010 and 2011, according to recent reports. The censorship work in the XUAR hews to a countrywide campaign to "Sweep Away Pornography and Strike Down Illegal Publications," but with special emphasis on religious and political items and "reactionary materials" that authorities deem are from organizations connected to the "three forces" of terrorism, separatism, and religious extremism.
The Aqsu Intermediate People's Court in Aqsu municipality, Aqsu district, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), sentenced Uyghur Web site administrator Tursunjan Hezim (Hézim) to seven years' imprisonment in July 2010, according to a March 6, 2011, Radio Free Asia (RFA) report. Authorities did not notify his family of the charges, according to a source cited in the report, but the sentence follows the detention and imprisonment of several other Web site administrators and staff (1, 2) after demonstrations and riots in the XUAR starting on July 5, 2009.
Restrictions on Accessing and Sharing Information on Middle East Protests, Jasmine Revolution