06 Jul 10 | Index Index, minipost
Best-selling author Yu Jie has been taken into custody and threatened with imprisonment over his plans to publish a book critical of Premier Wen Jiabao. Jie says he was detained by security officers and told that he would face a substantial jail term if he went ahead with the book. He has long been critical of the Communist regime and his books are banned in mainland China.
05 Jul 10 | Index Index, minipost
Three prominent environmentalists have been jailed by the Chinese authorities amidst allegations of torture, judicial bias and harassment. Karma Sandrup, one of Tibet’s wealthiest businessmen, who used the profits of his antiques business to fund several small-scale environmental projects on the Tibetan plateau, was given a 15 year sentence on 24 June for dealing in looted relics. Sandrup’s wife has accused the police of fabricating evidence and assaulting him while in custody. On 3 July, Karma’s elder brother Rinchem Sandrup was charged with “endangering state security” and sentenced to three years in prison, after he failed to register a small local ecological group. The family’s youngest brother, Chime Namgyal, is serving a 21-month sentence for organising litter collections, tree plantings, and patrols to prevent the hunting of endangered animals. Namgyal, who is disabled, has been in hospital since 11 June after receiving serious injuries whilst in custody. None of the three are on record as having criticised the Chinese government or engaging in opposition activism.
29 Jun 10 | Index Index, minipost
Google is to adopt a ‘new approach’ in China after officials threatened to revoke its Internet Content Provider (ICP) licence. In January, the internet giant declared that it would no longer censor search engine results as required by Chinese law and since March, has redirected mainland users of google.cn to the unfiltered google.hk site. However the new approach, announced a day before its ICP license expires, directs users of google.cn to a “landing page” with a link to google.hk. Google chief legal officer David Drummond defended the change in direction highlighting that “Without an ICP licence, we can’t operate a commercial website like Google.cn—so Google would effectively go dark in China.” However, it is unclear whether this new arrangement will be accepted by Chinese authorities.
10 Jun 10 | Index Index, minipost
Zhang Jianhong, prominent writer and member of the Independent Chinese PEN Centre, was released on medical parole on 5 June. Zhang was sentenced to six years in prison in March 2007 for writing articles critical of the government. He had been diagnosed with a progressive degenerative disease of the central nervous system and his condition rapidly deteriorated in prison. Repeated requests for medical parole had previously been denied.
